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Rise of the Argonauts
PlayStation 3
Not the Stuff of Legends
3/5 stars
As someone who has spent a considerable amount of time reading Greek myths and studying the Classics, I was really looking forward to “Rise of the Argonauts” (“RoA”), as the title suggested that it was going to be based closely upon an extant Greek myth, unlike other games such as the “God of War” series, which make no such claim. Greek mythology has been somewhat on the rise lately in popular entertainment, what with the movies “300” and “Clash of the Titans,” as well as the previously-mentioned “God of War” games proving popular. I was excited for a chance to finally see a movie or game get it right.
Presentation
“RoA” uses the Unreal Engine for its graphics. Experienced gamers will already be shaking their heads in disgust at that statement, but I will elaborate for those unfamiliar with the engine. Using the Unreal Engine gives everything in the game an unnatural appearance. The environments, at least as far as ancient stone buildings go, are passable, but feel completely dead, as bushes and trees are just as static and immovable as a stone temple. There is no ambient animation in the form of cloud movement or little creatures skittering around, which makes all of the environments feel soulless. Character models range from decent to terrible. Random peasants all look terrible, are poorly animated, and generally can't escape the Uncanny Valley. The Argonauts themselves look significantly better. Hercules looks almost exactly how he should (except for his clean-shaven chin), Jason looks exactly how I imagined him, and Atalanta looks decent, despite the anachronistic leather bikini. The other two Argonauts, Achilles and the satyr Pan, look ridiculous. Achilles has bleached highlights in his hair and wields a stick with blades on both ends, whereas Pan is simply too tall and not grotesque enough to be a satyr… he looks more like a horse than a goat.
Sound fares much better than graphics in “RoA.” The voiceacting is competent, though there are consistent pronunciation issues with Greek names. The music is probably the game's strongest feature, as all but one of the tracks sound correct for the time period. The track in question includes electric guitars for some reason, which completely breaks the mood that was set so well by the rest of the soundtrack.
“RoA” has several technical issues that are quite intrusive. For one, when swinging the camera around, there are noticeable white boxes that appear at the edges of the screen as the environments pop into existence. There are also significant frame-rate issues, which cause stuttering even when there aren't a significant number of enemies/characters on screen. The camera itself follows Jason far too closely, which makes seeing things that aren't stuck to Jason's back more difficult than necessary. The game interface is also poorly designed. The designers proclaimed that they wanted minimal interface elements distracting the player from the game environment, thus they use visual cues for character damage. This simply does not work, as the camera doesn't hold still long enough to focus on how much flesh has been ripped off of a character's body. Thankfully, there are options to turn on more interface elements, such as a life meter. Unfortunately, the optional elements don't go far enough. Not only are the environments incredibly bland, they are incredibly big, which makes getting lost very easy. I found myself checking the map on the menu screen quite frequently and wishing there was an option to turn on a mini-map as part of the game's HUD.
Story
“RoA” should be based upon one of the two versions of the “Argonautika” that have survived to the present: the one contained in Apollodorus' “Library & Epitome” or the version by Apollonius of Rhodes. The original story of the Argonauts provides a huge cast of characters (many of whom could easily be excised for simplicity without damaging the narrative) and a linear mission structure of traveling from Jason's home in Iolchus to fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis, then returning. There are plenty of unique monster encounters along the way as well, which would provide ample combat and roleplaying experiences.
Unfortunately, “RoA” does not follow the “Argonautika” at all. The story presented in this game seems more like someone in the research department read the back cover of an English translation of Apollonius' version, then extrapolated upon that synopsis with a bunch of random bits of Greek mythology that he/she was vaguely familiar with, and finally topped it off with some completely made-up gobbledygook. Nearly every genealogical reference is wrong, which wouldn't be that big a deal, as mythological genealogies can be convoluted and have conflicts between different versions. But making Medusa and Perseus siblings (and including them in the Argonaut story when they were never mentioned in the original text) is unacceptably bad. Making Achilles (also not an Argonaut) into a gladiatorial arena fighter in a game that takes place way before the Roman period, in which arenas first became popular, is a terrible anachronism that just smacks of laziness. Worst of all is the central plot point in which King Jason (who wasn't actually a king in “Argonautika”) has his wedding to Alceme (a completely made-up character) interrupted by Ionian assassins, called ‘Blacktongues,' who kill her due to some prophecy involving Alceme and the Blacktongues' patron deity, the Titan of Sorcery, Hecate (who, while not an Olympian, was probably not actually considered a Titan by the ancient Greeks). So Jason must board the steampunk Argo and set off on a mission to find the Golden Fleece and use it to bring Alceme back from the dead… which isn't even one of the powers attributed to the Fleece in the original myth. In the course of his quest, Jason must visit four islands, none of which were involved in the original myth. I was also extremely disappointed in the fact that NONE of the monsters in the “Argonautika” actually appear in “RoA.” I was expecting to fight harpies, brazen bulls, a dragon, and a giant bronze golem at least, but instead found myself fighting Ionian soldiers, satyrs, and some sort of summoned undead fiends.
