E3 2008: Rise of the Argonauts Hands-On

Jason is not a happy king. Following the murder of his wife, the legend of Greek mythology and king of peaceful Iolcos sets off on a very unpeaceful journey to recover the Golden Fleece. Not to be confused with a warm yellow sweater from the Gap, this Golden Fleece is believed to hold the power to resurrect his wife, Princess Alceme.

At E3 2008, we got our hands on Rise of the Argonauts for the first time, playing through a bit of the Mycenae arena, home to tournament champion and ultimate warrior Achilles. We played a PC build and used an Xbox 360 wired controller--a good thing since this action role-playing game is so combat oriented. As a weapon master proficient in many combat arts, Jason can use a sword, spear, or mace from the beginning of the game. Along the way he'll find five upgrades for each weapon, as well as five improved sets of armor and clothing. The X button is a light attack, A is a shield attack, B evades, and Y unleashes a destructive finisher. Most combos are strung together with variations of X and Y, although switching your weapon in the middle of a combo will also unlock some interesting moves. We hacked and slashed with the sword, pressed a bumper button to switch to a spear, and, with the spear still on Jason's back, bent over and sliced a guy in half.

These finishing moves play into the concept of lethality being pushed by developer Liquid Entertainment. Lead designer Charlie Price kindly pointed out that games are the only medium in which you can attack an enemy with a sword over and over and he won't die. Usually when you attack someone with a sword, he loses at least a limb or a vital organ. To address this issue in Rise of the Argonauts, almost every enemy can be killed with one hit. Figuring out how to do so will take some experimentation, usually with a bevy of X,X,Y combos, but knocking away an enemy's shield will almost always result in a split second where his torso is exposed. At that point, you can slice it in half. Sweet.

What's nice about the combat in Rise of the Argonauts is that it isn't based on back-end dice rolls or hit points. If you slice an enemy in the neck, he'll lose his head. It's that simple, and it's a refreshing change of pace in the hack-and-slash action RPG genre. Along the way you'll also recruit the legendary heroes Hercules, Achilles, Atalanta, and Pan as your Argonauts, and one hero at a time can join you in combat. Each hero will fight enemies independently, but they will also unlock special attacks if you are fighting close to each other. Hercules, for example, will lift enemies in the air and hold them while you carefully aim a decapitation strike.

In addition to pulping an enemy's head with the mace or tossing spears into the hearts of foes from afar, you'll have access to god powers. Your choices in the dialogue tree will curry favor with either Apollo, Hermes, Aries, or Athena, who is actually an omnipotent hottie. Our Jason was currently in the good graces of Hermes, the smart-aleck god of cunning and trickery. Being the guide to the underworld for wayward spirits, Hermes granted us the power to create a portal to hell that would quickly suck into the afterlife any enemy that we knocked into the air.

The Argonauts move about the ancient world on board the Argo, the legendary ship constructed by the master shipwright Argus. Much like the Ebon Hawk in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the Argo serves as headquarters for Jason. There, he can converse with any of the many passengers he'll pick up along the way, chat with his fellow Argonauts, pray to a statue of Alceme, or dedicate his deeds to the gods in the ship's shrine for bonus experience points. Deeds include decapitating five enemies in a row, so dedicate accordingly.

The final few minutes of our demo were spent on Kythra, a once-sacred island that was home to the Golden Fleece. No longer. After Medusa defiled the shrine to the goddess Athena, Athena simply petrified the entire island, populous and all. Take that, heretics. Medusa, of course, was transformed from a sexy high priestess into a gigantic serpent creature. After a few minutes of threatening banter, Jason attacked, slicing off her giant tentacles as they wrapped around the pillars of the temple. And then with a quick push of the pause button, Liquid unceremoniously cut short the demo before Jason could carve out the heart of Medusa and present it to Athena. Still, we loved learning that Jason will pass judgment on the many petrified citizens of Kythra, deciding whether they will live or die, once unpetrified, of course.

Our time with Rise of the Argonauts was short but was most definitely sweet. Action fans looking for more depth from their hack-and-slash heroes, and RPG fans tired of turn-based combat and hit points, should enjoy the blend of action and role-playing that is Rise of the Argonauts. Prepare to set sail on the Argo this fall.