This is no gift from the gods
WHEN Ubisoft’s fantastical Ancient Greek action adventure, then known as Gods And Monsters, was announced at E3 last year, the hype was huge. Sparkling with a 1980s kids’ cartoon art style and heady vibes of 2017’s The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, this would surely be no mortal experience. Oh how the gods fall! Eighteen months on and repackaged as Immortals Fenyx Rising, the end product fails to recapture the mythical energy of that preview.
Set on the vast Golden Isle, with each region or biome defined by a unique Greek god (from Aphrodite’s green and pleasant pastures to the fiery volcanic realm of Hephaistos), the story dictates that Fenyx must return the corrupted gods and demi-gods to their true selves and save the world from evil titan Typhon.
Early on, things show promise, with the impressive draw distance of the open-world map hinting at unseen treasures and a bevy of secrets. What was once mysterious, however, soon reveals itself as unfortunately vacuous with little of the elegance and enticement found in the most recent Zelda – to which Immortals more than pays homage. You’ll see elements of Zelda in the identical mountaineering and gliding mechanics, for example, and in the inclusion of vaults (called shrines in Zelda) scattered throughout the world, each one harbouring physicsbased puzzles requiring telekinesis-like powers to shift giant blocks and plonk them on to pressure plates. But they’re pale, unimaginative imitations.
More unfortunate is the missed opportunity here, given the mythology of Ancient Greece has huge currency. Much of that same lore is present, delivered via the continuous narration of Zeus and Prometheus, but despite the best efforts of the writers, the delivery is like your dodgy uncle telling drunken tales at a wedding. It’s certainly bereft of the charming and cheery narration of the head of Mimir in God Of War, a similar and far more arresting storytelling device.
As for combat, with the sword of Achilles and the bow of Odysseus, the snarling Cyclops and the maniacal Minotaur, there was at least a chance for this to shine. Instead, a veneer of strategic blocking and attacking soon makes way for the tedious hack and slash of yesteryear.
Immortals does, however, shine with mission design, which taps into the fate of Greek gods in innovative and clever ways. Whether that’s mining the sea-foam birth of Aphrodite or the ill-tempered end of Arachne, who ended up as a spider, the interactive storytelling in these moments is a rare flash of magic. But as is always the case with godly ambitions, it’s only a matter of time before it all bumps back down to Earth.
With a slim outer shell, powerful 10thGen Intel insides and a generous amount of RAM (8/16GB) alongside an excellent backlit keyboard, Huawei’s all-aluminium Windows 10 lappy ticks a lot of boxes. Bright and crispy visuals, and barely there bezels on that 3:2 aspect ratio, 13.9in touchscreen, make it a pleasure to prod and gawp at, while the power button doubles up as an excellent and speedy fingerprint scanner. The pop-up webcam does a great job of hiding away when not in use but it’s not the best quality and doesn’t provide the most flattering of angles. Expect around eight hours out of it and 512GB/1TB configurations, one USB-A and two USB-C ports.