Boss Fight with Pan

Rise of the Argonauts is accurately coined as a creative retelling of Jason's exploits, the legends behind what drove him to board the Argo with his band of men and seek out a precious artifact. Jason's wife was assasinated during their wedding and he has discovered from the Oracle that the golden fleece can ressurect her, but nobody knows where it is. Perhaps the descendants of the four patron gods Jason follows have some ideas on where it might be hidden? It's off to explore the mythological greek islands, eight in total, to find the four descendants that have the gods' blood. Too bad one of the four is a very angry father-in-law, but what can a man do? We had Andrew Rubino on hand, who helped us through the game and gave additional details as Chris played through an island with a big monster problem.

As Jason chats with various characters along the way in his adventure, dialogue choices will come up; Jason will be provided with two to four conversation options which will be associated with a specific god, and will earn fame with that god. In addition, performing tasks to further the story (in our game, we found a huntress to guide Jason into the jungle) can then be dedicated to one of the gods, earning additional fame. Earning fame not only unlocks more abilties but praying to gods which Jason has good favour with may unlock additional content as the game moves along. Thankfully, there is no fame attrition.

After going through some story, we traipsed off into the jungle and began to fight. When Jason debarks the Argo and lands on an island, he may choose an Argonaut to go with him. There are over a dozen different Argonauts that became available throughout the story, though only the four that are the descendants of the gods are necessary to recruit. Jason is controlled by the player and any additional NPCs with him are computer controlled, and have decent AI. The living legend has an arsenal that grows over the length of the game, and his weapons can be changed on the fly during combat with one button press.

Centaur Guards

The gods smile upon our hero, and he may call upon god powers as his favour increases. One power per god can be set to the D-pad and each direction is associated with a specific god. As Jason takes and deals damage, a meter fills; once the meter is full, a god power can be unleashed. Many of these powers are passive but some must be actively used, such as a rage mode for Jason, a black hole to suck enemies' souls out, and a spattering of lightning that will electrocute any enemy that touches it. When a power is called upon, the meter will drain -- more powerful attacks will drain more out of the meter.

After the 30 minutes was over, I was sad to leave, because I wanted to play more and find out more about the secrets of Hermes and the other gods. All in all, I was very impressed with Rise of the Argonauts and I'm looking forward to playing a full copy of the game later this year. This is quickly shaping up to be a solid action-RPG for the 360.