Video Games : Rise of the Argonauts

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from: Codemasters

: Rise of the Argonauts
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Amazon.com's Price: $39.99
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Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years
Amazon Minimum Age: 204 months
Binding: DVD-ROM
Brand: Codemasters
EAN: 5024866337679
ESRB Age Rating: Mature
Format: DVD-ROM
Label: Codemasters
Manufacturer: Codemasters
Model: SARGOCDFC00
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Codemasters
Release Date: December 16, 2008
Sales Rank: 3706
Studio: Codemasters

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Product Description:
Rise of the Argonauts PC

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 PC, 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.


System Requirements
Minimum Recommended
CPU Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 2400+ Intel Core 2 Duo / AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+
Video Card Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 128 MB RAM and shader model 3 support (NVIDIA GeForce 6 series or better / ATI Radeon X1300 or better) Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512 MB RAM and shader model 3 support (NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT / ATI Radeon X1900)
Memory 1 GB 2 GB
Hard Drive Space
8 GB of free space
Sound Card
100% Direct X 9.0c compliant sound card





Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars - Bugs and glitches destroy the experience
Well having been waiting for a good Greek mythological RPG to come out, I was naturally excited for this game to come out when I first heard it was going to, however upton purchasing it, I was sadly disappointed. The biggest flaw I found with this game (and many other owners of the PC version I'm sure would agree or have experienced the same, just read the forums on the Codemasters website), is that after a while of playing, say 30 to 40 minutes, the game crashes to desktop. I found this occurs mostly during conversations in the game. It virtually makes the game unplayable, and the constumer support at Codemasters is no help whatsoever. All they do is tell you to update your drivers and such, and having all the latest drivers for every aspect of my system, I have proven them false. They basically assume that the fault lies with your system, but having a system myself that can run Crysis and Far Cry 2 on maxed out resolution and settings with no problem, maybe they should realize that the fault does not lie with the users system and instead take a look at their own buggy game. Needlass to say, I got no help there. Secondly, you cannot edit the ingame controls and thats just ridiculous. It almost seems like they were rushing its realese for Christmas and as a result, we the consumers have to pay for it. I gave the game's fun factor 2 stars because aside from all the crap the bugs in this game put you through, it was actually pretty fun for the short time I was able to play it. Also the graphics aren't groundbreaking, but they get the job done. Bottom line, I would not recommend this game for the PC, maybe the console versions are better but all I know is that Codemasters better start releasing patches or something, because this game is going to sorely disappoint most who play it.


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - Almost Great - Too bad the execution wasn't better
This review is based on the PC version of the game (Intel Quad Core at 3.2 ghz, 8 gig of ram, Nvidia 8800 GTS 512 running Vista HP 64 SP1), so the technical part of the review applies to the PC, not Xbox 360.

Overall Game Ranking: 3.5/5

I was really looking forward to this game, and as it showed great promise during the previews. Regrettably, due to some flawed design and execution decisions, a potentially great game became quite average. There are moments of greatness in the game, but overall, it's a shame they couldn't turn it into a true masterpiece. Guess I'll keep on waiting for Dragon Age in 2009.

Quick Pros:

Engrossing storyline, great atmosphere, gory battles, some interesting quests, and awesome music.

Quick Cons:

Mouse and Keyboard control scheme do not work very well. You really need to use a console controller to get the most out of it (I used a Xbox 360 controller running off Window wireless adapter). Game can be buggy at times with unexplained crashes to the desktop. Combat may be too simple, and it's hard to tell how beneficial some of your God Powers and equipments are.

Detailed Review:

Graphics: 3.5/5

The Unreal game engine graphic are contemporary to other recent games. It's not going to wow you, but it does the job adequately. City and zone designs are quite atmospheric and combat graphic is nicely done. The cut-scenes using the Bink video technology is grainy at times and leave a bit to be desired, but I'm running on a 24" monitor at 1920 x 1200, so it may just be me.

