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SGGAMINGINFO » Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising Review SGGAMINGINFO » Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising Review

Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising Review

On September 11, 2011 by Ash Meehan

The long delayed MMO based along the lines of Roman mythology was finally released back in late June 2011 after over 6 years and a company closure.

Originally Gods and Heroes was developed Perpetual Entertainment who announced it in 2005, but the game was put on hold in 2007 as Perpetual began to suffer from money issues and to save money they eventually decided to can the game to favour Star Trek Online. Than in February 2008 Perpetual Entertainment was shut down. But as luck would have it just like STO was saved by Cryptic Studios Gods and Heroes was also save in early 2010 by Heatwave Interactive.

Now let us take a look at the game.
In Gods and Heroes I played a Gladiator and got to level 13 and until mid July.

In Gods and Heroes you can have a choice of 5 classes (Scout was added post launch). The 5 available classes are Gladiator (tank), Mystic (ranged DPS), priest (healer), soldier (melee DPS) and Scout (ranged DPS). Along with classes you have deities which are based off the Roman gods like Mars, Jupiter etc. each class can choose 1 deity from a choice of 2, the 2 deities are unique to each class. The character customisation is pretty standard apart from the fact you can pick your armours starting colours and they stay with you as you level.

The game features are typical of your MMORPG, but it does have 2 notable features which helps it stand out from the crowd which are: The estate system and NPC squad mechanic.

One of the many bugs in Gods and Heroes. This one saw me end up underneath a pool of lava.

The estate system works by you owning your very own estate which your character got when he was a Roman Hero, but in the events before you arrive on the tutorial your estate is attacked and you are a now disgraced hero. When you have finished the tutorial you can visit the estate at any time and upgrade it by taking estate quests of the NPCs that inhabit your estate. Overall this system in theory is good, but it seems lacking because customisation appears to be near nonexistent. Upgrades are only done via quests and all they seem to do is change the appearance of the building the majority of the time and sometimes you may get new stuff to use like better armour for your NPC squad members or increased space in your bank. The ability to not be able to visit your friend’s estates is also a letdown to me.

The NPC squad mechanic compared to the estate system is pretty much brilliant. You are introduced to it half way through the tutorial island and really after you get it you won’t need to look back. The mechanic is basically your standard party mechanic but with NPCs instead of real players. NPC squads count upgrades every 10 levels leaving you with 3 NPCs helping you in tanking, healing or dps. Honestly all you need is a healer or a dps/tank depending on your class and you can stomp any enemy. Finally in certain parts of the game like in cities or your estate you cannot have NPC squad mates, this is made annoying when you have kill quests inside the city.

As you can tell by now I am not a fan of the game and my biggest announce is the fact all 3 of the city hubs are instanced, so you would be lucky to meet someone in any of the 3 cities.

Here is a list of some of the bad bits that stand out.

  • No crafting or auction house.
  • Estate was a good idea, but didn’t seem to come out right.
  • Game was beyond buggy at launch. I suffered 4 crashes in less than 2 hours 2 weeks after launch (game has recovered a bit since then).

At last here are the good bits about this MMO.

  • The community is top notch and everyone is willing to help to a degree (this is one of the great things about small communities).
  • Live developer chats. Heatwave communicate with fans on a regular basis.
  • Patches: Heatwave are finally beginning to patch this game and bugs are finally been removed.
  • Great new content: Heatwave will be adding a new class and supposedly crafting in the not too distant future.
  • NPC Squad mates: Good idea for solo players.

Overall Score: 45% or if you wish 4.5/10

The game has had a rocky start and that is the worst thing to have for an MMO and with rumours of it going free to play it could improve, but time will tell. Heatwave have their work cut out for them.

Finally here are some screenshots I took from my time reviewing the game.

Author: Ash Meehan

Hi, I’m the creator of SG Gaming Info. When I’m not working on my writing or creating content for this site’s YouTube channel, I like to relax and enjoy character driven story games.


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