Rise of the Argonauts

A refreshing change of pace and damn good fun. [Feb 2009, p.82]

Rise of the Argonauts will give you some hours of fun and will even teach a thing or two about Greek mythology but that weird feeling of unfinished business and awkwardness will keep popping up during your quest. If you can bypass these annoyances, you will find some way to appreciate the work and the effort put on this game by the developer to please those “I want innovation but not that innovative” whiny gamers. Why this reminds me of Too Human all of a sudden?

Fortunately, the combat and RPG gameplay are where this game sizzles. [Feb 2009, p.82]

The combat is competent if not a bit repetitive and the story is entertaining from start to finish.

The final package is still good, but if you were planning on it being the next big thing, you may be disappointed.

So Rise of the Argonauts isn’t the best action RPG on the market, but it’s no where near the worst. If you enjoyed God of War, or action role-playing games with a mythological twist then you should check out Rise of the Argonauts.

With an adventure at only 10 hours long with no redeeming co-op component, your first run-through should be enough to get what you want out of the game, which is a shame cause Rise of the Argonauts, could have been so much better.

Despite the graphical glitches, poor collision detection, and frustrating (lack of) integration of the world map, Rise of the Argonauts is simply a good game. Both story and dialogue are well-written, the action is awesome and gory, and the skill-upgrading system is thought out really well.

Rise of the Argonauts is a difficult game to judge, mainly due to its backwards design. The majority of the game is spent engaged in the story rather than the combat, which is unusual for a game of its type.

Rise of the Argonauts tells a great story with interesting characters, but fails to utilize Greek mythology well enough to reach its full potential, falling short as both an action game and an RPG.

Rise of the Argonauts is not unplayable. It's just mediocre and marred by countless careless mistakes born out of a lack of inspiration and passion for the product.

A decent take on ancient Greece which is played out in a action / RPG style.

Rise of the Argonauts rises to the challenge but comes crashing down. It feels like a cut-down RPG, despite the rather broad dialogue options.

A poor man's Mass Effect. It's too heavy on frivolities and too light on gameplay.

The interesting yet predictable narrative is buried deep within poor design choices.

The problem is how the game's put together – so much has been stripped from what we traditionally think of as an RPG and an action game that the result feels like an awkward, neutered hybrid bloated by hours and hours of static dialogue sequences.

Rise of the Argonauts had mythic origins-it's based on Jason's legendary quest for the fabled Golden Fleece-but the only thing epic about it is the amount of failure it produces. Solid action and a cool skill system isn't enough to save a game marred by a poor presentation and dull design.

Jason spends too much time talking and not nearly enough time fighting in this Greek mythology-inspired action-RPG.

Rise of the Argonauts has a nice story and something to offer, but shortcomings like this chip away at the fun and ultimately keep the game from matching its legendary sources of inspiration.

Rise of the Argonauts is an average action game. [Feb 2009, p.84]

Tyler Bates' excellent music, great voice-overs and amusing banter of Jason's companions are the only things that elevate Rise of the Argonauts above value-priced drivel.

Disappointing! Granted, the aggressive argonauts deliver a fresh setting and some good ideas. But when it comes to the basics, the gaming experience is rather weak.

Due to it's shortcomings, Rise of the Argonauts doesn't score that high. The game comes out quite good, thanks to it's great storyline.

Innovation in Rise of Argonauts goes in the wrong direction. Although the story is not bad and the epic and mythic world remains interesting, it's gameplay mechanics and technical flaws make the game boring and uninteresting.

There isn't enough actual gaming here, so like a TV host facing the "stretch" signal, Argonauts tries to fill the void with talk.

If there's an upside to this game, it's that despite the shallow combat system, it's rather amusing to spill blood in battle. That's a small upside for a game that costs $60 and demands you sit through hours of talking just to kill stuff.

Fighting, when you get to do it, is good – there are a lot of moves to try out. But the constant shuttling during missions blows.

Rise of the Argonauts is not a terrible game, and in some respects is quite enjoyable, especially in regards to its story. However, the low production values in the gameplay and graphics department, does mean that you’ll possibly find enjoyment is severely hindered and your patience somewhat tested.

While Rise of the Argonauts offers lots of hacking and slashing, which is fun for a time, its story, style and sound aren’t enough to atone for its shallowness and elevate this odyssey to the epic heights to which it aspires.

The constant glitches awful enough to dissuade even the strongest at heart from playing for more than a few hours, and Rise of the Argonauts might be one of the most disapointing games of the generation.

Bland, unoriginal, buggy, beleaguered with frame-rate issues, filled with visual 'quirks', and featuring combat that's lacking any great sense of satisfaction, Rise of the Argonauts is a truly lacklustre action-RPG experience.

From its ship-based hub to its mythological roots via its highly linear attempts at non-linearity, Rise of the Argonauts is very much a case of ’seen it all before, done much better’.

This kind of thing has been done so much better so many times before there's no reason to invest your time and money here, even if you've a hankering for ancient Greece.

The fighting is okay, a few design decisions commendable, but ultimately there is just not enough great game here. Tiny levels with nothing in them? Looks like we are the ones being golden fleeced.

There’s something strangely likeable about it all – the ambition and passion of the development team is actually oddly appealing. It’s just all so misguided. [Mar 2009, p.124]

Sadly, those at the helm allowed it to be completely ruined by poor design and utterly inconceivable schoolboy errors that should not still be occurring in the year 2008.

Die-hard roleplaying game fans might have shrugged off its technical flaws and turgid combat if only the story had a pay-off. But instead of a tragic hero, Jason’s a dud. [Feb 2009, p.86]

Instead, the game concludes disagreeably, as virtually everyone Jason is supposed to protect is left tortured and dead by his original departure, and he simply has a party because he got what he wanted. For an action RPG elevated beyond its serviceable components by the allure of rich mythology to end in such a desperate contradiction is comprehensively self-destructive.

Horribly unrefined historical romp whose few positive features are outweighed by dull, glitchy questing.

Fans of the ancient myths will want to give this blandly rewritten adventure a wide berth as will RPG fans and people waiting patiently for the next God of War. There’s no challenge here, no excitement and ultimately no game worth playing. What a wasted opportunity.

Absolutely nothing about Rise of the Argonauts stands out as special, and just when you think the game's about to take a turn for the better (at least in terms of reworking the Jason and the Argonauts story), its fundamental and technical problems -- including some annoying loading times in the Xbox 360 version -- bring it way back down.