Sound Effects & Voice Acting: 3.5/5

The voice acting is decent and the sound effects are good. But it seems the voice recording is buggy at times. Now and then the the characters will repeat the same dialogue lines twice during a storyline conversation. Thankfully this bug didn't happen too often. Additionally, it seems some of the character voices were recorded at different volumes, so it was hard to hear certain characters at times.

Music: 4.5/5

The music is composed by the guy that did the music for 300 and he knows what he's doing. Very atmosphere and truly an excellent job.

The Story: 4.25/5

The main story and the background information offered through character dialogues is definitely one of the strong points of this game and came very close to Mass Effect in certain specific zones. There are epic moments in the game where it makes you feel like a true mythical hero and it really shines.

The problem is a lack of a real freedom of choice. Sure, you can change the order of islands to visit and who to take with you on the islands, but those are cosmetic changes. The main storyline is not going to change, and the one ending isn't going to change, so the incentive to replay it isn't going to come from the storyline, unless you are the type that likes watching the same movie over and over again.

Exploration: 3.5/5

Each zone is designed lovingly and is very atmospheric. However, there are only 7 zones in the game, and you can't revisit a zone after you are done there, so the railroad track feeling is very strong here.

I played on the Legendary (hardest) level and basically talked to everyone and did almost everything out there. And even then it only took me about 20 hours to finish. So don't expect this game to keep you busy for more than a day or two if you're a hardcore gamer.

Combat: 3/5

Combat is graphically exciting with all the blood and particle effects. But there really isn't that much depth to it. Even at the legendary level, the game isn't that hard and you can basically button mesh your way through everything with a mace (because it's good at bashing through shields, which are very annoying). So if you like Fable 2's style of melee combat (even more simplified if that's possible), you'll like this one.

What gets annoying at times is that certain boss battles require range attack, which is only available from one specific move of the spear line. So it forces you to use a spear ever so often. Otherwise there is really no need to use anything else other than a mace.

Finally, the designer made a conscious decision to hide the numbers from us, but the downside is that it becomes VERY difficult to feel an increase in power. Jason gets prettier looking armors and weapons throughout the game, but with only vague descriptions and no real numbers, it gets very difficult to know which weapon/armor are the most effective.

The same problem goes with God Powers. The active God Powers are pretty obvious (healing light heal, rampage boost combat, etc), but the passive ones are like a huh? With the vague description and lack of numbers, it's hard to know how effective they are. And while the active God Powers are obvious, you can only map four of them to the controller at a time, so it is limited as well.

Thus, in the attempt to simplify the game, the designers took away a possible reason for people to replay this game by dumbing it down too much.

Misc Gameplay issues: 2.5/5

This game is more buggy than it should be, and while there is a big map with quest goal markers to guide you in the pause menu, the lack of a mini-map/compass detracts somewhat from this game. I get the feeling that this game was rushed for the holiday season, hence the bugs and the feeling that it's a bit shorter than it should be.

Also, if you plan on playing this game on keyboard and mouse, don't bother buying it. This game is an action RPG, and the control scheme is very frustrating on keyboard and mouse (I tried it for the first few hours of the game, and it wasn't alot of fun).

Finally, the ending seemed a bit abrupt, and the lack of an epilogue for the npcs and cities (like the Fallout series or Bioware games) was a bit disappointing.

Rent or Buy?

Definitely rent if you are on a console. You can finish it fast. If you really enjoy it you can pick it up from the bargain bin later, but there's very little incentive to replay the game once it's beaten. As for PC, I paid $39.99 for it and don't really regret it. However, if money is tight, you may want to wait until the price drops a bit and a patch shows up to address some of the bugs.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - A great game with a great setting
I found Rise of the Argonauts to be a very fun game with a great setting. The game does not follow the original epic in any way save the most major aspects (Jason, The Argonauts and a few others) but that does not take away from the richness of the story.
The game is very heavy in dialog and I would almost say more dialog than combat. The dialog is well voice but the characters are not very expressive which can be distracting at times. The character designs for the main Argonauts are great and Jason himself is full of detail as his his selectable arms and armor. Generic NPCs leave much to be desired as there are only about two or three different models for each gender.
Overall I really enjoyed this game and recommend it to anyone who likes RPGS like Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect. 



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