At E3 last year I got to see a neat new MMO called Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. Of all the MMOs there it caught my eye because of one graphical feature. For those of you play MMOs I think you'll understand what I mean when I say the combat animations aren't always very real looking. Combatants stand miles apart and slash at the air somehow dealing damage through shear force of will rather than any physical contact. In G&H things are a bit different. When your character takes a swing at someone, you'll see the impact. Your character may even follow up by jumping on her foes back and attempting to choke the life out of them. I could go on about how cool the combat is, but there are a plethora of videos that can describe it better than my meager words. Some of the best are located here on the community site.

In G&H you play a human character who is quite literally the child of a god of the old myths and legends. Of course as such a child your powers are beyond that of a mere human. As your story progresses so do your powers. Nothing terribly fancy about that, most MMOs feature some sort of a level scheme. However in G&H you can also control minions. These minions fight beside you and level with you. I hear you can also equip them as you see fit and even develop your own formations to suit your fighting style. From what I've read you can only field 4 at a time, but can collect a limitless amount.

There are also instances referred to as player camps. Think of these as your own little customizable areas where you take care of all your little minions. I guess in other MMOs this would be the equivalent of player housing. *shrugs*

There are quite a few other features of the game that really stand out and I'm excited to see them in action. However, what I found out next also excited me. The company developing this game is Perpetual Entertainment, the same company that has announced they'll be making the new Star Trek Online MMO. Seeing the good things they're doing with G&H gives me great hope for the first Star Trek game in a long time, and the only one in the MMO category that I'm aware of.