After being nominated for many awards at E3 I was excited to get my hands on Rise of the Argonauts at PAX, getting hold of an Xbox 360 controller and seeing what was so special about this Greek adventure. The opening cinematic showed off some great directorial work as Jason and his fiancé prepared a traditional Greek wedding as an assassin prepared a poisonous arrow in a similar fashion, preparing to deliver a quick end to their marriage. His arrow hit her chest, and the story of Rise of the Argonauts kicked off.

The assassin was revealed to be a member of a group who believes the princess’s assassination would bring fourth their rise to power, and the player is given control of Jason as he hunts down the archer. Combat is split into heavy and light attacks and distributed over several weapons including a spear, sword, and mace. Each weapon has its patron deity, but I will get to that later. The different weapons all have their own style of fighting and players can switch between them mid-combo for devastating attacks. A few swipes with a sword and a tap of the right bumper switches to the mace, which knocks the dazed opponent back, and another tap brings out the spear for the final blow. Not every weapon can be combined with another seamlessly, but there are many powerful attacks that reward the player for experimenting with this interesting mechanic.

Depending on the enemy Jason is fighting there are benefits to using different weapons. For instance, the mace is the best at destroying armor, so a heavily shielded foe can be taken apart with a few powerful blows. On the other hand, a quick enemy can easily dodge the slow mace and spear’s attacks, so the fast sword is best in that situation. It appears that there is also a forth type of attack, godly magic, but I didn’t get a chance to see it in use during the demo. Each weapon has a god associated with it, which leads me to one of the most interesting aspects of the game: the deeds system.

Rise of the Argonauts has an RPG spine holding up its adventure limbs, and many sections of the game are very reminiscent of Mass Effect. Conversational segments that players can influence drive much of the game’s plot, and they actually work their way into the rest of the game seamlessly. Players earn favor with the game’s four gods by choosing different options, and while they might not want to tell a guard to go sit on his spear it might make Ares happy, which would give Jason more points to upgrade his weapon. Milestones earned in the game (such as slaying 20 enemies or finishing a certain amount of quests) can be turned in for favor of the gods as well, and players can choose which to spend them on. For more powerful sword attacks Jason might tell Hermes that the 40 guards he killed were in his name, and tell Apollo that the slaves he saved were for him so he might have stronger magical attacks. Tying in the different aspects of the game seems to be the game’s highlight, and the godly deeds system is a brilliant way to bring action and RPG together.

Players can also choose to bring one of the several allies that Jason makes throughout the game with him in quests. Icons in Greek legend such as Achilles, Hercules, and Pan can join you on missions, and depending on who you bring the levels can be quite different. Bringing the wise healer Pan to an island of centaur might not be the best in terms of combat, but he might be able to speak to a character you can’t or read script Jason wouldn’t be able to read. Hercules is the son of Zeus, so he really doesn’t care what is going on and just kind of stares at the wall, while Achilles is a pampered brat who comes off as abrasive and mean, starting unnecessary, but amusing arguments. Again, the Mass Effect similarities are too large not to mention, but the game’s combat is so strong that it looks like Rise of the Argonauts can succeed where Bioware failed in truly blending the genres of Action and RPG in ways it hasn’t been done before. The game’s story seems sound, the combat is fantastic, and the different systems that the developers have created are as innovative as anything else this generation. Rise of the Argonauts is set for a winter 2008 release and I hope it makes it, because I can’t wait to get some more time with the title.

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