It's difficult to know where to begin when it comes to picking out the problems with Rise of the Argonauts, so we'll just stick to the major issues. It's quite enough.
First off, the combat is awful. Slow, repetitive and clunky, it isn't in the same league as Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry 4 or even - and we shudder to say this - Too Human. Instead of unleashing devastating combo attacks you're reduced to weakly stabbing at opponents with a spear/sword/mace (that's it) like a petulant child poking a lump of broccoli with his fork. Unsurprisingly then, combat is kept to a minimum here and you actually spend most of your time wandering around barren, linear landscapes having inane chats with legends from Greek mythology.
Conversations themselves are stilted, long-winded and marred by grating American accents. Up close, the abominations you discourse with look like they were made by a six year-old in the character creation mode of Tiger Woods 2002, and facial models are regularly repeated. Hercules in particular amused us, as not only does he look like he's swallowed a barrel, but his face bears an uncanny resemblance to Ben Stiller in Dodgeball.
Perhaps the most irritating aspect of the dialogue, however, is the distance you have to haul your badly-animated ass to get to them. You'll be running through sections of bland scenery for several minutes at a time to get to an event, only to discover that the second half of your fetch-and-carry task requires you to walk back and chat to someone stood at the place you started. It's a cynical way of artificially lengthening the game, and you have to complete these protracted side-quests to gain experience.
If there is one aspect of the game that impresses, it's the way your stats are used to level Jason up. Complete a side-quest, or reach a landmark (like killing 50 enemies) and you'll get event text on your screen - like a mini-Achievement. These events can then be dedicated to the gods in exchange for better skills and powers. Nice idea.
Shame the skill trees and dedication processes are fiddly, and that adding skills apparently has zero effect on the gameplay. Throw in lengthy load-times, animation that judders when you walk, and a wailing soundtrack and you've got one of the Worst Games of 2009. Stick that on the box.
right in the nuts! Guess the reviewer really did hate it. Good thing i didn't pick it up the other day then. Guess it'll be in a bargain bin for a fiver soon enough.
Its a shame really , it had potential by the bucket load.
If there's one list of stories that should make a totally jaw-dropping action-RPG it's the Greek myths. They're packed with sex, violence and more betrayal than a Bourne story. How is it possible to take fantastic timeless stories and make it all this bad?
2.3?!? - 2.3?!?...this is an outrage and only seems to show CVGs' bias for Norse mythology.
Seriously dissapointing though - I had high hopes for this game too. To be fair, I didn't expect it to be hitting the really high review scores, but this - along with EGs' 3/10 - just means that I won't even pick it up in the bargain bucket.
Shame - a real shame.
EDIT: A 'bargain bucket' has something to do with KFC, right? - I probably meant 'bargain bin'!
If there's one thing about reviews it's to never take them as being Gospel truth- if I did that I'd never have bought Lost Odyssey, which is by far and away my favourite X-Box 360 game.
HOWEVER; this game is getting panned from all directions, and probably with good reason. It seems to have all the gameplay finesse of Lord of the Rings Conquest combined with the most tedious aspects of Lord of the Ring On-Line's (Ooooohhh, OI LOST MOI HOBBIT SON!!! WULD YOO FOIND 'IM?!!)fetch, carry, bring repeat questing. I'll play it, I'll check it out for myself but the general barometer isn't looking good from this game, which looked so great just 6 months ago.
Don't game testers at any point turn around and say "This game is complete balls" to the developers.. How do these kind of games make it to the street?? World gone mad i tell you
i've read a few reviews for this that have all given it at least a 7. they have said that the game does take a long time to get going and does seem very poor at the start. i'm still gonna chance it though as i love anything to do with ancient mythology and i've liked everything i've seen of this so far. maybe a quick rental will determine whether this review was just s**te or not.
oh and the "A wretched game that totally fails to compete with other hack-'n'-slashers on 360." quote seems wrong. i thought this was an adventure game. its not supposed to be anything like Devil May Cry
s**t! I was really looking forward to this, but it must be a real steaming pile of donkey s**t to only warrant 2.3 ffs!!
Not going anywhere near it with my own cash but might just rent it for a weekend as I liked the look of the graphics and ancient Greek mythology setting.
Ouch! The Official Xbox Magazine gave this 8/10. -10 credibility, OXM.
Hm. I don't know. One could just as easily question the credibility of CVG. They certainly gave this game a thrashing review-wise. I had good hopes for this game but this certainly doesn't sound promising. Then again I fail to match the reviewers description of the character graphics with the images I have seen of the game so far which makes me a bit suspicious. Perhaps someone had a bad day at the CVG office today?
