Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising

Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising

All right, so first thing you're going to notice once logging in is the "not-so hot" graphics.  For a game being released in 2011 this was a big deal for me.  However, looking into the background of this game it actually makes sense.  So here is a brief "history" of Gods and Heroes and Perpetual Entertainment.

Gods and Heroes was originally being developed in 2005 by a company called Perpetual Entertainment.  At the same time the company was also working on the Star Trek MMO.  It was in 2007 that Perpetual quit working on Gods and Heroes to "focus" on Star Trek Online, but by 2008 the company went under and closed its doors.  So, by 2010 Heatwave Interactive picked up what remained of Gods and Heroes and finished it up.  So, graphics are still what we expected from a game being developed in 2005, but if you really are into Roman Mythology and Gladiators I really don't think the graphics are going to bother you that much.  So there you have it, now to the game.

Lets start with character creation. There are actually six classes, but only four will be available at launch.  I'm guessing the other two will be patched in eventually.  At launch you will be able to play as a Soldier, Gladiator, Mystic, and Priest. Once you've chosen your class you then must choose your God.  Each class has 2 different Gods to choose from.  The soldiers follow either Minerva or Mars, Gladiators can choose Fortuna or Jupiter, Mystics get Trevia or Bacchus, and Priests can follow Juno or Pluto.  Naturally your choice in God will give you an extra ability or power.

Actual gameplay is not bad considering when the game was originally intended to be released.  Now-a-days MMO player would be less than impressed especially with its monthly subscription fee.  For me, it took a bit to get the controls where I needed them to be and for whatever reason I had to turn the video graphics WAY down for it to run on my computer... kinda odd being that Warcraft and Rift can run perfectly. 

The questing I got to do was pretty straight forward; locate this guy, kill x amount of this, etc, etc, so on and so on.  They were quick and fairly simple, but as I've seen from other reviews (who got to start at higher levels) the gameplay does become much more challenging.  I did find the story hooked me in, and I really wanted to progress through the game to find out more. 

For the most part, the game seems all right.  Heatwave did not disappoint adding in several fun features.  One feature that I thought was great were the minions.  You can hire minions that will help you on your journey.  They can fight for you, some will heal you, and I believe I had one guy holding the aggro for me.  Another fun feature is your own instanced "camp."  It's a "player housing" idea, but taken a step further.  There are quest givers, vendors, and so on.  It starts out small with a few vendors and tents here and there, but eventually you can customize it to your own liking.  You will get to add various buildings and decorations. 

I really think that if you are into the Roman Mythology idea then you may really enjoy this game.  The monthly subscription fee kinda worries me a bit, but Heatwave really isn't striving for millions of subscriptions.  Gods and Heroes focuses only on the gamers who enjoy this genre and is not trying to "steal" players from any other game. 

If you are interested in Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising then check out some gameplay videos.  The BFF Reports Mike B did a pretty good review a few weeks ago http://www.zam.com/bffreport.html?bffreport=60, but youtube is always a great resource as well.

Feel free to add your comments and follow me on twitter @akadarcee.