RISE OF ARGONAUTS

GAME DETAILS :-

Developer : Liquid Entertainment

Publisher : Codemasters

Engine : Unreal Engine 3

Genre : Action Role-Playing And Third-Person Shooter

Release Date : December 16 , 2008

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS :-

Operating System : Windows XP / Windows Vista

CPU : AMD Athlon64 X2 5000+ / Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

Memory (RAM) : 1 GB

Graphics Hardware : DirectX 9.0c Compatible Video Card with Memory 256 MB

[NVIDIA : GeForce 7900 Series
ATI : Radeon X1900 Series]

Hard Disk Space : 8 GB

GAME FEATURES :-

In Rise of the Argonauts, the player assumes the role of the protagonist Jason, a Greek king. Jason's wife, Alceme, is assassinated and Jason avenges her by killing the assassin. He sealed her body in the temple where they were supposed to marry. After that, Jason discovers that the only way to bring back his wife is to obtain the golden fleece. Traveling to Delphi, Jason learns from the Oracle that the only way for the road to the fleece be revealed is to find the three descendants of three of his patron gods: Hermes, Ares and Athena. The descendant of Hermes is based on Saria, Athena's on Kythra, whereas Ares' is located at Mycanae. After convincing all of them to join the Argonauts, Jason travels to the Oracle again and leanrs that the fleece is at Tartarus. When Jason travels back to Iolcus to revive Alceme he confronts Pelias, his uncle who is a traitor. During the course of the game, Jason will face Blacktongues who are behind Alceme's assassination, Ionians, mythical beasts and other characters but he will not be alone. Four more argonauts join you along the way and one witch who was a former Blacktongue but now wants to destroy them. The high point of Rise of the Argonauts is undoubtedly the combat; Jason is skilled in the use of swords, spears, and maces, and he carries one of each as well as a shield at all times. The controls are uncomplicated and responsive, and it's good that they're the same no matter which weapon you're wielding, because you're encouraged to switch between them on the fly. None of the enemies are particularly intelligent, but they're varied enough that you need to employ different weapons and strategies to get the better of them. Adding the HUD makes it much easier to know when Jason's health is low, though it's not always important because, in keeping with his mythological status, he's a tough guy to keep down. When your health drops to zero you don't die; rather, you enter a "state of grace" in which the screen blurs and you have 10 seconds or so to avoid taking any more damage before you regenerate around half of your health. You'll die if you sustain a single hit during that time, but there are very few enemies who can keep up as you frantically run and roll around.

There are a number of ways in which you become a more formidable fighter as the story progresses. You'll be joined by a handful of allies who will fight alongside you two at a time, you'll be able to add more powerful weapons and armor to your arsenal, and you'll learn new abilities by gaining favor with the gods Ares, Apollo, Athena, and Hermes. Each of the four gods has a skill tree composed of around 25 different "aspects" arranged into tiers so that more powerful ones become available only late in the game. The aspects vary a great deal and include both passive abilities and god powers that must be triggered manually in combat. Passive abilities include things like regenerating health anytime you kill an enemy, doing more damage to shields, and making your allies more powerful. God powers, which are fun but rarely needed outside of the most challenging difficulty mode, include temporary effects such as increased damage, explosions, and the ability to turn enemies into stone. Settling a dispute among two traders is unlikely to impress in the same way that lopping off the heads of 25 enemies is, for example. The second way to curry favor with a god is by selecting dialogue choices that are clearly labeled as being appreciated by them. This can make the act of choosing dialogue a mechanical one if you care more about pleasing a specific god than you do about your interaction with whomever you're talking to, but the conversations feel so unnatural anyway that this is as good a way as any to get through them quickly. It's unfortunate that so much of your time in Rise of the Argonauts is spent in conversation, because much of the dialogue is poorly written and the voice acting is even worse. It's conceivable that one is the victim of the other, but certainly neither deserves any credit for keeping the story compelling. Jason spends too much time talking and not nearly enough time fighting in this Greek mythology-inspired action-Role Playing Game. With a greater emphasis on combat and fewer technical shortcomings, Rise of the Argonauts could have been easy to recommend. As it is, though, this is a great story poorly told.

GAME REVIEW :-

6/10

Rise Of Argonauts Trailer :-