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Rise of the Argonauts

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7.7 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 43 critic reviews
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Based on 29 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Codemasters

Developer: Liquid Entertainment

Genre(s): Action, Role-Playing Game

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: December 16, 2008

Summary

Rise of the Argonauts immerses gamers in a gladiatorial adventure, set in wondrously imagined vision of ancient Greece. With deep exploration and epic quests, players live a life of brutal combat as they lead a team of iconic warriors - including Jason, Hercules and Atalanta - through a world ruled by mythological gods. [Codemasters]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Worth Playing

In spite of its technical shortcomings, Rise of the Argonauts is still a truly fun game that has gotten a bit of a bum rap. The story is very intriguing, and the leveling system is handled superbly.

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Official Xbox Magazine UK

A refreshing change of pace and damn good fun. [Feb 2009, p.82]

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GameFocus

Rise of the Argonauts will give you some hours of fun and will even teach a thing or two about Greek mythology but that weird feeling of unfinished business and awkwardness will keep popping up during your quest. If you can bypass these annoyances, you will find some way to appreciate the work and the effort put on this game by the developer to please those “I want innovation but not that innovative” whiny gamers. Why this reminds me of Too Human all of a sudden?

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Official Xbox Magazine

Fortunately, the combat and RPG gameplay are where this game sizzles. [Feb 2009, p.82]

GamingExcellence

The final package is still good, but if you were planning on it being the next big thing, you may be disappointed.

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ZTGameDomain

The combat is competent if not a bit repetitive and the story is entertaining from start to finish.

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Extreme Gamer

So Rise of the Argonauts isn’t the best action RPG on the market, but it’s no where near the worst. If you enjoyed God of War, or action role-playing games with a mythological twist then you should check out Rise of the Argonauts.

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InsideGamer.nl

Despite the graphical glitches, poor collision detection, and frustrating (lack of) integration of the world map, Rise of the Argonauts is simply a good game. Both story and dialogue are well-written, the action is awesome and gory, and the skill-upgrading system is thought out really well.

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Gamer 2.0

With an adventure at only 10 hours long with no redeeming co-op component, your first run-through should be enough to get what you want out of the game, which is a shame cause Rise of the Argonauts, could have been so much better.

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RPGamer

Rise of the Argonauts is a difficult game to judge, mainly due to its backwards design. The majority of the game is spent engaged in the story rather than the combat, which is unusual for a game of its type.

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Xbox360Achievements

Rise of the Argonauts tells a great story with interesting characters, but fails to utilize Greek mythology well enough to reach its full potential, falling short as both an action game and an RPG.

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RPG Fan

Rise of the Argonauts is not unplayable. It's just mediocre and marred by countless careless mistakes born out of a lack of inspiration and passion for the product.

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WonderwallWeb

A decent take on ancient Greece which is played out in a action / RPG style.

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Console Monster

Rise of the Argonauts rises to the challenge but comes crashing down. It feels like a cut-down RPG, despite the rather broad dialogue options.

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GameTrailers

A poor man's Mass Effect. It's too heavy on frivolities and too light on gameplay.

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Planet Xbox 360

The interesting yet predictable narrative is buried deep within poor design choices.

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IGN

The problem is how the game's put together – so much has been stripped from what we traditionally think of as an RPG and an action game that the result feels like an awkward, neutered hybrid bloated by hours and hours of static dialogue sequences.

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GamePro

Rise of the Argonauts had mythic origins-it's based on Jason's legendary quest for the fabled Golden Fleece-but the only thing epic about it is the amount of failure it produces. Solid action and a cool skill system isn't enough to save a game marred by a poor presentation and dull design.

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GameSpot

Jason spends too much time talking and not nearly enough time fighting in this Greek mythology-inspired action-RPG.

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Games Radar (in-house)

Rise of the Argonauts has a nice story and something to offer, but shortcomings like this chip away at the fun and ultimately keep the game from matching its legendary sources of inspiration.

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Game Informer

Rise of the Argonauts is an average action game. [Feb 2009, p.84]

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Absolute Games

Tyler Bates' excellent music, great voice-overs and amusing banter of Jason's companions are the only things that elevate Rise of the Argonauts above value-priced drivel.

