Rise of the Argonauts Review:

A Greek Legend To Remember, Or Forget?

by GrathiusXR

©2008 Arthur Kotsopoulos:

Having first heard of Rise of the Argonauts early in 2008, I was somewhat intrigued as to when I was going to be able to play out one of the most well known stories in Greek mythology. It was then somewhat disappointing to find out the game had been pushed back to an undetermined date in 2009.

Then, almost as if on a whim, Atari released Rise of The Argonauts a week before Christmas, which isn’t the best time to release a new IP, let alone one that had not had a great deal of pre-release PR push. All of a sudden the game pops out of nowhere on shelves in stores and I sit perplexed, thinking to myself . . . “what the hell is going on” ?

Oh well, a last minute Christmas present then….but was it a keeper, or a Boxing Day return?

The story follows Jason the King of Iolcus on a journey to find the magical Golden Fleece that can grant life to the dead, created through the rivalry of two brothers in ancient times.

After a member of the Blacktoungues (being the evil cult fulfilling a life long prophecy) assassinates Jason’s wife during their wedding, Jason vows revenge on those who brought the terrible torment upon him.

He sets on a journey like no other with his great friend, Hercules, and throughout their journey meet new friends and obstacles they must overcome. Sailing out on the ship Argo (so named by Jason), they arrive at their first destination, Delphi, where the oracle will tell them exactly what they need to do to obtain the fleece.

The journey consists of travel to three different islands in search of the descendants of Apollo, Athena and Hermes as Jason needs a drop of their blood. They meet new friends such as Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior to have lived, King Lycomedes, father of the recently deceased Alcemedies and many more from the all-star Greek Mythology team.

The game may be steeped in mythology and magic but if you are not a big fan of clunky movement, bland graphics, and constant drops in frame-rates, then the story and skill tree may be the only thing keeping you playing the game.

Initial impressions of the game were 50/50 it didn’t grab

me at first, nor did it let me down.

Rise of the Argonauts uses the Unreal Engine 3 but utilises it very poorly. It suffers from many texture pop-ins, and constant drops in frame-rates whilst walking around the land. Non-playable-characters (NPC’s) in each city are bland in texture, and apart from the beautiful and varied changes in scenery, the engine doesn’t seem to do much for the game.

• Rise of the Argonauts – Majestic Trailer

Movement in the game is clunky and it seems the Ninja Gaiden 2 camera seems to have reappeared in this game.  At times it’s jerky and flies from left to right if you’re near a wall.

Don’t ask me what they were thinking, but where is the mini map on the HUD? Every time you get lost you need to stop, pause the game and select Map to view where you are and where you need to go.

Not only does this slow down the game but anyone who loves exploring  without too much interruption will need to pause every few minutes to view the map.  Not very immersive…

Combat is a one trick pony in this game as it’s pretty much button mashing all the way.  You continually press the X button when you have the sword and you can defeat enemies pretty easily.

Jason carries up to three weapons: a mace, sword and a spear. After certain quests he is given a new upgraded weapon, so either a new sword with better powers or a new set of armor. It’s nice but doesn’t add much to the game other than making it easier.

With new weapons comes greater power meaning enemies can be defeated quicker and easier. Couple it with the powers you obtain from the skill tree and half way through the game you will be almost invincible.  Even for a Greek hero, this is a bit much…

These problems only make up about half the list of faults within the game, with the rest being along the lines of lip-syncing being way off, poor animations, and also certain areas that glitch out with characters talking but not appearing on the screen and so on. With the plethora of faults it baffles me how Rise of the Argonauts was released the way it is.

I feel that they should have taken the extra time to polish the game to make it as good as it could have been because at the moment it sits in the same league as Too Human; you either hate it or like it.

There are two things that this game does do exceptionally well: the storyline and skill tree. Whilst the storyline doesn’t exactly stick to the official Greek mythological version, it does well to keep you interested.

Another feature that this game does exceptionally well is the skill tree. Never have I sat in a skill tree menu for up to an hour just pondering on what to purchase next.

The more deeds you do throughout the game, the more you can collect and relinquish items to one of the four gods of your choice.  You then can fill the meter you are given and purchase new abilities. It’s simple yet it does well to drag in those savvy RPG lovers.

Apart from these two features there isn’t much else to love about the game. It drags in at about 10 hours max, and apart from storyline and skill tree there isn’t much else to really entice you into playing the game to the end.

Filled with mythical talking creatures such as satyrs, minotaurs, evil conjured soldiers and mercenaries to name a few, along with a nice change in setting with Jason’s palace, underworld, jungles and ancient Greek villages. Rise of the Argonauts is a title that tries to stand out from the pack.

It is unfortunately held back by its poor use of the Unreal 3 Engine and poor quality control.  It could have been so much more, but instead fades quickly from memory.

“5.5/10

©2008 Arthur Kotsopoulos:

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Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Game Reviews, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | Achilles, Alceme, Alcemedies, Apollo, Argo, Atari, Athena, Blacktoungue, Delphi, Golden Fleece, greek myth, Greek Mythology, Greek warrior, Hercules, Hermes, Jason and the Argonauts, King Lycomedes, King of Iolcus, Rise of the Argonauts, ROTA, the oracle, The rise of the argonauts review