Rise of the Argonauts may not be Greek Mythology’s debut in the gaming industry but the developers, Codemasters, have come up with a pretty sound result. By combining the elements of an RPG and an action/adventure game, Rise of the Argonauts is classified funnily enough as an Action RPG. With a seemingly solid structure let’s see if the Gods of Olympus beg to differ.

The game does well in sticking to the original plot of the Greek myth but also adds in a few twists that will keep the player captivated. You play the role of Jason, King of Iolcus and his quest for the legendary Golden Fleece along with his fellow Argonauts. The game has quite an abrupt start to it with the assassination of Jason’s wife, Alceme, at their wedding day by a cult of evil sorcerers know as the Blacktongues. This activates a chain of events leading to the start of his epic quest. However an excessive amount of navigating your way around the palace grounds and interacting with characters is necessary before actually boarding the Argo and setting sail.

The first thing you will notice is that Rise of the Argonauts is very rich in dialogue and conversing with other characters takes up a significant proportion of the game. On a broad scale, it is compelling, well paced and will keep the player interested on the plot but can become a drag after a while. If you are in a hurry and want to cut to the chase then you can just skip it. You are usually given 4 choices of dialogue to choose from which are associated with the 4 Gods that you worship, Ares, Hermes, Apollo and Athena. For example, Ares is the God of war so if you choose to say something with the Ares symbol next to it then you will say something that is more upfront with a more violent meaning. However, none of the different speech options have any long term effects and never have any serious implications. If you choose the wrong response then you can just use trial and error to eventually talk your way out of the conversation.

For an Action RPG, there is an awful lot of exploring and wandering around to do with only a handful of combat sequences integrated in the mix. Fortunately your patience will pay off as the combat in Rise of the Argonauts is definitely the most rewarding aspect of gameplay. It is a real shame that there is not enough action to keep the momentum going. The combat system is revolves around 3 basic weapons; the spear, sword and mace. You can pull off a variety of brutal and gory moves with them and then watch the body parts of your adversaries fly across the screen in slow motion. It may seem exciting at first but eventually becomes too repetitive. Other features that add to the combat system are the God powers which you can use after you have acquired enough aspect points through combat or conversation. Using them on each of the 4 Greek Gods will give you a range of powers at your disposal that can be particularly useful during the boss encounters. Nevertheless, the lack of combat means that these bonus features will go unused for most of the game.

As far as exploration goes, all the islands you visit have a very linear design and it is virtually impossible to get lost. There is a map which clearly indicates your position and the location of your objective(s) but you have to frequently pause the game every so often to examine it. There is a huge amount of backtracking resulting in tedious unnecessary wandering. The actual gameplay becomes quite repetitive and you will be doing the same old thing; finding someone, talking to them and then going back. All these minor objectives are cleverly tied in with the main quest. When you complete the 10-12 hour story, you will feel more relieved rather than satisfied.

When you begin the game, Hercules is you only companion but as you go from island to island and get ever closer to achieving your original goal you find characters that require you to complete some tasks for them before joining you on your quest for the Golden Fleece. Eventually when you get the to the last stage of the game, you have built up a team of 4 Argonauts as well as other minor characters who have decided to come along also. Before setting out on new terrain you are given the choice of which 2 Argonauts you want to take with you. This choice has no major impacts on the game and they are only of a benefit during combat but their presence is still hardly noticed.

Rise of the Argonauts is not the most technically stunning game on the PS3 or Xbox 360 and the biggest letdown by far is the character animation. Movement is somewhat robotic and during conversation, Jason, as well as most other characters, have the same stances and facial expressions. Fortunately, the great voice acting prevents the characters from losing their personalities altogether. There is a very jumpy frame rate that is often quite hesitant with frequent pauses.

To sum things up, Rise of the Argonauts is a game with a great concept but lacking the fundamental issues. Although gameplay and visual presentation isn’t top-notch, the story is what makes this game so enjoyable. However, if you can handle the technical faults and repetetive gameplay, you will definately have a memorable experience with Rise of the Argonauts.

+ Fantastic compelling story

+ Effective combat system

- Excessive wandering.

- Lack of combat

- Sub-standard character animations

7.2/10

By Ian Ratledge Posted Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 10:19 pm