Customer Reviews

Rise of the Argonauts

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

[Story:]
Rise of the Argonauts takes place in Ancietn Greece, when the gods walked among humans and all manners of beasts roamed the lands. A place where the line between reality and dream seem to blur together and make anything possible. And that is, in fact, the premise of this entire game: Doing the impossible.

You play as the mythic figure, Jason. King of Iolcus and Warden of Zeus, it is Jason's task to defend his island home from all threat. But when his wife, Alceme, is assassinated by a mysterious figure, grief overwhelms him and he decides to cast his duty aside for a greater purpose: to bring his wife back from the dead.

He denies his wife her last rites, the one thing that will grant her safe passage to the sacred fields of Elysium (Ancient Greece's Heaven). After receiving the blessing of his four patron gods, (Ares, God of War; Hermes, God of Wit and Literature; Apollo, God of the Sun and Athena, Goddess of Justice and Virtue), he sets sail with his friend and son of Zeus, Hercules, aboard the Argo, a revolutionary ship made by master craftsman Argos. Through these four gods Jason draws his strength throughout the adventure.

Jason needs answers, and the one person that he can think of that deals in answers is the one and only Oracle of Delphi. After finding his way and reaching the Oracle he discovers that in order to get the Golden Fleece, he would need the blood of gods, Ares, Hermes and Athena in the mortal realm. Three islands have the mortal representatives of the gods, Mycenae (Ares), Saria (Hermes) and Kythra (Athena).

So, Jason continues the journey to the three islands and, in the meantime, discovers a plot by the dark titaness Hecate's followers, the Blacktongues, to raise their fallen queen and retake Greece back from the gods of Olympus, and Jason has to find a way to stop them, along with obtaining the Fleece.

[Combat:]
Rise of the Argonauts' combat varies. The system itself is solid. You have four weapons to use: Mace, Sword, Spear and Shield and each weapon corresponds with a certain god. Mace - Ares, Sword - Hermes, Spear - Athena and Shield - Apollo. Each weapon, excluding the Shield, has a set of both standard moves and special moves. The mace can smash the ground and create a shockwave to knock back enemies, the sword can perform a dash attack where you close the distance between an enemy instantly, and the spear can be thrown for ranged kills. Those are only an example of the special moves.

But the system's execution is somewhat flawed. It might not be as elegant as the new Prince of Persia's system, but it is in no means a button-masher. You can string together wounding attacks and execution attacks to varying effects, as well as being able to swap between weapons mid-combo for extra damage.

(Ex. You're fighting an opponent with a spear and shield. You draw your mace and begin hammering away at his shield. The shield holds for the first two attacks, then the enemy seizes the opening and attacks with his spear. You block with your shield, then bash it forward into him, knocking him back. You swing your mace once more and the shield breaks, then, with the push of a button, switch to your sword, where you take advantage of the enemy not having a shield and decapitate him with a single spinning stroke.)

It takes some time to learn to string together attacks, but once you learn, it becomes pretty fun. But, in the beginning, it is a button-masher.

[Deed System:]
The major draw of Rise of the Argonauts, aside from the new take on a classic myth and the action fighting, is the new 'Deed System.' When traveling on your journey and speaking with different people, you will be able to respond any of four ways that follow the paths of the gods that watch over you. You can respond aggressive and head-strong for Ares, sly and witty for Hermes, compassionate and caring for Apollo, and virtuous and just for Athena.

Every response directed in the gods' path give you a little more favor with them and every thing you do can be dedicated to each of the gods for different skills and powers. Let's say you kill 25 men/soldiers, you might see something to the effect of 'Manslayer II' run across the bottom left of the screen. Then, when at a shrine, you can take that deed and give it to any of the gods, no matter the type of deed, in exchange of favor for new skills and powers.

One of the good things about this system is that it doesn't restrict you to choosing one way if you only want to follow a single god. Like answering a question in the response of Ares when you try to mainly follow Hermes. The only thing that happens is that you get points for Ares instead of Hermes for that response, no harm done. I would actually encourage responding how you actually would to the situation. Back-talking mercenaries getting on your nerves? Choose Ares and punch them in the face. Or, choose against your nature and go with Apollo and try to solve the problem without hostility.

All the system wants from you is to choose, and be comforted in the fact that no choice is the wrong choice.

