Game Review: "Tabula Rasa"

Omar L. Gallaga - Cox News Service

Nov 09, 2007

'Tabula Rasa' a Deep, Battle-Filled Saga

Casual gamers will need to decide whether the online game is worth the time commitment.

In the time since "Ultima Online," we've gone through several video game revolutions. Two of the most significant have been the shift toward more casual pick-up-and-play games, as evidenced by the rise of the Nintendo Wii. Another is the glut of sequels, retreads that gamers happily snap up, such as the entertaining but short "Halo 3." Simple and familiar; that's what most video games feel like these days.

What a relief it is to see that Richard Garriott and his team at NCsoft Corp. have not downsized their ambitious vision for "Tabula Rasa," one of the few games out this year that feel like true labors of love.

Competing with similarly large-scale games such as "World of Warcraft" and "Lord of the Rings Online," "Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa" involves the destruction of Earth and an interplanetary war against the Bane, about as evil a band of alien creatures as you could hope to encounter.

Luckily, you've got lots of weapons at your disposal. In the pre-release beta test we played, players have access to rifles, pistols, shotguns and exotic grenades, in addition to mystical powers bestowed by a race called the Eloh in the form of "Logos." Logos are magical symbols that form a language and can be used by players to cast spells. The early levels of the game involve hunting lower-level creatures for experience points and tracking down the locations of Logos and learning to use them.

It's hard to tell whether all but the most devoted gamers who own powerful PCs will have the patience for "Tabula Rasa."

There's a learning curve to processing the sometimes overwhelming array of options and data on-screen. The game's emphasis on gun-toting action - it plays like a cross between a massively multiplayer online game such as "World of Warcraft" and action games like "Halo 3" - means you sometimes find yourself hunting for the right button or inventory item just at the moment some alien is blasting at your head.

The game does drop mini-tutorials on how to play along the way to get you up to speed.

The worlds of "Tabula Rasa," which constitute multiple planets and myriad story lines, are lush. A beefy Windows computer can run the game in all its splendor - with evocative sound design, varied terrain and lots of firefights that look spectacular. Those battles seem to pop up everywhere you go - outside of command posts and sometimes in the middle of an otherwise peaceful field.

The game, as with most massively multiplayer online games, will be a huge time commitment. There's a lot of depth in the game's crafting systems, which allow players to create gear and weapons from disparate objects, and different professional specialties players can branch into as they progress. Those who want to get the full experience will want to band together with other players to form societies within the game.

My biggest complaint in the early levels I played of the game was the limitations of character selection. No matter what skin and equipment color or facial features you choose at the beginning, players tend to have a generic action-hero look to them in the actual game, in sharp contrast to the spectacular varieties of alien creatures you encounter. It's difficult to tell individuals apart when running through friendly cities.

The game does feel ready for prime time, though. Its biggest challenge may be competition. This is turning out to be an unusually strong season for new games. Along with online subscription games available, "Tabula Rasa" is competing with popular titles like "BioShock," "Halo 3," "Hellgate: London," the upcoming "Call of Duty 4," "Rock Band," "Guitar Hero III" and even Nintendo's "Super Mario Galaxy."

This game requires time, an appreciation for an epic new world and trust that Garriott is leading dedicated players through a rewarding story.

Based on Garriott's history, there's no reason to believe "Tabula Rasa" won't deliver.

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