It is obvious, however, that someone did some research in creating the game world. The fact that there are Herms (statues of Hermes used to mark boundaries) scattered throughout the game is a testament to this fact (however, the Herms are missing their phalluses, probably to avoid an AO rating). It almost seems as if someone did all (or at least part) of the research necessary to make a true and accurate Argonaut game, but then some idiot in management decided to use their nephew's fan-fiction instead.
Gameplay
“RoA” claims to be an action/RPG, but it doesn't really fall into that category. It's more of an action/adventure with lots of talking. The gameplay is split between talking to people and killing things, surprisingly with proportionally more talking than killing. Experience isn't gained in the traditional RPG way of killing things, but by accomplishing “deeds” and dedicating them to one of four patron gods: Ares, Hermes, Apollo, and Athena. Each deity governs one of the pieces of equipment Jason can use, with Ares governing maces, Hermes governing swords, Apollo governing shields, and Athena governing spears. Dedicating deeds to a god gives Jason more favor with that god and earns him ‘aspect points' which can be spent to buy ‘aspects' (which is just another word for ‘skills' in this game) from that god. While some deeds are indeed accomplished through combat, such as slaying a specific number of a specific type of enemy, most are accomplished through advancing the plot or performing dialog-based side-quests. The aspects Jason can gain range from passive abilities that increase his power or defense, to skills that increase the effectiveness of his Argonaut allies, to ‘god-powers' that must be activated. God-powers add some potency to Jason's arsenal, but most can't be relied upon, as they have a somewhat short duration and can't be reused until the god-power meter has been refilled by killing enemies or performing other specific feats in battle.
The combat is fairly clunky and completely non-repeatable. There are a specific number of enemies in the game, and once Jason and the one-or-two Argonauts he has selected to accompany him have killed all the enemies, they will never come back. Pressing Square makes Jason perform a light ‘wounding strike,' Triangle makes him perform a heavy ‘execution strike,' X makes him perform a shield bash, and O makes him roll/dodge to the side. Holding L2 puts Jason in guard stance, which will block pretty much everything that enemies will throw at him. Pressing one of the four d-buttons activates whichever god-power the player has assigned to the specific button. Holding R2 allows Jason to perform weapon-specific special moves by pressing Square or Triangle, and holding R2 and pressing O while wielding a spear allows Jason to throw the spear, which is very important, as it is necessary to kill the final boss and IS NOT MENTIONED ANYWHERE IN THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL! Most battles boil down to pounding on an enemy until its guard breaks, then dealing a killing blow via execution. Of the three weapons, I found the sword to be the most useful simply because it is so fast and can cleave enemies in half at the waist with a connecting execution. There are a number of different swords, maces, and spears, as well as armor, to collect on the various islands of the game, most of which have added effects. Choosing the best weapon for one's individual play style takes some strategy, but combat still mostly boils down to blocking and executions. I was also very disappointed that Jason is the only controllable character. While the Argonauts are fairly competent for AI-controlled allies, it would have been nice to have the option to play as someone besides Jason, or have a second/third player join in the fray.
The dialog system is much better than the combat and involves Jason talking to various Greeks and helping them resolve issues or grilling them for information. Whenever a dialog choice occurs, a round button appears at the bottom of the screen with up to four choices orbiting around it. Pressing the right analog stick in the direction of a choice highlights it and X selects it. Some dialog events are timed, in which case a countdown appears in the central button. Most dialog choices are aligned with one of the four patron deities and earn Jason favor with their aligned deities. I thought this was an incredibly cool addition to the game, as Jason can either be direct, tricky, caring, or lawful in his dialog, with some of the choices having significant effects on cutscenes. I reminded me quite a bit of the excellent dialog trees from the “Baldur's Gate” series of PC games, only with the added benefit of tying into the favor/aspect system.
Unfortunately, all of the talking and fighting in “RoA” doesn't add up to much. The game is incredibly short. I was able to complete it in two days.
Overall
“Rise of the Argonauts” is an embarrassment in how poorly it represents Greek mythology. As a game, however, it fares a bit better. While the combat is a bit clunky, it is reasonably enjoyable and the dialog sections provide a solid example for other developers to follow. Classicists and fans of the “Argonautika” should stay away from this game, as should anyone who is interested in learning more about the actual Argonaut myth. Those who don't care about mythology and just want a way to kill a weekend should consider renting “Rise of the Argonauts.”
Presentation: 3/5
Story: 1/5
Gameplay: 3.5/5
Overall (not an average): 3/5
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