Star-licensed games have come and gone in the past, with many actors and actresses stepping up to provide their voice talents and likelinesses to games. Everything Or Nothing, the latest James Bond effort from Electronic Arts, comes to mind, as well as the old PlayStation shooter Apocalypse, with Bruce Willis in the lead role. Some of these games merely exist for star power, while others are there to present something new to the table, to show potential for actors to spread their talents beyond TV and movies and into a digital medium. Jet Li has done this with Sony's recent release of Rise To Honor, and while the game has its moments to show that it truly fits the talent of Mr. Li, it just never really comes together to hold up to Li's finer cinematic efforts. (And no, I don't mean Romeo Must Die, I mean old-school stuff.)

The game's scenario seems to fit Li well enough. He plays a Hong Kong cop hellbent on shutting down a shadowy criminal organization with both his fists and a pair of guns. But the quest isn't that altogether easy, as enemies grow tougher and the ringleader isn't ready to give up without a fight- well, a few fights.

The game also benefits from looking and sounding fantastic. The levels look ripped straight out of a seedy Tokyo skyline, complete with brightly lit neon lights, detailed environments that you can actually destroy parts of, and areas that you can veer into to find new enemies. The animation is swift, and Li even provided motion capture work to make his moves look that much more incredible- and they certainly do.

There's even dramatic close-ups of some of his best moves to show just what kind of damage they do. The game is also backed by a decent soundtrack and some good (if not stunning) voice work, complete with a few lines from Li. It's kinda like what Jackie Chan did for the Stuntmaster game a few years ago- he did the moves, provided the voice...basically made a digital version of himself for more enjoyment.

However, the game collapses under the weight of its own gameplay promises. Instead of tap-tap-tapping on buttons for attacks, you have the use of the right analog stick for moves, allowing you to attack enemies by pushing the stick in the direction they're in. The fighting gets rather old this way, even though some of the counter-attack moves are nice with group combat and you can use other objects to create havoc.

There's really never any new moves or features that make your character grow within each stage, and some cheap shots simple can't be avoided. Worse yet, the game's shooting stages really seem rather bland. You can lock onto enemies and shoot their way with tapping of the analog stick, but sometimes the action gets so overwhelming that it's hard to keep your guns firing like you want them to. Furthermore, some of the bosses are a bit too cheap for their own good.

Also, the game really lacks in terms of extras, aside from a couple of costume changes and an extra difficulty level. It would have been nice to see what could have been from a multiplayer beat-em-up mode between Li and his potential attackers, not to mention online downloads with extra kung fu goodies.

Rise To Honor isn't an embarrassment, to be sure. It's got slick production values and great use of its lead star. But it grows tiring a bit quicker than it needed to, and could have been so much more with just a bit of revisioning. Give it a rent if you're a buff of kung fu action or an appreciator of Jet Li works. Otherwise, just skip it, as it never really Rises to the occasion.