Wow I was super surprised by how much fun and how much this game sucked me into the story line and game play. There are the common player setup choices you can make as to how badly you want to die. The Graphics are great. Not to many glitches. My biggest complaint is the save data system. I have still have yet to truly figure it out but I do know if you don't save a lot can lose and entire time of your playtime and if that happens you will go nuts and rip your hair out. By the way I am bald.
The story is cool and the way the ancient religion has been set up. I really like this game have only quit to sleep. Cool system of managing your special powers. You align yourself with the Gods. Athena, Apollo, Hermes, and Ares. You get to manage those God powers all over the place before battles markets etc but most important on your ship as you make your journey to get the golden fleece. This is really a fun game and will give you a good time for the money. It is rated M that is for sure as you get to slice humans, bad guys, mythological monsters in half, loose heads, etc. and the babes are pretty cute too.

NB: For those of you who love RPGs, this is DEFINITELY NOT an action rpg, so please, don't be fooled. This is a substandard "God Of War" clone with only the thinnest spreading of charm to recommend it.

Boasting a paper-thin plot (wife killed, quest begun, allies recruited, baddies defeated - it is literally that linear) and a mawkish, awkward interface (there is no minimap and the secondary powers HUD is deeply unresponsive), "Rise Of The Argonauts" could have been so, so good, but lets both itself and you badly down in all categories that make a videogame great.

GRAPHICS: 0/5

The PS2 could handle this game, and do it without all the (inexplicable) slowdown. Disgusting character modeling and texturing (witness Atalanta's "floating arms" syndrome, sharp edges and abominable pixellation of EVERYTHING up-close) are matched only by the uninspired lighting, insipid backgrounds and frankly ridiculous level design. This game is UGLY with a capital UG, and does not belong on current-gen consoles.

SOUND: 1/5

Poor voice acting is not helped by a time delay after each sentence is completed, and the much-touted score by Tyler Bates is castrated by some serious over-use (the repetition rate of the pieces of music played while accessing the Aspect screen, and during a State Of Grace period, is actually ridiculous - try not to be infuriated by it. You will not succeed). The nicest thing one can say about the aural atmosphere in "Rise Of The Argonauts" is that it's slightly better than having hardware issues with the sound chip in your PS3.

PLAYABILITY: 1/5

You run to one end of a convoluted jungle, witness a cutscene, then access two menu screens to see your map with updated objectives, only to be shown that you need to run all the way back to the beginning of the area... ...to repeat the same process again.

If that last sentence was hard to read, imagine how hard it is to stay engaged with the game it's describing.

"Rise Of The Argonauts" could have saved itself in this regard if Codemasters had bothered to create a fluid battle system we could enjoy using, but no: it's witless hack-n'-slash action requiring no attention to detail that gets boring after five minutes: luckily, the game is incredibly easy, too, so it won't be long before you're dispatching the game's final boss and you get to put the disc back into its box, and play something decent instead.

Greek myths are cool - the legend of Jason and the story of the Golden Fleece doubly so, and in one or two tiny areas "Rise Of The Argonauts" does manage to dredge up a little mythological charm, most notably around the island of Kythra. But pretty soon you'll forget this, as you're off to the Underworld to fight more glowing green baddies with projectile powers. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

OVERALL: 0/5

Epic, this is not. Epic Fail... ...well, yeah. I am at a total loss to understand why people like this game. For my money, it's technically redundant, unplayable and completely unoriginal.

You're far better off buying the God Of War games and a cheap PS2, if you really need an action-driven story-based game set in Ancient Greece. "Rise Of The Argonauts" is absolutely terrible.

Avoid.

Ever wonder what God of War would have been like if Nintendo made it?
You'd get something like Rise of the Argonauts. This game feels like 70 percent The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and 30 percent is a PG-13-rated version of God of War. There is some blood and dismemberment. This is not a bad thing. It is just how I perceive the overall feeling of this game.
I was very excited to play this game when screen captures started showing up in gaming magazines in the months leading up to its release. Those pics prove the art design is great. But, seeing the game in motion is another story. The game lacks a lot of polish. Animations are clunky and frequent slow downs give the game a "still in beta testing" vibe. This sucks some of the life out of what should have been a "can't miss" adventure game.
The back of the box claims the game is an RPG adventure. It would be more accurate to say it is an RPG lite adventure. You earn experience through how you react to various situations. Your reactions will earn you favor with one of four different gods to power up your character. Each area in the game is divided into combat and a bunch of RPG-style fetch quests. I found myself running around doing said fetch quests, more often than fighting off monsters. The story is interesting enough to tie it all together.
The game takes rather uncreative liberties with Greece myths. The basic framework of the myths you are familiar with is there. It is just that the designers flattened out the details to make the background myths feel bland.
None the less. If you like greek mythology, then give Rise of the Argonauts a try. It is easy to overlook the game's shortcomings. It is a great game with some sub-par production value issues. I suggest renting this game more than buying it.