Naughty, Naughty, Very Argonauty.[THUMB1]
Rise of the Argonauts poses a bit of a quandary.
It seems that it has a bit of an identity crisis. On the one hand, Rise of the Argonauts is filled with the inspiration and the same hack and slash gameplay that made God of War so successful. In contrast to that it also attempts to add the conversational depth of Mass Effect.
To try and blend the two styles together is a huge gamble that could either make Rise of the Argonauts hugely successful or see it fall flat on its face. Sadly, despite a valiant attempt Rise continually misses the mark by achingly narrow margins.
You play as Jason, King of Iolcus, and your wife, Alceme, is murdered by a group of assassins and Hecate-worshippers (the female devil) known only as the Blacktongues. In order to set things right and resurrect Alceme, Jason has to travel the ancient world in search of the mythical Golden Fleece, the only item with enough power to breathe life back into his slain wife. The story is based very loosely of the original Greek myth although this interpretation is more Jerry Bruckheimer than Ray Harryhausen.
The gameplay swings between conversational situations that ape Bioware's seminal space opera and exploration sections sporadically populated with hack and slash action sequences.These combat sequences do require a small amount of skill in learning how to use Jason's shield and each of the three weapon classes (sword, mace and spear) to best effect.
At various points in the game Jason is gifted more powerful weapons but for the most part there is is little difference between each weapon of a certain type and it all boils down to which one you think looks coolest. This is another area of weakness especially when other melee based ARPGS and hack and slashers have gone out of their way to emphasize the differences between each weapon. As far as this goes Rise of the Argonauts could have learned much more from God of War or Ninja Gaiden.
The most enjoyable action section is probably the time spent in the gladiator's arena on Mycenae gaining the trust of Alceme's father, King Lycomedes and the favour of Ares. It is a very stereotypical RPG element but it remains a pulpy high point of Rise of the Argonauts.
As far as the conversational side goes the game is more hit and miss. There are certainly times where you find yourself wondering if a conversation will ever end. There is a particularly interesting section where Jason is required to use his reasoning skills to defeat an enemy in a philosophical debate. Sadly this is only a precursor to a combat sequence and when your sword is drawn you do feel a little cheated as it totally undermines your victory in the debate. To add to the disappointment this is the only occasion where the potential of the conversational element is fully realized.
[THUMB2]Jason is also accompanied by a swelling group of Argonauts. Achilles, Daedalus, Hercules, Pan and Atlanta join the quest at various points and lend their various talents to Jason's efforts. Two Argonauts can accompany Jason as he tours mythical Greek islands in search of the Golden Fleece. Aside from the odd remark about the situation they always feel redundant and most combat sequences can be completed without their help.
The overall gameplay is acceptable although it never really strays out of its melee combat comfort zone. Consequently it doesn't take the risks necessary to make the game more memorable.
There are plenty of exotic locales from Mycenae to the very depths of Tartarus and most are fairly well realised. The backgrounds and character models are very nicely rendered. Some of the bugs kick in with the animation. These range from some odd collision detection during some of the later large combat sequences to the wooden nature of the headshots during conversations. Jason is particularly inanimate during discussions with his fellow Argonauts. Conversely the cutscenes are all very cleanly presented with not a glitch in sight.
The overall look of the game is frustratingly inconsistent because for every well-rendered moment there is and awkward animation or even a missing character model.
The only real way to describe the sound is appropriate. Dialogue is ably delivered by a selection of familiar nameless voices and Dwight (Murdoch) Schultz even makes an entertaining appearance as Pan.
The music never really leaves a mark, its just there. You certainly won't find yourself whistling the soundtrack in the shower.
It's not all doom and gloom though. A nice touch comes in the form of the way in which Jason levels up. His journey is blessed by four of the gods of Olympus - Ares God of War, Apollo God of the Sun, Hermes Herald of the Gods and Athena Goddess of Wisdom. Jason has to complete feats of heroism, not unlike Microsoft Achievements. He can then dedicate these feats to the individual gods for boosts in abilities or even new powerful attacks. Again though, this is tainted with disappointment, as even though this structure is ideal for achievements, the PS3 version reviewed is Trophy-less.
[THUMB3]After playing Rise of the Argonauts through from start to finish it feels like a missed opportunity. The game has so many chances to delight and surprise but aside from the arena and the debate sequences it never really seizes any of them. Despite the wealth of the subject matter Rise of the Argonauts never really rises to the challenge of being a true Greek epic. Unlike its many famous characters this is a game that will slip by and be quietly forgotten.
Bungie vows never to follow the Activision route and charge extra for online multiplayer
(1) (30/07) 
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#1 - peej - on 17/02/2009 at 07:55 wrote:
#2 - HairyArse - on 18/02/2009 at 21:25 wrote:
:)
#3 - TarantulaBoy52 - on 19/02/2009 at 11:40 wrote: