The developers of the multiplayer online role playing game Tabula Rasa handed out their second wave of Beta keys. The game will be released in October, and although it’s still in beta, the game must be in it’s final stages. A first impression.
Firstly the game’s atmosphere. It’s set in an undefined future era, earth has been taken over by aliens who use mankind to fight their battles on different planets. All players start as new recruits and the whole setup is to start fighting, develop yourself in battle and break free in one form or an other. One of the most important factors in this type of games is character customization. Tabula Rasa offers various ways to adjust your character, although it feels rather limited. The overall look of your character remains more or less the same. But I’m quite sure this will improve when you gain your first gear rewards that really look different.
I think it’s great they have chosen a different setting then the regular fantasy genre, no Orc’s and elves this time. The fantasy or historical setting for these kind of games has been used extensively, and it would be very hard to compete with the original (or upcoming ) titles. It gives Tabula Rasa an unique look and feel, but it will also exclude the typical fantasy role playing fans. Overall the game looks very polished, the characters look good, and the world is detailed. What I miss right now is real freedom of movement, and they should make the UI a bit more intuitive. Spending 15 minutes to figure out how to open a box, to grab yourself a gun, is no fun.
Like I said, the game is not the typical online role playing game, the setting feels very different, so does the game’s background story. For me, Tabula Rasa feels like a hybrid between a first person shooter and an MMORPG, a refreshing concept.
Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa website
Tags: MMO,
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