Rise of the Argonauts

Rise of the Argonauts - (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Developer: Liquid
Format: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Genre: Action RPG


A nice idea that doesn't quite come off



If you never paid attention to your Greek mythology as a kid, you've a bit of catching up to do. Actually playing ROTA feels like watching all of those old Jason and the Argonauts movies with a bit of the film Troy thrown in for good measure. This is a sprawling epic of myths and fabled beasts where you'll switch between close combat and RPG elements solving quests, adding to your band of godlike heroes and managing a complex but rewarding deed system of achievements.

You'll take on the role of Jason and soon after the cutscenes the quest begins. Progress is a mixture of action combat (with more straightforward combos and standard attacks that) and a Mass Effect-style conversations. With these you're responses are varied for you to choose and are formatted as states of mind rather than the actual sentences. So you can judge who you're talking to with suspicion, anger, empathy and so on.

You'll power up by amassing deeds, which you can then dedicate to the gods. Aligning your actions and speech to certain gods will then allow you to gain more abilities - the usual mix of health regeneration and shield type stuff. After a lengthy play the combat does become repetitive with your heroic companions such as Hercules or Achilles doing their own thing. It's a nagging low point of the game that you can't direct them in battles and it's hard enough when it becomes tricky to find your actual quest goals without an in-game mini-map.

ROTA tries very hard to try out new things, to combine the RPG and action genres, and it does a lot of them very well. Graphics and gameplay have a lot to offer and there's enough hack and slash to keep you satiated. But a little too much conversation and simplistic structure dampens its overall success. Still, if you want to brush up on the Argonauts, then look no further.