Another of the game's features that I liked was the way that it made you feel
as if there really was a war going on and that it was taking place on living
planets. A dropship might suddenly swoop down and disgorge a squad of Bane
soldiers as nearby NPC soldiers rush to the fight. The Bane can launch an
all-out assault on one of the game's control points and if they capture it then
all of its associated quests will be blocked until players can manage to take it
back. Even the local fauna gets into the act, with carnivores going after their
prey. It all makes for a more chaotic game world, which is far more interesting
than one that is populated with MOBs standing around waiting to be killed by a
player.
There are a lot of things to like about Tabula Rasa, but the crafting system
is not one of them. The game doesn't do a good job at all of explaining its
craft system and making matters worse is the fact that it's not at all
intuitive. It requires removing items from looted armor and weapons, obtaining
additional components, and then having the right recipes available. Crafting
things takes a fair amount of work and when you're done the weapon and armor
mods that you end up with don't seem worth the effort. Things are made more
difficult by the lack of any kind of auction house in the game, so picking up
missing components or trying to earn money by selling your wares are made more
difficult.
Tabula Rasa has some nice features and its setting is refreshing in a genre
rife with clones, but when you get down to it it is still a standard MMORPG at
heart. It would be nice to see a game build a new model for the genre instead of
tweaking the standard one. If you're not a fan of the genre or are burned out on
it, there's probably not enough that's different about the game to entice you
back to MMORPGs. However, if you're looking for a change of scenery from your
typical orcs and elves setting or for something that's a little bit different
than other MMORPGs, then a trip to Foreas may well be worth your time.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
80%. Tabula Rasa evolves the MMORPG formula just
far enough to make things interesting.
« Page 2
