A review from a point of a Greek gamer's view about this Greek mythology based game.

User Rating: 7.5 | Rise of the Argonauts PC
At first, I want to say that I've spent some great time playing this game. I enjoyed every bit of it, from the very beginning till the end. I want to explain why I gave it a 7.5 and not a 10 (although I feel to give it a 10 for the effort and the whole idea, my logic says 7.5). The game is too short (hardly around 15 hours), the dialogue choices you are given lead to the same result and are just camouflage for its linear structure, no replay value to complete the game again and the most basic letdown for me is that the real myth of Jason and his Argonauts was raped hard by the creators because they changed around 95% from the original story. Plus, there isn't an option to edit the game & graphic controls as you wish (that's weird for a 2008 pc game).

It's obvious that the developers of the game like the ancient Greek era to create something like this, so I can't understand why they didn't respect it. The myth of Jason and his Argonauts is so rich, incredible and epic by its own, so I can't understand why they decided to transform it into this mix of the 300 and the gladiator movies. Hollywood has already created 2 movies about Jason and his Argonauts. They watched wrong movies to get inspiration, that's for sure. For example, in the game you meet Achilles in the gladiator's arena of a city named Mycenae. Achilles has nothing to do with Mycenae in Greece, he's the prince of the Myrmidons and he's not a gladiator champion because, simply, there wasn't any Gladiator arena in ancient Greece nor gladiators. That was the "trademark" of ancient Roman entertainement. In ancient Greece the simple people were entertained by going to theatres and watching comedies/tragedies or watching the ancient Greek Olympic games. Also, Achilles didn't live in the age of Jason. I can go on with about fifty major changes to this myth, but there's no point really because I know that they did it on purpose and not by ignorance. I know that's it's just a game (and I enjoyed it a lot as I said), but for me the game with all these "Americanizations" to the story, lost its original shine. I thought that I was going to play the story of Jason and I was playing something else.

On the other hand, to be fair, this whatever version of Jason's myth has great structure to play nonstop and watch/play with agony what will happen next in the game. The design of the ancient Greek places you visit was very well done and very close to the "real thing". The design of the Argonauts is fantastic too. Their faces, hair, armors/weapons, muscles have many details to admire. Actually, you won't find a person/creature badly designed. I also want to give credits to the creators for the brilliant design of centaurs and satyrs (these two are some of the most characteristic creatures in Greek mythology). Voice acting is satisfying but at times I wanted more drama and soul in them. The music of the game is TOP (Written by Tyler Bates, the composer of the 300 movie, so no further comment is needed I think). Graphics are satisfying, not spectacular but I can't say that are bad. I mention this because you visit some epic places and you just wish for a little more detail and interaction with the environment. I found the combat simple but pleasant.

All in all, Rise of the Argonauts has action (hack and slash & button mash), rpg and adventure elements. You won't find perfection to any of these elements in the way and the amount they are used, but you'll remember the epic atmosphere, brilliant story presentation and minimal but pleasant game-play it provides for around 15 hours.