Tabula Rasa Preview

Games Radar has kicked up their own impressions of Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, based on their time in the game’s closed beta test.

It seems like Tabula Rasa has achieved the balance between gunplay and RPG elements that Star Wars Galaxies struggled with. But even though its new take on combat is refreshingly smooth and fast-paced, we found ourselves somewhat disappointed with the design of Tabula Rasa’s early areas.

While there’s undoubtedly more to be revealed in the game’s higher level areas, the sci-fi soldiers, compact forts, and aliens we’ve seen in the first zone seem out of place. It’s almost as if they’ve been transplanted into a typical high fantasy game with sprawling forests, winding rivers, and deep caves. What Tabula Rasa’s early game currently lacks is that great moment when you visit your first large hub, which is something we’ve come to expect from other NCsoft published titles like Guild Wars.

There’s also five new screenshots from the game on offer over at WorthPlaying.