Rise of the Argonauts

"This is a game that could have been so much more if it wasn't rushed out the door"

After you start playing Rise of the Argonauts for about 15 minutes the first thoughts you will have are that this game COULD have been an amazing game if it was not just rushed out the door. This is a game, that while fun, can be cumbersome and just downright frustrating due to the many glitches that should have been ironed out if it wasn't rushed out the door.

(by the way, the ad is really annoyingly placed so it covers a portion of this text box)

Gameplay:

I personally liked the combat in this game, it is basic but fun. The premise is that 1 weapon would be better suited for handling enemies that have one weapon type compared to another (ie the sword is more effective vs the spear than it is the mace etc etc). This is not to say that you couldn't just run through the game using the sword because you can it just makes things easier for you to switch the weapons up. You also get strong and weak attacks which lead to doing different types of damage to your enemies (ie weak sword attacks will eventually lacerate your enemy if you have the ability from the specific god). You also get unique 'execution' animations for each weapon which are kind of cool and comical at the same time. Take for instance the spear its strong attack is to impale the spear and allow you to either fling them over your head or brutally decapitate them with your shield, needless to say this is an enjoyable aspect of this game. Like I stated earlier it is fun & basic but at towards the end of the game you have seen most of the animations, special kills etc that it loses its lustre a little bit as there really isn't that many of them. One aspect of the combat that I loved and wished other games would emulate is that while you can block if an enemy is at your side and attacks you (on your shield side of course) your shield will still block that attack without you needing to press the button, a minor thing to add but a good touch nonetheless.

This game is an action RPG so ofcourse it has its 'level up' portions as well as quests & dialogue. The leveling up in this game is quite a bit different compared to other RPGs in that (as far as I know) you don't acquire stats or hit points for gaining a level you just do deeds / tasks and then you dedicate the deed to a specific god of your choice. Once you dedicate enough deeds to a specific god you will then unlock a point which you can then put towards one of the gods unique buffers or god power etc. Each god has 25 abilities that you can unlock (again majority are buffers) and are unique but personally, aside from the buffers I found the god powers to be absolutely useless. Its not that they aren't cool or anything but I found Jason was more than able to handle the enemies in this game without the use of god powers, that and some were just plain stupid to begin with. In some cases this does take away from the game as the only real incentive to grab all 25 abilities from the specific god is to get the achievement points.

Quests and dialogue in this game are handled well. The dialogue is very good with some top notch voice acting with tons of options. I do like the fact that you get god-specific responses so you can change up your responses on a second playthrough for a more unique playthrough. The quests however is where the problems lie in this game. I really can't stand the save system in this game and I wish the manual would state that it doesn't matter when YOU save because the game ultimately decides where it will save your progress. The reason for this is because they elected to go by a "checkpoint" save system which sucks because you can do some things in a town save, shut down your system and come back to it later THINKING you have completed some deeds when in actuality you haven't. Without spoiling anything regarding the story, there is a deed that requires you speak with your people about the 4 gods. I spoke with all of them and then figured I'd save and continue later, however when I came back it elected to save me way back and not acknowledge that I had infact spoken with the specific people about the gods. Now I know this is a minor deed but the fact is it made it somewhat cumbersome as I had to run around the village and palace to find out who I had missed which, for me anyway, takes away from a game if you have to do minor things over and over.

This game also has constellations which help you keep track of the deeds you have completed so far and show you what you need to complete the constellation. Again due to this being rushed you can find yourself getting a "xxxx constellation complete" when you haven't actually finished the constellation. There is another occurance to which is frustrating (it is to me anyway) where you have to kill x amount of enemies with the sword / mace / spear etc and for some reason the game will count your first one or two but then the counter stops working. This can be annoying as well if you are a perfectionist and strive to get all the deeds as you will be stuck in limbo not knowing how many more you have to kill with a weapon. I had it with dash attacks personally, so be aware of that one.

Other Glitches / issues:

Many times in this game you will be running through a town or an area with not many, if any, people or anything going on onscreen only to have the framerate stutter. I find this unacceptable for a next generation title, especially since the systems have been out for a number of years now (I can't say I've played it on ps3, this is from a 360 perspective).I've also had it where it just glitches out for no apparent reason. It can be totally random and the game will just glitch out and you have to re-load to continue on with the story and again this is where that annoying save system can cause you to have to re-do some things over and over if you are unlucky to get stuck with some glitches. From personal experience I had a ton of issues in the mycenae city when you have to speak with the cargo master. Typically the screen would go black, then it would flash and some textures would load in only for the screen to go black to hear "its not over yet jason" or whatever is said when you die. I've also had glitches where entire townspeople will just disappear and will not re-appear.

I don't mind that there is no mini-map but it sure would be nice as it sucks having to hit start and select map every time you want to know where to go. This isn't a deal breaker, but some gamers may get put off with the frequent pausing and going through a menu just to view the map.

Story & Graphics

The graphics in this game are a mixed bag. Some character models look solid (pan, Jason, Daedelus etc) while others (IMHO) looked out of place (hercules). Textures from a distance will look fine but when you get up close or even closer they look horrible. Texture pop-in can happen as well as the fact that you could go entire cut scenes with out the full on textures poping in so the character ends up looking like a horrendous playstation one model (the guy that speaks at the end of each arena battles seems to suffer with this issue - can't recall his name at the moment though). The animations are nice and the weapon variety is cool and the fact that each weapon and armour have their own unique look is a nice touch.

To me the story was the saving grace of this title and what really pushed me to keep playing it despite the myriad of glitches and technical problems. I don't want to go to indepth here as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who is thinking of playing it. The game is quite linear but I think for this style of game it is good and keeps the flow of the story going at a good pace.

Overall

I give this game a 6.75 / 10, but I could not recommend it as a full on purchase for $59.99 (canadian) I would recommend it as a rental as you could breeze through it pretty quickly and if you felt the need to go through it again for the other achievement points or to go through it using different dialogue options then maybe pick it up when it becomes cheaper.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/08

Game Release: Rise of the Argonauts (US, 12/16/08)