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Source: Gamefreaks -
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Platform: Xbox 360, PC, PS3
Genre: RPG
Publisher: Codemasters
Based on the famous Greek myth of Jason of Iolcus and his merry band of Argonauts who go on a quest to seek out and bring back the Golden Fleece to ensure Jason is placed rightfully on the throne, Rise of the Argonauts is an odd mix of God of War and Fable, which sees you taking the role of Jason at the beginning of his adventure. Thus you spend your time fighting mythological monsters, upgrading your skills and abilities and talking your way out of trouble in order to reach your prize.
Unfortunately, the game starts poorly and pretty much continues from there. It feels as if everything has been done in a rush. The voice acting is stilted and quite cheesy, the animation is certainly no Prince of Persia and the camera can be irritating beyond belief. You spend a good deal of time running around talking with guards and constantly referring to the hastily drawn map to get yourself back on track.
The battles, however, go some way towards making the game fun. Jason carries a multitude of weapons and each must be used often as different enemies require different strategies and methods in order to kill them. You also have a shield, which comes in handy, but hell where's the fun in hiding behind a bit of wood when you can be out bashing skulls? While the combat is fun however, the camera can be extremely frustrating and at times the frame-rate is frankly embarrassing.
During the quest you can join up with some friends who help you get through the tougher fights, and of course as you play the game you're given weapons and armour upgrades as well as a rather decent skill-tree system with which to improve your abilities. These are doled out by achieving deeds such as "kill 15 enemies" rather than just accruing experience points and is one of the nicer aspects of the game.
Once you've accomplished a deed you must dedicate it to one of the four gods (Ares, Hermes, Athena and Apollo). Each god has their own skill-tree and within it there are multiple tiered "aspects," including increased damage or health bonuses. The further you get in the game the more powerful these aspects become
Ultimately though, there's far too much running around and talking and not enough fighting to make Rise of the Argonauts any kind of fun.
Perhaps if there was more effort put into making the individual pieces of the game tie together to form a more cohesive whole, it would feel more satisfying; however it all just feels a bit too unpolished and winds up leaving you all a bit too unsatisfied.
In the end you'll probably get more out of reading the book.
Summary
Decent and fun combat combined with a well imagined and nicely executed skill and ability mechanic go some way towards making this mythological RPG fun, but frame-rate and camera issues along with poorly balanced gameplay overshadow anything that might have made this game worthwhile.
This review bought to you by Gamefreaks.
