Previous game reviews from various websites were overly harsh and exaggerated.
The game incorporates a compelling original story and a new take on famous characters. The players will meet old and new villains and visit several drastically different environments. I found the landscapes and Buildings to be visually appealing (not quite on par with the new Prince of Persia, but good nonetheless), and voice acting to be quite decent. One of the best aspects of the game is the original soundtrack created by Tyler Bates, who created the score for the film "300."
Many reviews I have read described Rise of the Argonauts as a game with "too much dialogue" and "boring" and "clunky" combat controls. First of all, I am a long time player of RPGs. I own games such as LOTRO, Fallout 3, KOTOR, Diablo 2, Mass Effect, Neverwinter Nights (all for PC), and have played through to completion, but do not own, Balder's Gate, the Bard's Tale, and other games that escape my memory. And I would venture a guess that Rise of the Argonauts has LESS dialogue than, say, KOTOR. Dialogue is an important part of any RPG, I'm sure most gamers would agree with me. However, for those gamers who grow impatient with decently long breaks between heavy battles, I suggest you find another game.
Secondly, I found combat to be not the least bit clunky or boring. Despite the disappointing reality that customizing controls for the keyboard is an impossibility, the controls offered, while not necessarily simple, are easy to adjust to. Rise of the Argonauts offers a ton of finishing moves, combos, and combat powers that enhance battles tenfold. There is so much satisfaction when your mace causes an enemy's head to explode in slow motion. Most reviewers who make such comments as "boring" or "bland" combat obviously never invested time to really find out.
Also, I greatly enjoy the leveling concept in Rise of the Argonauts. The idea is basically you complete a quest or deed, and you can offer that quest or deed to a god or goddess, which in turn earns you favor with that particular god or goddess. Similarly, instead of dialogue choices that align the player to either "good" or "evil," a player makes choices that will earn favor with a particular deity. These aspects are a very refreshing take on the old leveling style. While there was wonderful satisfaction in hearing that magical sound effect when your character leveled up, there is also some charm, and pleasure, in offering your 75 kills to Ares the god of war for his favor. I hope this concept is kept and improved upon in future RPGs.
Despite the good qualities of Rise of the Argonauts, there are a few weak points. One of which is the game's frame rate. Fairly often the game will snag or skip in a violent manor where the simplest motions are near impossible to perform. The best thing to do at these points is wait patiently (about 5-10 seconds) for the game to stop skipping and then continue. Also, I encountered a few instances when the game simply crashed for no reason; at one point three times in twenty minutes. While this can get frustrating, it was not enough to chase me away from reopening the game and continuing my epic journey.
However, one of the biggest complaints I read about was the lack of a mini map for directional purposes. Reviewers described the lack of a mini map as "inconvenient" and "difficult for navigation," and described the map in the menu as "too difficult to read" or "taking too long to access." Well, in regards to direction, the game is very linear, and losing one's way on a linear map is almost idiotic, in a sense. I almost never had to look at the map, but when I did, it took all of 10 seconds. The map in the menu displays the entire area and all active quests and their locations. For me, this issue was blown far out of proportion and should not be considered as a true "negative" for the game.
In conclusion, I found Rise of the Argonauts a very entertaining game to play, both combat and RPG-wise. I hope I provided a less harsh and exaggerated view of the game and encouraged some gamers to at least TRY the game. The game is definitely worthy of the genre "RPG" and a score higher than 60/100 or 6/10 (the common score). I give Rise of the Argonauts a solid 8.5, and a thumbs up to Liquid Entertainment for risking the release of a new style of RPG to a somewhat old-fashioned gaming community.
An ending note: many of the professional reviews of the game are done for XBOX 360. The problems on the consoles far outweigh the problems for PC. So, in my opinion, go for the PC version.