In a market dominated by cutesy Elves and Orcs, it was damn good to see that Perpetual's upcoming Gods and Heroes break the mold. Set before Rome became the sprawling empire depicted in Gladiator and HBO's Rome, Gods and Heroes blends a liberal dose of history and mysticism to create a world truly original. Perpetual President Chris McKibbin, accompanied by Lead Game Designer Stieg Hedlund (who you may remember as Diablo 2's lead designer), took us on a tour of their version of Rome. "The core elements of this game are action and fun," McKibbin said, who promised players innovative combat systems while forgoing menial skill development. As Stieg guided the demo onward, we got a taste of just how unique the combat system is. In one demonstration, two gladiators fought each other using the ancient Roman Martial Art of penecration. The combat animations witnessed, most notably where one gladiator threw his opponent using a back hold, were top notch and smooth and silk. In another instance, four melee characters used their shields to buffer a fireball attack was stunning. Not only did this show off how fluid the combat animations were, but also how unique the squad-based combat system works. While the melee players protected the squad from the fire attacks, long-range archers sent arrows flying. McKibbin told us about their grand plans for epic-scale battles involving up to 45 players in multiple squadrons. With so much action going on, Perpetual plans to use both large and small instances to combat most of the problems associated with large gatherings of players and NPC action.

The world of Rome is large scale and plenty big for the action that will take place in it. "The world [of Gods and Heroes] is big," says McKibbin. "The world will be about 20 areas that are on average 2 and half kilometers in size." After release, Perpetual plans to develop expansions based on other races and cultures found within the Roman time period to evolve the world. PVP combat will largely take place in large arenas and coliseums. The gladiator scene we described above was one such example of how intense the action can be. Of course those who want to take part in such activities can and those who don't can opt out. "The progression of PVP will really be fun for the segment of players we think this will appeal to," said McKibbin. Players can expect Gods and Heroes to take the middle road when it comes to level progression. "The progression curve we're charting is a medium curve that's about average," said McKibbin. "Not too hard, not too shallow."

Even with lush graphics, large zones and thousands of players, McKibbin promised that a high-end PC wouldn't be necessary to get solid gameplay experience. "We're still optimizing, but we're building the game so that someone with 512 megs of Ram and a 128 meg video will have an enjoyable experience." Those on dial-up need not fear as McKibbin explains, "Gods and Heroes isn't a data hog [so dial-up users will be able to play.]" Look for beta to begin for Gods and Heroes sometime this summer. If all goes well, Gods and Heroes may be shipping as soon as this fall. As always, stay tuned to the new Zam Network for our continuing coverage of Gods and Heroes! --Ryan Bohmann & Chris Wyatt