Name: Rygar: The Battle of Argus
Genre: Action
Platform: Nintendo Wii

When a last-gen game is remade on or ported to a current-gen system, there are a few things we, as gamers, have come to expect.  First off, there need to be graphical and audio updates to keep it relevant in the current game market.  There also needs to be a certain amount of added content that extends the game’s replayability.  Finally, the game should take advantage of any new features inherent to the console.  As basic as these rules are, five minutes of playing Rygar: The Battle of Argus clearly shows that no one at Tecmo has been alerted to them at all.

Rygar: The Battle of Argus is essentially a port of the 2002 PS2 release, Rygar: The Legendary Adventure.  The original game was met with mixed reviews, but is considered something of an inspiration for the God of War series, which also features a Greek mythological setting, and a protagonist with chained weapons.  The only real differences between the PS2 version and this remake are the use of motion controls, a Gladiator Mode, which is essentially survival mode that uses only motion controls, and an unfortunately redesigned protagonist.



Six years ago, Rygar was a decent looking title for the PS2.  On the Wii, however, the game really shows its age, looking muddy and decidedly last-gen.  Somehow, the increased power of the Wii makes Rygar look far less visually appealing than it was on the PS2.  Blurry textures and short draw distances are excusable for a remake like this, but what is not is the God-awful redesign of the main character.  Formerly, Rygar was a relatively respectable Roman-type warrior, with long black hair and brown leather armor.  In Battle of Argus, however, he has been transformed into a Yu-Gi-Oh inspired, white haired S&M enthusiast.  The character model seems to be an amalgam of every bad design concept of the late 1990s rolled up into one laughable protagonist.  Changing the character like this is a truly baffling move for Tecmo, and one that really backfired on them.  Adding to the sub-par visuals is the boring, played-out story and horrendous voice acting.  Overall, there’s not much to be impressed by in the game’s presentation.

Sadly, gameplay doesn’t fare much better.  Swinging your Diskarmor to attack enemies is largely an exercise in luck.  Even without the game’s constant collision detection problems, Rygar’s sloppy controls and uninterruptible animations make it just short of impossible to connect with anything.  Once you start an attack combo in a certain direction, you are stuck facing that direction until the attack animation finishes.  Meanwhile, your opponents can move freely, ignoring your futile swipes at nothing.  With practice, it’s possible to work with the game’s controls, but it’s more work than it should be, and more work than it’s worth by a lot.  Boss fights don’t fare much better, and are essentially a collection of clichéd attack patterns and weak spots that we’ve all seen a thousand times before.

With its baffling design choices and shoddy controls, Rygar: The Battle of Argus fails to deliver as much fun and satisfaction as the original game.  As a Wii title, it is an almost inexcusably ugly game from a visual, audio and gameplay standpoint, and has virtually no redeeming qualities.  As an odd side note, Rygar features the most overactive controller-rumble I’ve ever seen.  The game makes your Wii-Mote rumble so loudly and violently, that it really does become a distraction.  Fortunately, while playing Rygar, you’ll be looking for any distraction you can get.

 


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