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The first thing you’ll notice about Tabula Rasa is that it’s a competent MMO with attractive visuals. The second thing you’ll notice is that you’re all alone. It’s not a terrible game. There’s nothing obviously wrong with it. It’s just that the designers forgot to add the narcotic ingredients required to make the game impossible to put down. You log on, shoot some stuff, and log off again. There’s no reason for people to keep paying a monthly fee, and so the gameworld is usually empty.
The publishers are apparently so enraged at designer Richard Garriott that they’ve decided to launch his ass into space, which seems excessive to me. But this MMO stuff is apparently a cutthroat business.
If only someone had thought of doing that to the Hellgate:London team.
Shamus Young is a programmer and writer by trade, videogame nitpicker by inclination. If you have the patience for more of his ramblings, they can be found at ShamusYoung.com.
