Rise Of The Argonauts

Rise of the Argonauts Review
By Aaron Bryenton

Rise of the Argonauts has been one of the most awaited game releases of 2008, especially for Codemasters fans who have tasted sumptuous fare from them before in games such as IGI, Operation Flashpoint and Overlord. With a Greek mythological tale behind it, there is little that can go wrong, especially since Rise of the Argonauts revolves around the legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece. The graphics released in various demos all over the Internet look superb - they have not just impeccable graphics but also a grandly creative imagination supporting the designs. Look at Artemis' equine-plant avatar and you will understand. Even Hercules has been revamped for this package. Here he is really a monolith, a mighty man-mountain who will actually be a character within the game.

The game begins with Jason's wife being slain on the day they were about to be wedded and then Jason taking the revenge of her murder by killing her slayer. But at this time Jason understands that there is something that can bring his dead wife back to life. This is the Golden Fleece and if he wants his wife back, he needs to suffer various hardships to bring this Golden Fleece to her. The main theme of the game revolves around Jason's exploits in acquiring the Golden Fleece. For this he has to journey to Argos and the journey is not going to be one without peril. But, he can enlist helpers to assist him in his task. These are the Argonauts.

A great part of the strategy of the game is in selecting the right Argonauts for the task. Codemasters has not yet released the complete list of Argonauts that will be available. The ones that are confirmed are Hercules, Atalanta, Pan, Odysseus and Achilles. Other possible Argonauts that will help Jason with his task could include Ephemus, Orpheus and Philoctetes. Each Argonaut will have a special skill, such as Hercules has his extremely immense strength (he stops a wild boar with his bare hands in one of the demos released) and Atalanta is higly dexterous with the bow and arrow.

The game makers have taken various liberties with the main plot in order to make it more palatable to the game version. There are some romantic elements added too. In the original version of Jason and the Golden Fleece, there is no dead wife that Jason wishes to resurrect with the Golden Fleece. There the quest is to obtain the fleece for himself to protect himself from his uncle. There are many such plot liberties throughout the game, but they do not take away anything from this promising to be a fabulous game.

Both the sound and visual effects are stunning, with no efforts spared in either. The weapons, especially, are of notable appeal and that is what takes this Greek game several leagues ahead. Action scenes are well conceived too as is seen from the previews of the game. The levels are designed on the particular traits of the Greek Gods with a boss monster in each.

So far, everything is going good for Rise of the Argonauts and there seems to be nothing stopping this game from becoming this year's holiday blockbuster. Let's wait and watch.

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