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Cynamite

Disappointing! Granted, the aggressive argonauts deliver a fresh setting and some good ideas. But when it comes to the basics, the gaming experience is rather weak.

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XGN

Due to it's shortcomings, Rise of the Argonauts doesn't score that high. The game comes out quite good, thanks to it's great storyline.

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3DJuegos

Innovation in Rise of Argonauts goes in the wrong direction. Although the story is not bad and the epic and mythic world remains interesting, it's gameplay mechanics and technical flaws make the game boring and uninteresting.

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The Onion (A.V. Club)

There isn't enough actual gaming here, so like a TV host facing the "stretch" signal, Argonauts tries to fill the void with talk.

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Cheat Code Central

If there's an upside to this game, it's that despite the shallow combat system, it's rather amusing to spill blood in battle. That's a small upside for a game that costs $60 and demands you sit through hours of talking just to kill stuff.

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Team Xbox

Fighting, when you get to do it, is good – there are a lot of moves to try out. But the constant shuttling during missions blows.

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MS Xbox World

Rise of the Argonauts is not a terrible game, and in some respects is quite enjoyable, especially in regards to its story. However, the low production values in the gameplay and graphics department, does mean that you’ll possibly find enjoyment is severely hindered and your patience somewhat tested.

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Hardcore Gamer Magazine

While Rise of the Argonauts offers lots of hacking and slashing, which is fun for a time, its story, style and sound aren’t enough to atone for its shallowness and elevate this odyssey to the epic heights to which it aspires.

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Total Video Games

Bland, unoriginal, buggy, beleaguered with frame-rate issues, filled with visual 'quirks', and featuring combat that's lacking any great sense of satisfaction, Rise of the Argonauts is a truly lacklustre action-RPG experience.

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Gamervision

The constant glitches awful enough to dissuade even the strongest at heart from playing for more than a few hours, and Rise of the Argonauts might be one of the most disapointing games of the generation.

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D+PAD Magazine

From its ship-based hub to its mythological roots via its highly linear attempts at non-linearity, Rise of the Argonauts is very much a case of ’seen it all before, done much better’.

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Play.tm

This kind of thing has been done so much better so many times before there's no reason to invest your time and money here, even if you've a hankering for ancient Greece.

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X360 Magazine UK

The fighting is okay, a few design decisions commendable, but ultimately there is just not enough great game here. Tiny levels with nothing in them? Looks like we are the ones being golden fleeced.

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games(TM)

There’s something strangely likeable about it all – the ambition and passion of the development team is actually oddly appealing. It’s just all so misguided. [Mar 2009, p.124]

Teletext GameCentral

Horribly unrefined historical romp whose few positive features are outweighed by dull, glitchy questing.

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Edge Magazine

Die-hard roleplaying game fans might have shrugged off its technical flaws and turgid combat if only the story had a pay-off. But instead of a tragic hero, Jason’s a dud. [Feb 2009, p.86]

Eurogamer

Instead, the game concludes disagreeably, as virtually everyone Jason is supposed to protect is left tortured and dead by his original departure, and he simply has a party because he got what he wanted. For an action RPG elevated beyond its serviceable components by the allure of rich mythology to end in such a desperate contradiction is comprehensively self-destructive.

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Destructoid

Sadly, those at the helm allowed it to be completely ruined by poor design and utterly inconceivable schoolboy errors that should not still be occurring in the year 2008.

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Thunderbolt

Fans of the ancient myths will want to give this blandly rewritten adventure a wide berth as will RPG fans and people waiting patiently for the next God of War. There’s no challenge here, no excitement and ultimately no game worth playing. What a wasted opportunity.

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1UP

Absolutely nothing about Rise of the Argonauts stands out as special, and just when you think the game's about to take a turn for the better (at least in terms of reworking the Jason and the Argonauts story), its fundamental and technical problems -- including some annoying loading times in the Xbox 360 version -- bring it way back down.

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Xbox World 360 Magazine UK

A wretched game that totally fails to compete with other hack-'n'-slashers on 360.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 29 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mel G gave it a10:
Rise is a truly epic quest with an all star cast (Most of all Metal Gear Solid series voice actors lend voices to these characters) though it may have slight drawbacks with framerate issues, Rise is a stunning epic story of love and betrayal. truly an awesome experience!

