Tabula Rasa Reviews
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Gunplay is just as vital as treasure hunting in the various colorful worlds begging to be explored in Tabula Rasa. While the user interface for the game might be familiar to MMO players, the controls are much more in line with shooters. Moving the mouse aims, clicking the left mouse button shoots your gun, and clicking the right mouse button unleashes a special power or item. For the easily intimidated RPG nuts, a simple lock-on feature allows you to blast away at enemies without having to worry about your questionable targeting skills.GameSpy gives it 4/5.
Once you master the FPS style in the well-scripted tutorial zone, the game gels into the regular kill-gain experience and weapon/armor upgrades-level up-kill more cycle. While some might see this as a failure of what the game set out to do - wiping the slate clean and all - it feels genuinely different due to the fast pace of gameplay. Even the smallest details build towards a more action-oriented feel for the game; no more looting enemies in clunky windows, just run over their dead bodies and move on to the next encounter.
The key feature of Tabula Rasa is the game's combat system. The NCSoft design team set out to redefine MMO combat and in this, at least, they've really succeeded. While the game still does traditional stat-rolling under the frenetic on-screen action, the factors that go into each roll include the players' movement, stance, cover and range. That variety turns fighting in Tabula Rasa into an incredibly fun mix of movement, positioning and moment-to-moment weapon selection. It has the immediacy and kinetic quality of a third-person action game without sacrificing the deeper strategy of a standard RPG fighting system.GameDaily gives it an 8.
To take advantage of this system, Tabula Rasa's world design team has done a masterful job crafting a sort of "living" battlefield. Enemies in Tabula Rasa don't just stand around waiting to be killed, there's always something going on whether its Thrax soldiers on patrol, a battle between Bane and AFS NPCs, native animals hunting each other or continual assaults on the player's bases. The latter event is a continual highlight of playing the game, a joyously chaotic affair filled with dozens of enemies and players shooting at each other to defend the base. Should the Bane win, this means that a whole group of quests are not completable until the base is recaptured. That's a whole different sort of fun as an ad-hoc group of player-soldiers try to coordinate an assault on a very well-defended emplacement in order to reclaim access to quest-givers and merchants.
As you explore the vast game world you'll encounter creatures fighting each other because they are natural enemies. TR's constant state of flux, attention to detail, and dynamic combat creates a living, breathing world. Exploring goes hand in hand with hunting for Logos symbols (a few thousand currently exist, with more on the way). Some symbols can be found in the open, others deep inside caves, while some reside within enemy bases. Logos powers can be general (i.e., lighting or sprint) or class specific (call up reinforcements, degrade armor or cast a variety of poisons). Often a player must possess a combination of symbols in order to unlock doors (called Logos Gates) or special abilities (i.e., using "Reinforcement" requires the symbols for "Summon," "Friend" and "Here"). Teammates can even combine abilities. For example, one player can use "Rage" to deal double damage while another lowers an attacker's armor, creating four times the normal damage. Symbols appear on a player's tablet (blank slate) and gamers can view them any time. Why? TR's history has been ingeniously etched into the very environment itself. As players collect the symbols a pictographic language forms that they can use to decipher these hieroglyphics.GameZone gives it an 8.6.
Combat occurs in real time and mixes aspects of first person shooters with role-playing elements. Fortunately, TR features a sticky targeting reticule that doesn't require pinpoint accuracy. Behind the scenes "dice rolling" determines damage based on real-time factors like the type of weapon, ammo, stance, cover and movement. No other MMO does this. Furthermore, extended bouts of combat grant XP bonuses and boosts experience as much as six times. But it won't be as easy. The enemy artificial intelligence takes full advantage of the terrain, attempts to outflank and outmaneuver you, and use its superior numbers to its advantage.
What trademark is that? Well, NCsoft is not afraid of taking chances and that often includes trying innovative ideas within the massively multiplayer online space. In that vein, Tabula Rasa continues the trend. This is a game that moves the space forward with solid AI, and a dynamic battlefield that can change quickly.
First and foremost, TR plays off a familiar theme invasion of the Earth. In TR's universe, the Earth was not only invaded, but defeated. The Bane are the world-hopping force that will subvert what it can, and destroy what it cannot. The governments of Earth saw it coming and though the world was lost, some were saved. You are one of the survivors. As part of the AFS (a rag-tag allied force of the survivors from conquered worlds; AFS stands for Allied Free Sentients), you begin the stand against the Bane on Foreas, a forest-covered world where the inhabitants lived in harmony with the land . well, until the Bane showed up. Now the pristine landscape is dotted with twisted shapes and blood-red vines. Even some of the tribal members are . well, let's leave that for you to discover as you play the game.
