Finaly a MMORPG with sci-fi and guns!!
User Rating: 9 | Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa PC
The fast-paced gunplay that makes up the core of the Tabula Rasa experience is the game's greatest strength. It's flat-out fun to figure out the best way to attack a situation with the various firearms and abilities at your disposal. Things get vastly deeper at higher levels, but even the early game presents players with fun options. Shotguns allow great mobility and are fantastic for groups of enemies, while pistols pack a surprising punch against single foes and rifles allow a much greater engagement distance. Mix in different damage types (you won't get far using physical damage against the heavily armored Kael, for instance) and the vast diversity of abilities from the various classes and you've got combat as good as any.
Tabula Rasa's other great achievement is in making the gameworld feel alive. With few exceptions, enemies never stand around waiting to be killed – hostile troops land in squads from dropships to assault human positions, and creatures attack players who come too close to their nest. Control points will fall to the malefic Bane if players don't help to defend them against the assault, leaving that area's quests and NPCs unavailable until the point is retaken. It's rare to feel like you're "grinding" or otherwise fighting enemies just for loot and XP. The vast majority of my playtime was spent exploring, defending, assaulting, or rescuing – battles were just an enjoyable diversion along the way.
