Rise of the Argonauts

So, I decided to hold off on Fallout 3 (again), and picked up in trade with a coworker the rather interesting, if flawed, "Rise of the Argonauts" on PS3. I've finished most of the initial item quests and am off to see the Oracle at Delphi. As the game progresses, you get various types and magically infused weaponry and armor, both from conquest spoils and story elements. It's up to you if you want to receive certain items based on the dialogue tree in the interactive portion of the game. Thus far, I've accumulated two maces, two spears, a sword, and two suits of armor.

The game plays from a 3rd person "over the shoulder" perspective. You are Jason, leader of the Argonauts (before he gets all the Argonauts, of course.) He is foremost on a quest to save his recently assassinated wife-to-be (she gets killed in the opening sequence during the wedding ceremony by a mysterious, Hecate (titan) worshipping band of very evil looking folks called "The Blacktongue". You (and initially Hercules) are on a quest to find the secret of resurrection aboard the flagship "Argo". Up to now, you've got quite a few matters to attend to in the palace as well as the kingdom's various little inhabited areas scattered throughout the main island. That's all I've accomplished so far, so the rest of my opinion on the game will have to wait until I've finished it. :)

Technically speaking, Jason and the Argonauts does a great job using the Unreal Engine, and I think that the "limitation" of the PS3 port of the Unreal Engine lands more in the unfamiliarity with the architecture of the Cell, rather than a technical stumbling block for the PS3 itself. The music is composed by the same fellow who scored "300", Tyler Bates. The game runs smoothly, with little if any pop-in. The save system is a bit wonky to get used to, but once you handle the checkpoint aspect better, you'll see how the game determines where a save takes place. It's not a "save anywhere" in the sense that you can stop mid-quest and save the progress you've made. It's rather like Diablo 2 in that respect, where the accomplishments are kept, but the cleanup you did removing monsters is nullified when you save.

I have a few gripes with the game that aren't dealbreakers, but the devs should've thought of a better implementation. For instance, the map function is tied to the overall pause menu, and there's no overlaid map that I can find, nor is there a hotkey. (If there is one, feel free to let me know). God powers, things that are rather like magic-user qualities, are sparse and can be only used after you've accumulated enough experience. The trouble with god powers is that, even though you may have them ready to go, sometimes they don't go off. :)

Well, that should cover it for a short time until I can complete the game and give my full impressions.