All was lost! Only a few were "handpicked" to fight against this alien force that nearly whipped all humanity. They fled through wormhole portals build by an ancient race long time ago. Earth never stood a chance...

The ones who managed to escape were found in the middle of a war that has been waging for eons. With the help of the ancient Eloh race, humanity began unlocking the power behind symbols, a power that allowed control of matter and energy just with the force of mind.

Humanity is changing. But... change is good. Change means a new chance of survival for us. A fresh start. A clean slate.

Tabula Rasa or Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa if you prefer is a new breed of MMORPG. Yes, change can be sometimes beneficial for such a popular genre. So we will see in the following lines why Tabula Rasa isn't "just another MMORPG"...

So who is this Richard Garriott? - you ask. Noooo, you don't! Because you're an old gamer, and you know very well that Mr. Garriott aka Lord British is the father of the MMORPG genre. And because you remember the popular Ultima series of games. Good to know you remember!

So what is so different about this "Tabula Rasa" game? - you ask. That's a good question. Well, there are a few things that make it "stand out of the crowd". First of all, the whole game universe is a battlefield between humans and "The Bane". Meaning that even if no human players were in the game, the battle will keep going, with each side winning or losing outposts and territory.

Then there is the "shooter" aspect. Like all respectable MMORPGs, Tabula Rasa uses a 3^rd person camera perspective. But the similarities end here, because the fighting system is more than skill buttons pressed in some order, and each player taking turns in using their abilities. Being a sci-fi game, players use guns to fire instantly. But that's not all. Even if the game calculates odds and does dice rolls for each hit, you actually have to aim the target you shoot, or else you will miss. Like in a shooter game, you can strafe around your target to become harder to hit, or you can use terrain to your advantage.

All goes further, because the evil aliens are now more evil than ever. They have a decent AI, and instead of fighting hordes of zombie-like monsters over and over again you will have a challenge with each one of them. They know when to attack or when to run, and they can fight in groups and outflank you. At least that is what the developers from Destination Games promised.

And to add salt and pepper you also have to reload your weapon and watch out for possible jams because of your poor skills... joy!

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Another new addition to this "second generation MMORPG", as Mr. Garriott likes to call it, is the unique class tree. Instead of picking a class from the beginning and being stuck in that role "for the rest of your life", everyone starts as a Recruit. As you gain levels, at certain key points you get to specialize your character further in certain aspects. The interesting part is that you can clone your character at these key points, and choose another specialization so you don't have to start all over if you want a different class.

What else can I say?! The game is still in closed beta stage and they still have a lot of work to do. It certainly looks promising, and if the devteam delivers this is certainly a worthy MMO!

See you on the battlefield!

PS: Oh I forgot, and George here is yelling at me now to tell you a bit about the Logos. Well... in his infinite wisdom, Mr. Garriott decided to use a brand new approach to the traditional "spells" you see in today's MMOs. As youstart walking on far away alien planets you begin to learn the meaning of powerful logo symbols. By learning these logos and combining them to "makes sense" you will gain abilities that no human thought existed. Things like chain lightning, fire, summon etc. - all of those can be learned as you explore the game. For example, combining symbols like "summon","friend" and "here" result in - you guessed it! Summon your friend to your location!

Of course there are many things to cover but since this is only a preview and the world of Tabula Rasa is continually changing, I will have to tell you all the other stuff when the final version is released.

Over and out!