Video Games : Rise of the Argonauts

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from: Codemasters

: Rise of the Argonauts
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List Price: $59.99
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Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years
Amazon Minimum Age: 204 months
Binding: Video Game
Brand: Codemasters
EAN: 0767649402199
ESRB Age Rating: Mature
Label: Codemasters
Manufacturer: Codemasters
Model: SARGOP3FC00
Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
Publisher: Codemasters
Release Date: December 16, 2008
Sales Rank: 1095
Studio: Codemasters

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
As the King of Iolcus, Jason had everything - a prosperous kingdom, the respect of his peers and a beautiful fiancé. But when she was murdered on their wedding day, Jason vowed to take revenge on her killers. To accomplish this, Jason must seek out the Golden Fleece and with the help of Greek mythology's greatest heroes, set sail on the most epic voyage of all. An epic scale action-RPG, Rise of the Argonauts immerses you in a gladiatorial adventure set in a wondrously imagined vision of ancient Greece. With deep exploration and epic quests, you live a life of brutal combat as you lead a team of iconic warriors -- including Jason, Hercules and Atalanta-- through a world ruled by mythological gods.

Lethal combinations of weapons and powers granted by the Gods, combined with the battle-tested loyalty of the Argonauts, make Jason a devastating force in combat You can change weapons on the fly to outmaneuver and inflict lethally devastating attacks on opponents, decapitating them with swords or cutting them in half with shields Battle deadly foes, fearsome opponents and legendary monsters while experiencing a living, breathing and vivid ancient world, taking you far beyond the generic broken statues and ruins that so often define the myth The thrill of battle and intensity of action is strengthened through Tyler Bates' (300 composer) epic musical score

Amazon.com Product Description:
Go back in time to an era where the Gods themselves walked the earth, and where the battles that occurred brought such fame to their heroes that their stories still resound today. With Rise of the Argonauts for the PlayStation 3, gamers can immerse themselves in one of the grandest tales to be told in the history of modern civilization.



You can immerse yourself into the grand story and mythology of Jason and the Argonauts. View larger.


Rise of the Argonauts has a look that evokes Ancient Greece. View larger.
The Story Unfolds
As the King of Iolcus, Jason had everything: a prosperous kingdom, the respect of his peers and a beautiful fiance, the princess Alceme. But when she was assassinated on their wedding day, Jason vowed to take revenge on her killers, and to restore her life. To accomplish this feat, you, as Jason, must seek out the Golden Fleece with the help of Greek mythology’s greatest


Jason gains new abilities and weapons as he progresses through the game. View larger.
heroes. An epic-scale, action role-playing game (RPG), Rise of the Argonauts immerses gamers in a gladiatorial adventure engaged in brutal combat, with warriors such as Hercules, Pan and Achilles as they traverse a world ruled by mythological gods.

Incredibly Absorbing Play
Rise of the Argonauts immerses players completely in the world of ancient Greece. One way this is accomplished is by streamlining the RPG elements in exciting new ways. For example, rather than increasing arbitrary stats like 'Intelligence plus one', items and upgrades give Jason unique, tangible abilities like the Fist of Ares, which causes shields to explode, ripping apart nearby enemies. And individual battles aren't dependant upon a hit-point and dice system. If you manage to get behind a shield and slice into your enemies' neck, their head will be cleaved from their shoulders. The developers also spent time researching the look and feel of ancient Greek artwork, crafts and architecture for a richness of surrounding that is astonishing.

As in ancient Greece, in Rise of the Argonauts players must curry the favor of the Gods. As you achieve deeds, you can dedicate them to different gods. A god's favor will also be affected by choices you make in conversations with non-player characters. As your favor, or disfavor, with a particular god rises, your abilities will be affected accordingly. But be careful, because the gods like few things better than meddling in the lives of their human subjects.

Amazing Battles are Loads of Fun
The battle system in Rise of the Argonauts is simple enough to pick up quickly, but has more finesse than your typical button masher. In battling enemies you weaken their armor, then their limbs, eventually finishing them off. Weapons can be switched mid-battle to unleash devastating combos, while using god-granted powers can also cause serious damage. Players can also choose how to defeat their enemies, and in so doing find interesting new allies. For example, in one of your battles you will fight Medusa herself. If you kill her, her brother Perseus will grieve for her but join you on your quest. If you save Medusa, however, Athena will command her to join your crew as a beginning to her penance for her misdeeds.

In Rise of the Argonauts gamers will find a deep, and enthralling story that is matched only by the fun of playing it. With a wide range of upgradeable weapons, loads of different heroes to help you, gods to entreat, and an ever-changing story that is constantly affected by the choices you make, the possibilities seem endless. Add to that stunning visuals, a musical score created by film composer Tyler Bates, and a smooth blend of action and RPG that is new to the genre, and this is a game you simply must check out.


You'll recognize characters from classic myths such as Medusa and her head of snakes.





Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars - God of War it Ain't
If you're looking for something similar to God of War and think this is it, you might want to look a little further. Despite the shared subject matter, this game is nothing like GOW either in gameplay, production values or sheer enjoyment factor.

The renderings here -- and in particular, the character renderings -- are clunky and relatively two dimensional, paling in comparison not only to God of War, but most other video games (even the recent Prince of Persia which left a lot to be desired in the character rendering department is better than this).

The gameplay is far too much talking, too much walking and not nearly enough action, and the battles are amazingly simple despite the complex array of powers you have to work with (and the amazing lack of direction as to how you utilize such powers). And the "choices" you have to make throughout the game aren't really choices, as most lead down exactly the same road.

The controls are fairly clunky and this game had so many glitches in it that it became really, really annoying. But most of all, the final "battle" and the game finale which follows is terribly easy, amazingly fast and completely unsatifying.

Save your money. Even Prince of Persia (which has major drawbacks of its own) was more enjoyable.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - A very solid and fun game with some minor flaws.
[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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