The brains and imagination behind the epic game Tabula Rasa is none other than Richard "Lord British" Garriott, who is best known as the creator of the hugely successful Ultima series of role playing games. It’s a pretty safe assumption to say that he knows what he is doing when it comes to game design and giving players what they want. Tabula Rasa, his latest project in the works, looks like it will give the next generation of gamers exactly what they want, only more elaborate and more engaging. Tabula Rasa is an online massively multiplayer game that pits a coalition of rebel soldiers against the invading xenophobic alien race known as The Bane. The first person action is mixed with the strategy and storytelling depth of a role playing game and all comes together as one in the incredibly large and always active world.
As you start the game, you will enter the world as a recruit and work your way up through the ranks as the game progresses. As you make your way up the ranks, you will get to choose your path of classes and specialties, that include skills and “logos” spells that you will upgrade throughout the game. In a different take on picking classes, you will be given the opportunity to try out the skill before you actually commit to it incase it isn’t what you were looking for. Also, later on in the game, you will be able to change your path without having to restart with a new character. No one is a hero without an adversary to deal with. The creatures in Tabula Rasa are each diverse in their own strengths and attacks and the player will need to use the right weapons and spells on each enemy, depending on what their weaknesses are. The creatures found in the world are impressive to say the least. The few alien beasts that we were shown easily towered over the player and had more then two attacks so that it was deadly at close and far range.
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The frenzied and highly detailed world that the action takes place on is rich in history as Richard Garriott brings the unique creativity and design only he can dream up. The action in the world is always happening all over whether you are participating or not. There are parts of the planets history that you can learn through out the game as well as on structures and monuments that are written in an actual language that you can decipher to learn for yourself. There are also waypoints spread out across the land that you can use to teleport across great distances so you aren’t spending all your time running from point A to point B. The player will also have personal hover vehicles that will allow them to cover long distances quicker. The missions that you will take on will be smaller instances at first that will lead to, over time, large full scale missions that will require some help from other players, NPC characters around the world that you can recruit or take them on yourself soloing. There have been some changes made in the game over the past showings of the game, noticeably the dress of the rebel fighters.
It seems that the old uniforms and armor that they had were deemed a little too “fluffish” and didn’t seem dangerous enough, as it were, that a member of a fighting regiment would wear. Also the tray system is streamlined so that the player doesn’t spend a lot of time trying to get to the powers and weapons that they want loaded up nor does it take up a lot of screen space with icons all over the place. Quick picking tray items makes selecting the items easier and not a strenuous adventure just to find the spell or weapon you need in a life or death situation. Tabula Rasa also features a fully integrated built-in voice communication system that allows players to talk to each other and coordinate their efforts on the battle field. With everything Tabula Rasa has going for it, the nonstop action, the weapons and spells, the incredible enemies and simplified menu interaction, this is sure to be the next addictive MMORPG to steal the hours upon hours of our lives when it is eventually released.
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