Ari S gave it a9:
This game comes highly recommended from a fan of Greek mythology, video games, and action RPGs. Yes, there are bugs, two of which caused me to reset my XBox, but it didn't detract from the overall enjoyment of this game. Yes, there was a lot of dialog, but it was cleverly used for plot exposition and to further detail the characters; it wasn't used in lieu of gameplay; and it was done well. Very good and clever writing. Not since Jade Empire have I had that much fun with NPC dialog, and not since Mass Effect has a dialog system been that intuitive and easy to use. The idea of performing deeds and dedicating them to your gods for power-ups was done surprisingly well, and had me trying new way to gain more. The powers themselves were creative and useful. It saddens me that this game was so underappreciated: either the reviewers were expecting another combat-heavy gorefest like God of War, or they couldn't really get immersed into the game. I think that the designers' refusal to talk down to their audience may have had something to do with it. At any rate, this game will most definitely appeal to older games (30+ year olds, like me) than it would to a younger crowd, but then again, not all games can or should be MMOs. I was (and still am, in the form of DLC) hoping for more to this game: it seemed a bit too short for me. If there's ever a sequel, which I would buy, I hope they fix the bugs and extend the content.

cuah e. gave it a1:
Wow, did amateurs designers and producers with AAA artists make this game? Another game yet again with great graphics and just run of the mill suck ass gameplay...why hire amateurs, come on people! Not everyone is a game designer it takes years! Just because your producer can't do anything else doesn't make them a dev...well I'm just hating this game...the movie made before Christ was born is 10000 times better....everyone on the team, shoot yourselves or choose another profession this just sucks, I want my money back!

Toltec 132 gave it a3:
Why did I buy this game? I've been in the game industry for 13 years now and I have a sense in games now when the designers were driven astray. Which ever UI designer or lame producer/ "creative" (meaning I can't do anything else so I'm a producer) decided on removing all the UI elements, go climb the highest mountain and jump off! I just much more time hitting the start button looking for my minimap than enjoying the game. That's not the worst of this game, the HORRIBLE I mean HORRIBLE writing and cutscenes, thank GOD or GODS in this case, because they need more than one God to make this game money that they inlcuding a skip movie button...can I shoot myslef now? Please look at forced unleased, fantastic writing, I actually watched the movies! Can you believe it? This game was a great idea, great art oncea again this year, but poorly executed design ideas, probably a producer's fault....I'm only going to play this for about 1 more hour before becomes a coaster for my Achilles.

chip w. gave it a9:
It has always been my premise that the japanese ruined computer games when nintendo came out with mario. All notion that a computer game could challenge your intellect was thrown out the window in favor of fast reflexes. The best part about playing a computer game before mario was that you felt like you were going against a true artificial intelligence, however primitive, aka atari, commodore, etc. It seems as if all the critics that metacritic has assembled all follow each other's lead, like lemmings. The critiques are mainly shallow, usually focusing on design, seemingly written by an amateurish cadre of junior engineer wannabes.

As3ad Mechalany gave it a10:
The Reviews really ruins the expectations for the game it is a really well made game , both a great story line and great action battles. Even though at the beginning the game gets little complicated for us to fully master it, like god powers and how to use the weapons , but when u do, u will find your self indulged in a raw action game

Rex L. gave it an8:
If you're a smart gamer you won't listen exclusively to critics these days. If you want a game that is bloody, action-packed and has graphics to put God of War or Gears of War to shame then this game is not for you. But if you are looking for a game with a good story, unique gameplay and different than all the rest this is the game for you. Personally, I love Greek mythology so it was easy for me to get sucked in. The system of character development through accomplishing deeds and gaining favor from the gods is unique and refreshing. Plain and simple this is an RPG with all the dialogue more action and less micromanagement. But still it is very enjoyable. Dialogue can be a bit excessive and some graphical glitches do occur but not enough to give it the low scores the critics did. Side note: The game was made using the Unreal 3 Engine and it is my experience that all games made with this even Gears of War have a texture lag so this is weak complaint.

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Rise of the Argonauts

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