[Overview:]
Rise of the Argonauts, though flawed in minor ways, is still a solid and fun experience that I would recommend to anyone that loves: a)Ancient Greece and Greek Mythology, b)a good action-RPG, c)a harrowing tale of love and heroism, or d) all of the above.

Enjoy.

Ever wonder what God of War would have been like if Nintendo made it?
You'd get something like Rise of the Argonauts. This game feels like 70 percent The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and 30 percent is a PG-13-rated version of God of War. There is some blood and dismemberment. This is not a bad thing. It is just how I perceive the overall feeling of this game.
I was very excited to play this game when screen captures started showing up in gaming magazines in the months leading up to its release. Those pics prove the art design is great. But, seeing the game in motion is another story. The game lacks a lot of polish. Animations are clunky and frequent slow downs give the game a "still in beta testing" vibe. This sucks some of the life out of what should have been a "can't miss" adventure game.
The back of the box claims the game is an RPG adventure. It would be more accurate to say it is an RPG lite adventure. You earn experience through how you react to various situations. Your reactions will earn you favor with one of four different gods to power up your character. Each area in the game is divided into combat and a bunch of RPG-style fetch quests. I found myself running around doing said fetch quests, more often than fighting off monsters. The story is interesting enough to tie it all together.
The game takes rather uncreative liberties with Greece myths. The basic framework of the myths you are familiar with is there. It is just that the designers flattened out the details to make the background myths feel bland.
None the less. If you like greek mythology, then give Rise of the Argonauts a try. It is easy to overlook the game's shortcomings. It is a great game with some sub-par production value issues. I suggest renting this game more than buying it.

Before I say anything about the game, I must warn everyone.. If you don't like a long story, and lots of reading, than this game will seem tedious to you. As for me, I thought the story and the game as a whole was extremely well done and very refreshing.

Rise of the Argonauts is based on the story of King Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece. His kingdom of Iolcus is infiltrated, and his wife is assassinated. With this, he sets out for the Golden Fleece with his friend Hercules, to try and bring his wife back from the dead. With many plot twists and choice options, I found this game to be captivating and engaging. You get to make choices, and depending on which choice you make, you are aligned with a certain God: Ares, Apollo, Hermes, and Athena. Codemasters has put in a lot of work in researchging the background story, making a few changes here and there, making it hard to put the controller down. The game itself is about 15-20 hours, and although the action is sparse, I thought it was a lot of fun.

This game is a MUST have for greek mythology lovers, but once again, if you don't like reading, because you will have to run around and talk to many villagers etc., then this game is not for you. But they usually all tie into the story so you get the whole picture, so that's the way I played it. But in the end, I gave it a 5.... out of 5.

The camera angle and gameplay will take some getting used to. But once you figure out how to use the maps and orient yourself, it's a highly-rewarding game. Set in Ancient Greece, the storyline of course borrows heavily from Greek mythology - which is alot of fun if you have background with the source material. The combat is pretty straightforward. You have a few moves and combos that you use during fights and there's the usual determination of the enemy's weaknesses during boss battles. However, the real strength of this game is the gorgeous graphics: it's a pleasure to look at. Much of the adventuring involves meeting important characters, making key decision, and completing side quests. Slow-paced, almost like an RPG. But pretty much playable for anyone, as my wife has been playing it quite a bit in the last week. Not for you if you want a hack-and-slash God of War clone. Definitely it's own thing here, but recommended.

Wow I was super surprised by how much fun and how much this game sucked me into the story line and game play. There are the common player setup choices you can make as to how badly you want to die. The Graphics are great. Not to many glitches. My biggest complaint is the save data system. I have still have yet to truly figure it out but I do know if you don't save a lot can lose and entire time of your playtime and if that happens you will go nuts and rip your hair out. By the way I am bald.
The story is cool and the way the ancient religion has been set up. I really like this game have only quit to sleep. Cool system of managing your special powers. You align yourself with the Gods. Athena, Apollo, Hermes, and Ares. You get to manage those God powers all over the place before battles markets etc but most important on your ship as you make your journey to get the golden fleece. This is really a fun game and will give you a good time for the money. It is rated M that is for sure as you get to slice humans, bad guys, mythological monsters in half, loose heads, etc. and the babes are pretty cute too.

