Tabula Rasa- Review (PC)
Tabula Rasa needs to be commended for trying to change up the massively multiplayer online mechanic that nearly every game in this genre follows. This game tries to be more action packed and, for the most part, it succeeds. It has it’s faults and glitches, but this has become commonplace for newly released MMOs.
The first thing that a player will notice is that the game is far more action oriented. It plays more closely to Mass Effect than the other games within it’s own genre. Instead of the typical ‘swords and bows’ weaponry, this game focuses on different types of guns. In most MMOs, you can generally know right away if you can kill a certain enemy. In this game, with clever play, you are able to take down enemies that a less skillful player could only dream of. A good example of this is in one of the earlier caves. The enemies in there will disappear when you damage them a certain amount. When they reappear, they set off an explosion that kills most players in one shot. The best way to defeat them is to learn the layout of the cavern so that you can run backward every time they disappear. Fighting several of these enemies at one time can be very difficult. Most players will run in and try to take them on toe to toe but get killed quickly. I have seen skilled players the same level as these monsters take on five or more at one time and come out relatively unscathed.
The game can seem boring at first because every character starts as the same class and has the same weapons. The first few hours worth of battles consist of little more than looking at a group of enemies and holding down the left mouse button to fire your gun until all foes are dead. This may chase some gamers off because most MMOs are a blast straight from the beginning. The tutorial leaves out a few important points, such as the penalty for dying. I didn’t even know there was one until I died a few times in a row. My character became unable to fight even the easiest enemies and then I noticed a tiny icon in the corner of the screen that, once clicked on, told me that my abilities have been reduced by 60% for fifteen minutes. It would have been nice to have known about this ahead of time.
After you reach level five, you must make the decision as to which of two classes to choose: the soldier or the specialist. At level fifteen, these two classes are split again and the same happens again at level thirty. Don’t worry, I won’t make you do the math; that makes eight final classes to choose from. The soldier path is fairly self explanatory. This leads to classes that use big guns to kill as many guys in head to head fighting as possible. The specialist leads to the classes with the cooler abilities that are comparable to magic in other games, but these are usually more of support characters. The can hold their own, but soloing will be easier as a soldier. Some classes can only wear certain armour, while others have unique guns available to them. Each of the eight classes are well balanced and have very clear strengths and powers that make them a good choice.
The missions are set up very similarly to most other MMOs. There are bases where ally NPCs hang out and will have a specific icon over their head if they have a quest for you. All of the missions are interesting to read and don’t make you want to skip them. There were even a few I came across that required you to make an ethical choice on how to proceed and the end of the mission played out differently depending on your decision. These choices do not have a lasting impact on the game, but I still thought this was a really cool addition. If you are the type of person that doesn’t care about the story, you can skip to the end of the write up on a mission and just read the objectives without missing any vital information. There still is the occasional ‘collect 12 boar hides’ quest. They try to be clever by calling the boars ‘boargars’ and the hides ‘skin samples’ but I don’t think anyone will fall for it. You can talk to any NPC in the game and even the unimportant ones have some interesting things to say. My favorite was the lady who believed the aliens that attacked Earth during the opening sequence were our punishment for reality TV.
There was one idea that I thought added a lot to the game, but can also lead to some frustration. Many of the NPC bases are under constant attack by the enemy aliens. Every once in a while, the force will be so overwhelming that all the players in the area must work together to defend the base. This leads to some of the most intense moments in the game because you are no longer fighting for experience or items but in defense of your base. If the enemies take control, all players lose access to that base (which includes all NPC’s, stores, and teleporters) and then players must unite to retake it. It is an awesome idea because it gives the players a purpose beyond the generic level grind or item hunting that typifies these games. The frustration arises if you accept a quest in a base, but the enemy takes over while you are off performing it. You won’t be able to turn in your quest until the base is retaken.
The graphics are a bit sub par for what we have come to expect. They aren’t bad, just somewhat bland. They are boring enough that they are the main reason for not giving this game a higher rating. The characters look really good, but the environments could have been much better. There aren’t many things that you will come across that will amaze you like in other games. This can be good because the game will work even if you don’t have a powerhouse machine, but high end computer owners will be dissapointed. There are also occasional glitches that hurt the experience. Occasionally an enemy will not go into his death animation and will remain standing once killed. This can be annoying because you may be still shooting at an enemy that is dead when you need to be focusing on the others that are still alive. Also, several players have told me about missions that are broken and cannot be completed. Since MMOs are typically updated once a week, there is a chance that these problems could be fixed even before you read this.
So far, I have played a couple of characters but haven’t gotten any above level fifteen. I haven’t played enough of the game to get into the player vs player component. You can join a clan of players (just like a guild or kinship in other games) which can declare war on other clans, but I haven’t seen this in practice to know how well it works out. I also have not met any players that have hit the level cap of fifty, so I don’t know anything about the end game content. So far, I have enjoyed my time with Tabula Rasa, but will continue to update the review if I come across anything that I feel needs to be added.
For those that don’t know who Richard Garriott is or why his name is on the game, he is the guy behind the original Ultima series. There really isn’t any connection from this game to that series, in story or gameplay. The only reason I can think of for having his name in the title is to get old school gamers to buy the game. Sure, it’s a little shameless, but whatever works for them.
It is great to see someone trying something different in this genre. It isn’t perfect, but sometimes being original can overshadow that. If you are set on the World of Warcraft design (damn, I almost made it through the entire review without mentioning WoW) but want some new worlds to explore, Lord of the Rings Online may be more up your alley. Otherwise, if you want something a little more action packed where the battles don’t consist of pressing the same combination of number keys every time, this may be your ticket.
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