Video Game Review:Tabula Rasa

Touted as a sci-fi action version of Blizzard's World of Warcraft, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, published by NCSoft, was supposed to take the MMORPG market to the next level and potentially give World of Warcraft a run for its money. But, just like all the other MMOs that thought they might take a chunk of Blizzard's pie, it failed at almost every level; rushed into production with even less development time than what most MMOs receive, detailed but messy graphics, and largely unfinished. At least it was playable, although with the standard server and balance issues that all MMOs endure upon their launch, which is more than can be said about other MMOs that have been released recently.

Unlike many recent MMO games that have been shoved down the throats of pc gamers, Tabula Rasa is not only playable, but stable. The graphics are not a complete eyesore to look upon, although they are a bit dingy and somewhat uninspired. As an action game, it almost works; the developers wanted this game to have a first person shooter (FPS) feel to it and it does, unfortunately, you're left wanting this to be more FPS than it is; you can "feel" the dice rolling in the background while in combat. If only they would have incorporated Hellgate London's FPS play style and kept the camera angles and viewing control; I like to see my character in action, others prefer a more immersive experience. Instead Tabula Rasa gave its players another turn-based/real time hybrid; at least they gave us WASD controls.

Another highlight of the game that was lauded is its character creation system where you begin with only aesthetic options such as physical traits and gender. The player does not choose a class; everyone begins on an equal footing and looks the same; your class will be determined along the way as you level whereby your choice in skills training opens up class options. This system has a good theory; players are not always happy with the class they choose at the beginning of most games, so this offers the ability to develop your own play style and choose your appropriate class along the way; no more, "I should have rolled a mage" moments. However, the class system is based on a branching tree; the player's choice of class at the first tier completely shuts out half of the tree, then another half of the remaining tree at the next tier and so on. If you decide to start a new character, you have to go through the process again until you reach what you want. This makes for a very repetitive and tedious experience at the lower levels. In other games, you may have to complete all the same quests again, but at least a new character means a new experience right from the start.

Group instancing is very buggy, players can easily miss out on entire quest lines and there rewards when running with other players who are at different points along the quest chain. But at least the instances themselves are a mostly solid experience and most of them can be soloed with some effort if you want to make sure you don't miss any quests.

Overall, I like Tabula Rasa, but I like what it might have been a whole lot more. Richard Garriott's team is dedicated to continuing development of the game; they add content and bug fixes and other tweaks almost weekly. In upcoming patches they intend to add armor sets, vehicle "mounts", more diversity in gear, and even graphical tweaks to character models.

In spite of a lackluster income (note the absence of Tabula Rasa on this listing of NCSoft's game profits), corporate concerns, and fear of lay-offs, Tabula Rasa is still a potential blockbuster. I hope the weekly updates are not holding up the development of an expansion or other major tweaks. But regardless, don't be afraid to give this game a shot. It's not all that it could have been, but it's a very stable and mostly finished game with a dedicated support team that could still pull off something amazing with it. I listed a number of negative aspects, but they are not game-breaking and many people actually find a positive gaming experience where I found negative ones. Go ahead and buy it, pay for a month and see for yourself if the game is worth supporting further.