Rise of the Argonauts is one of the best games I have ever played on the PlayStation 3! This game has an AMAZING storyline tons of side quests that will take you hours to complete but fun none the less. You can choose your own path, make decision etc. And the decisions that you make affect the game play later on in the game and favor you with certain gods. This game is a hidden gem. It didn't get much press when it was released but its one of the best games out there. If you like Greek mythology its a great buy you will see all your favorite characters and they really live up to the legends. The only problem I had with this game was the ending. Its a good ending but I wish it summoned up the game more. I'm not going to tell you what happened and ruin it but you don't know what happens to the rest of the Argonauts unless you base it off of Greek mythology. I definitely hope theirs a sequel to this game...

Rise of The Argonauts was a very satisfying buy. The game is very fun, the graphics are very good and you are transported to the Greek Mythology era.

For any Greek Mythology or Fantasy-Fiction fans I highly recommend it. You get to see all kinds of legendary characters, from humans to monsters. The fighting action is intense, dynamic and overall very good. Unlike other RPGs, the weapon-changing system is very fast and efficient. Also, the godly powers you can acquire by offering your achievements are fun too.

I would consider it more of an "action adventure" game than an RPG.

I hope some day another Greek Mythology game of this caliber comes along!

I had such high hopes for this since I grew up on the Harryhausen epics of this type. I see the game on a Saturday night and pick it up. Monday morning I'm returning it, I had beat it the night before. Too many games are being made to be played in one sitting, and still start out with a $60 price tag. If you're interested in this, rent it, don't buy it. It's a decent way to spend an afternoon or two, but not for it's price.

If possible - I would have given 3.5/5

This game is better than the critics said!! I thought it could have been a great game, but fell short of that. The story is great, I just wish the game around it was executed better.

Before I start with the gameplay, the graphics on this game are just above PS2 level, slightly better simply because the HD allows it to stay non-pixelated on my 50" TV. The movement is not smooth, and actually found myself getting dizzy when I played in certain areas.

The game combines the concepts of an action fighting game like a God of War, with that of a dialogue choice driven RPG like Oblivion. Personally I have been waiting for such a game. I love Oblivion's RPG style, but the melee fighting system is so boring. If someone can take Oblivion and make the melee fighting fun, that would be my perfect game. Unfortunately, Argonauts fails to deliver a solid game on both fronts, and gets caught in the middle. The main 2 complaints...(1) not enough enemies, and (2) No chance to re-explore.

RPG Aspects: The game kept too much long-winded dialogue with no real options, other than deciding which God you want to earn favor with, so the RPG element is not engaging, and burns many hours of gameplay time.
You do not level-up, but instead have set tasks that must be accomplished, many are optional. For each task you can complete, you can dedicate each to one of the Gods. You earn enough points and you get to select a new enhancement from that guard...mostly stat boosts, but some are special attacks.

The main problem comes form the fighting issue...that is...there is sooo little fighting in this game. Plus you can only use the "god powers" once maybe twice in a fight, so the bonuses, weapons, and all the stuff you work hard to improve over these hours of dialogue portions is not taken advantage of.

You fight with a sword, shield, mace, and spear at all times, so you get numerous weapons throughout and some cool attacks, and again, offered a cool aspect, but with the lack of fighting, not enough playing to be done with the various weapons.

Fighting: Not enough!! Some cool finishing moves, and overall I thought the fighting was very fun!! The combo systems are good,but no where near the level of GOW or Heavenly Sword even, and certainly cannot even be compared to Ninja Gaiden Sigma...which is my personal favorite as far as fighting mechanics. Graphics would have helped with the impact of the killing moves.

Once you defeat enemies they are beat, forever. There is a few set spots on each board that activate a battle sequence, and that's it for the fighting. When you get to Tartarus you finally get to keep your weapon out the entire board and practice some combos...unfortunately this is basically the end of the game.

Bottom-line: If you enjoy mythology, and don't mind a story primarily told by going around towns collecting information/history, helping people out, and don't mind stretches of 2-3 hours of gameplay w/o a fight, this game can be very fun. I enjoyed it overall, and played it all the way through. Just wish there was a few areas to explore where enemies either respawned...or they simply put way more enemy encounters in the game. A simple thing would have been to have some Blacktongue assassins randomly show up a few more times per level.

If you are looking for a game with a great story (greek mythology), memorable characters, and simple battle system, then this is for you. The graphics are not bad and the voice acting is just fine. It has some rpg elements like choosing your answers in conversations and choosing the skills you would like to invest in to improve your fighting. Over all this is a good game and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an action rpg.