After my initial report yesterday I ended up going to the Square Enix booth to check out mobile Final Fantasy games (!?!) (an unfortunate PR accident, if you ask me). Following that "incident" I had appointments with Sony Online Entertainment and THQ. So, if you all don't mind, we're gonna omit the Square Enix part, unless you want to hear how Smap was moving a tiny character on the DS screen and making the game crash every 10 seconds (I'd like to hear all about that someday - Ed. Vader).

Anyway, as some of you may know, Vanguard (check out the screenshots here), the upcoming MMORPG from Sigil Games (founded by one of the original creators of EverQuest), recently received a new publisher. So instead of paying them a visit tomorrow as part of my MS appointment, I caught a glimpse of the game during day one, at SOE's booth.

Now let me tell you, it's almost unbearably obvious why MS got rid of this one. Merely looking at the game was a disappointment right off the bat. One of the folks from the development team was trying half-heartedly to explain the game's features, controlling an avatar in a five-man party and clearing some monsters in a keep. All I could do was stare at, what appeared to be, an unattractive and unappealing fantasy MMO world. The character animation seemed stiff and the models were very poor when playing from third person perspective. Most of the areas were practically swimming in gray tones, and well, it's kind of hard to explain. In my humble opinion, the game just doesn't look appealing in the least bit.

Gameplay wise, Vanguard seemed standard in every possible sense. The developer explained to me that there are no instanced dungeons in the game world and that's about it from what I could understand. The interface seemed highly reminiscent of any other MMOG... and that's it. The content itself didn't seem fun to play.

However, my visit to SOE did have its redeeming moments, and it largely has to do with another very promising MMORPG, inspired by the mythology of ancient Roman. The game in question is called Gods and Heroes (check out the screenshots here). Next to decent visuals, coupled with very nice art direction, the game featured beautifully animated combat, which adds a neat twist to the genre. As it happens, there's something engaging about watching a hero in action; you know, fighting mythical creatures such as three-headed monsters. It just looks damn spectacular and you get a real kick out of killing someone even if the core mechanics still revolve around hit points and numerical damage. Just seeing the combat itself is quite impressive and it really does add to the gameplay. From what I could gather, there are even more interactive elements to the combat than in a regular MMOG, and all this seems to work remarkably well in the game. For example, a Cyclops-like creature could impale our hero on a freaking bone when the fight is going his way. That looked pretty neat and it got my attention. The hero uses God powers (as spells), and those look very impressive as well. Gods and Heroes includes the usual selection of character classes: melee, healers and spell casters. However, they are all sort of wrapped in an ancient Roman setting. Of course, this is a fantasy game, with its own timeline and detailed lore.

Gods and Heroes is definitely a title you should be on the look out for. I believe it's slated to appear in Winter 2006. The game is based on a proprietary engine, which most certainly shows, and in a good way mind you.

Next up, I went to check out THQ's lineup. They have a pretty decent lineup this year, of course, with Titan Quest, Company of Heroes and Chris Taylor's Supreme Commander. Just so you know, Smaps will tell you more about Company of Heroes, while I give you the heads up on Supreme Commander (check out the screenshots here).

Being a long-time Total Annihilation devotee, I must say I was duly impressed with the Supreme Commander theater presentation. The presentation consisted solely of gameplay footage and that's what made it so damn spectacular.

Artistically, Supreme Commander undeniably feels like a spiritual successor to Total Annihilation, I was half-expecting to see the famous Commander unit take the field. However, gameplay-wise, I'm pretty damn sure all comparisons stop there. The battles we were shown were massive and I mean freaking MASSIVE. The huge conflict took place on an exceptionally large map, with diverse naval, air and land units. I literally felt as if watching a full scale invasion in a fantasy world. By the way, with just a simple zoom, players are able to cover huge distances to attend to various matters anywhere on the entire map.

The culmination of the battle showed off an incredible amount of tanks and other units as they crushed through trees and pounded on these huge spider-like mobile fortresses that incinerated everything in their path with powerful laser beams. The entire scene looked incredibly fun, and if we are take into account what made Total Annihilation so great in the first place (incredibly well-balanced, action-packed and dynamic RTS gameplay), it looks like Supreme Commander will just kick ass when it comes out. Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games might have a winner on their hands. Sure, it's too early to tell yet, and the game is coming out in 2007, but I just loved what I saw yesterday.

OK, as ever, we're jam-packed with appointments today as well. I'm gonna try to clone a few more of these Twolions, so that we can cover the show properly while the actual me is probably somewhere on the Sunset Strip trying to see the stars and all that shit. After all, that's what California is all about it seems.

Twolions signing off for now...