It's a good time to be a god. There are quite a few "god" games that have come out recently. That doesn't trouble Frog City, since they are convinced that Pantheon - their latest foray into the gaming marketplace - will be the one that stands head and shoulders above the rest.
That may sound like gamebox hyperbole. Well, ok it is. But when Frog City says they've got a winning product on their hands, I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. When the creators of Imperialism and Imperialism 2 (SGO Editor's Choice Winner) make a statement like that, they've got a boatload of credibility.
With those two titles, they pretty much exhausted that "conquest through industrialization" formula. I'm not sure how it could have been done much better, frankly. So rather than compete with the success they'd already achieved in that arena, they decided to venture into a totally new venue - Greek Mythology.
It's not a bad choice - Xena's still got a cachet with the mass-media crowd, and while there are indeed a few other games either out or coming out soon that superficially compete in the same niche, Frog City feels their particular mix of strategy, role playing, and adventure is just right. Fortunately, they allowed us a peek at an alpha copy of Pantheon. While there were only a couple of scenarios, a lot of placeholder graphics and even more placeholder sounds - I have to say I'm pretty impressed.
As you can see from the screenshots, there is already a high quality level to the graphics - figure and building) that are completed. A lot of the charm of the graphics is lost, since these are necessarily still screen captures. With enough horsepower in your system, you can enable the moving sun, giving a great feel for the epic "passing of time" as the world's contours are highlighted by the moving shadows of the morning, noon, and evening daylight. Birds flutter up from forests. The little mortal people run in terror from monsters - it's all quite engaging.
More importantly, the gameplay is interesting. In essence, you are a god, competing against other gods for worshippers and victory. You can do impressive feats of magic and miracles, but the problem is that your mana runs out quickly and therefore you are forced to rely on the yeomanry of your religion - the heroes, priests, and citizenry that worship you.
Heroes venture off on exploratory expeditions, completing quests and finding treasures that they can return to their civilization which will gift them with the technology to develop blacksmithing, for example. Priests are tasked with keeping the people faithful, building structures, and acting as the second-line of defense for your rather pathetic & helpless worshippers (although they are terribly cute when they genuflect at your appearance). Predatory monsters stalk the land - hydrae, titans, kraken, minotaurs, etc., - forcing your heroes to sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice on your behalf.
Certainly, if the danger is too great you almost always have the option of coming in person, but that has the nasty habit of also making you vulnerable to the mischief-making of other gods while you are embodied. There are other deities trying to kick your butt simultaneously. They're not all enemies - you can recruit a number of other gods as allies (your Pantheon) - but many of them are.
Of course, they can't kill you, but they can drive you off for a good long while to recover your lost mana in Olympus, leaving them free reign to run amok killing (or worse converting) your populace without your interference.
There are other things you can do to help, besides stomping around or sending heroes to do your chores - summon one of the aforementioned great beasties to do the dirty work for you! Artemis creates Giant Wolves to accompany and protect her heroes, Zeus calls for magical eagles to survey the
landscape, Poseidon of course will eventually be able to bring up fearsome sea monsters.
"Eventually?" you say. Indeed - the gods develop their talents as well. As your civilization expands and more people worship you, your heroes complete quests (gaining levels of their own), and generally things go well your
deity will also gain experience and levels. Olympian experience points are naturally juicier than mortal experience points and can lead to much cooler abilities and spells to cast than those available to puny mortals. The spells themselves are handy, offering you a literal toolbox of persuasive arguments: what better to convince your opponent's people of their misguided devotion than a whopping tornado or earthquake? It may not be the Summa Theologica, but watching the local Granary or Palace of Courtesans (yes, you can build them too!) get churned under by a suspicious flood, or seeing the local priest vaporized by a lightning bolt out of the clear blue - well, I'd strongly consider into which devotional I dropped MY next drachma.
The cool part about Pantheon is the sim-ness of it. You aren't omnipotent, but you are damn potent - yet you must work indirectly. You have a finite (and fragile) few agents to work your will in the world, and mainly their goal is to do things to convince people that you're a neat god. When (if?) the people believe that (because you just gave them fire or a new berry-picker) they'll start to worship you and you're on your way.
Frog City is still in negotiations to find a publisher, but I don't expect that will take too long. They've got a good concept, an interesting engine, and a solid reputation for bringing high-quality strategy games to the desktop. Pantheon will be a worthy addition to their already-impressive list of accomplishments.
