Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising Exclusive Hands-On - More on High-Level Content

Most designers of massively multiplayer online role-playing games turn to Tolkienesque visions of elves, orcs, and dwarves; however, Perpetual Entertainment turned to Roman mythology. The result is Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, a game that will feature gladiators and Roman soldiers, as well as creatures from myth, such as chimeras, gorgons, and more. Aside from the fresh setting, Perpetual is hoping Gods & Heroes will stand out in the crowded MMO pack by offering visually exciting combat, as well as a minion system where a handful of players can pursue large-scale quests that would require a couple of dozen players in other games.

We've previously had a chance to play Gods & Heroes, but we recently got a feel for some of the advanced content in the game by playing in a high-level "instance"--a sealed off quest generated specifically for an individual player or a specific group of players--to get a feel for some of the advanced content in the game. The entire point of high-level content is to create something that's challenging for expert players who have already invested dozens, if not hundreds, of hours in the game. Judging from our play session, which lasted several hours, Gods & Heroes will give even the most grizzled of players a challenge. After all, we played with the designers of the game, but even then, it was anything but a cakewalk.

In Gods & Heroes, you play as a Roman hero battling the forces of the Telchines, rivals to the Roman gods who were banished after an early struggle for supremacy. However, the Telchines have returned in Gods & Heroes, and you, a faithful servant of one of the Roman gods, must go around the ancient world to confront them. The mission that we pursued had us delve into a Telchine temple to fight a variety of difficult foes, including mighty chimeras, which are dragon-sized creatures with multiple heads, each from a different type of animal. This is an early example of some of the game's high-level content, designed for a maximum of five players. But with Gods & Heroes' minion system, each player character can be accompanied by up to four non-player character minions, so we ran through the instance with 25 characters.

The composition of the party can vary. Gods & Heroes has six possible character classes, but with a five-player limit to the party, at least one character class will be left out. Then again, your party doesn't have to have one of the remaining five classes in it, given that you can experiment with different class combinations. For example, you can have a "tank"-heavy party with several gladiators and soldiers, though it's wise to have at least one priest or mystic to provide healing or support. Whatever class that you play as, you can bring along minions that either augment your existing strengths or shore up any of your weaknesses. Priests and mystics can provide healing power, whereas scouts and nomads can provide ranged support. You can also beef up your front line by taking some soldiers and gladiators. Each player can basically be a well-rounded party unto him or herself, or each can specialize in a certain field, knowing that the rest of the players in the group will round out the party. Swapping out minions is a task that can be done even in the middle of an instance as long as you can find a squad-manager statue.

The danger is that you can get drawn into fights where you're easily outclassed, even if you do have a maximum of 25 characters in your party. Battling a giant cyclops is tough enough, but battling multiple cyclopes, along with spellcasting gorgons, will chew up even the toughest of parties. The secret is managing the size of the battle and destroying the enemy piecemeal. To that extent, having a mystic can be invaluable because the mystic class can cast mesmerizing spells that temporarily neutralize an enemy. The target will stay incapacitated until the spell either wears off or is broken by someone attacking it. In this case, it's highly recommended for each player to put the minions' behavior on the defensive setting because aggressive minions may attack and trigger mesmerized foes. In fact, overzealous minions did this to us on several occasions, which usually resulted in a battle against overwhelming odds. No worries: If everyone dies, you can "release" or respawn back at the entrance of the level.

The monsters that we battled were both tough and numerous. In addition to the aforementioned cyclopes and gorgons, we encountered "servants of woe," as well as "stewards of woe." The former were human-sized foes clad in armor, but the latter were ogre-sized brutes with skulls for heads. Then there were dread insomnium, energy clouds that explode when killed; it's wise to run away as soon as they begin to burn. Like in many MMO games, these monsters stand around idly, for the most part, until you get close enough to trigger them. You can use this to your advantage by luring the enemies one-by-one or in pairs, either of which make it easier for you to deal with them.

There are other aspects of gameplay that will aid your battles, such as feats, which are various skills and abilities that you can call into play. There are also god powers, which are high-powered abilities bestowed upon you by your deity, though you can only use them if you've curried enough favor from your god. And then there are the various objects that you can use, ranging from potions that restore energy (used to fuel many skills) to magical tomes, items, and even food. Playing as a gladiator class, we used many types of yells, which serve as buffs, or temporary boosts. There's the inspiring yell, which can heal the members of your party over time, and the disrupting yell, which can temporarily weaken enemies around you. There were also plenty of neat attacks, such as head-butts, crippling attacks, and more. These combat moves look good in Gods & Heroes, thanks to the game's impressive animation system, although it is a bit hard to make out what's going on when there are dozens of friendlies and enemies onscreen at the same time.

The key thing about our play session was that Gods & Heroes managed to deliver a fairly challenging gameplay experience. Each session is designed to last an hour or two, which is ideal for evening play. The fact that we could go through this dungeon with just four other players is another plus, given that you don't have to spend a whole lot of effort coordinating among dozens of players who must show up at the same time. That feature means there is more time to play and less time to organize, and the gameplay is solid enough that the hours passed without our having realized it. There's plenty to like in Gods & Heroes, and we'll see how the gaming community reacts when it launches sometime later this year.