You may recognise Rygar from before if you’re a PS2 fan. It came out all the way back in 2002 and at the time was a very good game considering the capabilities of the consoles. Like a few other games that became famous on the PS2 it has been revived and re-released on the Wii console. As I said at the time Rygar was considered a quality game however after six years and very few changes it does feel dated and I felt that re-releasing it on a different console was altogether unnecessary. The only major change from the ps2 version is the new Gladiator mode. Basically an arena with endless waves of enemies to defeat to obtain a high score. Nothing revolutionary to be frank and altogether the redevelopment of the game feels lacklustre.
So the story follows the exact same principles of the ps2 version. Rygar an ancient warrior with big white hair has to save a princess. The game is set in an ancient mythological Roman empire where you fight all sorts of creatures from floating balls of goo (possibly may be ghosts) to minotaurs, cyclops, reanimated suits of armour – a bit of the ancient dappled with fantasy. Rygar’s weapon of choice is the disk armour ( like a spiky yo-yo) and this is the weapon that you will be fighting off all these creepy crawlies and monsters. Its fun to upgrade and as you do so you feel a little more bad ass but never quite reach the level of awesome that you attained in God of War. To say the story is lacking would be a compliment. There is no real connection to the characters either. We only see the princess maybe twice in the whole game and by the time you see her on the second occasion you can barely even recognise her. So, the disk armour – this isn’t all that bad as far as this game goes. You collect mystic stones as you progress through the game and you use these to upgrade your weapon. There are three types of disk armour and each has its own creature that you can summon to handle your enemies. So its not all bad .
The game play in general hasn’t been ported over to the Wii to it‘s full potential and while it’s unfair to compare Rygar with God of war because of the subject matter (as Rygar was released two years before GoW on PS2 and not developed since) it is inevitable that GoW is going to be the yardstick for Rygar‘s performance on next gen console. The combat just doesn’t have any oomph and I found myself really struggling to pull off combo chains because the character movement was so slow that by the time I had initiated the enemies were behind me. There are various enemies which was one of the major complaints on the ps2 version and I suppose this does provide some joy but still very limited. Adventuring is fun , collecting mystic stones etc and openings boxes is enjoyable but it just feels lifeless for some reason. You master some abilities later on in the game such as swinging etc with your disk armour and although handy doesn’t really add anything to the game itself. There seems to be a lot of going backwards and forwards and although pretty, the backdrop can become monotonous. Also the re-spawning enemies was really frustrating. There is no sense of achievement when you know that as soon as you leave the room and come back the same stupid ghost is going to be sitting there waiting for you. The boss battles in the game aren’t great either. They feel very similar and there is no real charm to them. it’s the same real thing every time run and hit with no interactive cut scenes. So really in comparison to God of War which is the games closest comparison this game just feels unfinished.
Not everything in the game is bad to be fair. Looking on the bright side the voice acting is fairly comical and the storyline will also give rise to some smiles and bring back memories. However considering the only two things in the game I found joyous came about from nostalgia doesn’t say much for the present day game. The voice acting and general sounds in the game are acceptable but, like the attack patterns do become repetitive.
So overall Rygar: The battle of Argus made a good impression back in the day on the PS2 but lacked some spit and polish being ported to Wii. I found this version a bit dated, repetitive and frustrating at times. The puzzles weren’t challenging and the adventuring really didn’t compensate for the bad fighting mechanics. The bosses didn’t live up to present day expectations however, overall the visuals weren’t awful . The game did look good to be honest even if the gameplay didn’t match the same standard. Character renditions are all right but the Wii just cant stand up to the quality of the Ps3 and Xbox 360 for these genres. Overall Rygar feels too dated .
