Review of Rise of the Argonauts

[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.



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