Oh well. I wasn't planning on buying this game straight away and maybe I never will after reading this, but I'm still willing to keep a casual eye on it should the price plummet.
If there's one thing about reviews it's to never take them as being Gospel truth- if I did that I'd never have bought Lost Odyssey, which is by far and away my favourite X-Box 360 game.
HOWEVER; this game is getting panned from all directions, and probably with good reason. It seems to have all the gameplay finesse of Lord of the Rings Conquest combined with the most tedious aspects of Lord of the Ring On-Line's (Ooooohhh, OI LOST MOI HOBBIT SON!!! WULD YOO FOIND 'IM?!!)fetch, carry, bring repeat questing. I'll play it, I'll check it out for myself but the general barometer isn't looking good from this game, which looked so great just 6 months ago.
Exactly and thats what a lot of people need to remember here. As I have said in previous posts I wouldn't of bought have the games I have if I went by the reviews.
Shame if the is actually this bad as looking forward to it I might still pick it up at some point though.
Ouch! The Official Xbox Magazine gave this 8/10. -10 credibility, OXM.
Hm. I don't know. One could just as easily question the credibility of CVG. They certainly gave this game a thrashing review-wise. I had good hopes for this game but this certainly doesn't sound promising. Then again I fail to match the reviewers description of the character graphics with the images I have seen of the game so far which makes me a bit suspicious. Perhaps someone had a bad day at the CVG office today?
Oh well. I wasn't planning on buying this game straight away and maybe I never will after reading this, but I'm still willing to keep a casual eye on it should the price plummet.
I hear what you're saying, but either the CVG reviewer is a complete cretin and couldn't get into the game or with a review score like 2.3 it's majorly flawed at best!
I wouldn't go off an individual review myself, but when the more excitable and generous sites such as Gametrailers only review it as sub-7, it definitely starts alarm bells ringing for me.
Pity really, but as I say, one to rent for me or to loan off an over-enthusiastic friend!
Ouch! The Official Xbox Magazine gave this 8/10. -10 credibility, OXM.
Hm. I don't know. One could just as easily question the credibility of CVG. They certainly gave this game a thrashing review-wise. I had good hopes for this game but this certainly doesn't sound promising. Then again I fail to match the reviewers description of the character graphics with the images I have seen of the game so far which makes me a bit suspicious. Perhaps someone had a bad day at the CVG office today?
Oh well. I wasn't planning on buying this game straight away and maybe I never will after reading this, but I'm still willing to keep a casual eye on it should the price plummet.
I hear what you're saying, but either the CVG reviewer is a complete cretin and couldn't get into the game or with a review score like 2.3 it's majorly flawed at best!
I wouldn't go off an individual review myself, but when the more excitable and generous sites such as Gametrailers only review it as sub-7, it definitely starts alarm bells ringing for me.
Pity really, but as I say, one to rent for me or to loan off an over-enthusiastic friend!
Fair enough. The flip side of the seemingly ever present dilemma coin is that CVG's review could be spot on. Pick your poison, I guess.
As much as I was looking forward to this being the Ancient Greek/Roman variant of Mass Effect, I have to say that while disappointed that the game appears to suck, I have to applaud the reviewer for actually giving it a low score.
Seriously, in times when 8's and 9's seem to get thrown around far too often, it's so damn refreshing to see a game actually given a score not only below 5, but WELL below it. Good to see a reviewer who's not afraid to just slam a game when it deserves it. That's the kind of grade Assassin's Creed should have got when it came out.
So, yeah... bad that the game sucks, but good that the reviewer isn't afraid to let us know exactly how much, rather than just slapping a 5 on it and seeming to afraid to bash it too much in case he gets fired or the publisher tries to sue him, etc.
Y'know, even though it's rather unpolished and full of poor design decisions, I'm having a lot of fun playing it. It's a badly executed attempt to "do" Mass Effect in ancient Greece, but there are a few things it gets right. The combat system is perfectly decent and the levelling system - which eschewes XP in favour of dedicating your in-game "deeds" to the gods - was a rather inspired, fresh approach.
It's by no means a perfect game, and it's full of bugs and graphical glitches above everything else. But damn, "wretched"? It's nowhere near as bad as this review makes out. Honestly I think it's on a par with Assassin's Creed in terms of fun and gameplay (stressing of course the caveat that AssCreed's art direction and graphical polish is far, FAR superior).
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Awful combat
