TR - Tabula Rasa: Hands-On, 12 Hours In at GameSpotUK : FPS / MMORPG / RTS Discussion

We've been playing the closed beta of Tabula Rasa for a while, and having reached the 12-hours-played mark, it's time to report back.

After many years in development hell, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa is finally approaching its release date. With the game currently available in a closed beta, we've been spending time learning the ropes and exploring a number of the game's alien zones. The 12-hour journey took us to all corners of the first zone of the Concordia continent, the imaginatively named Wilderness, and off into the next zone, Divide.

Throughout the first 12 hours we have gone up 11 levels and completed a wide range of quests, ranging from the ethically dubious, such as running drugs--we elected not to turn the dealer over to his base commander, as we really needed the money--to the bog-standard MMO fare of collecting a batch of boar tusks. Also during this time (we've been playing the beta over the course of a few weeks), the game has undergone a series of improvements related to player feedback, so expect the game to change a lot more between now and release.

After completing the in-game tutorial you are whisked by dropship to a forward base that is bustling with activity and attached to a friendly alien complex. Here you get your first simple quests and head out into the wilderness, armed with nothing but a rifle and the ability to throw lightning gained in the tutorial. The fundamental mechanic will be familiar to anyone who has played an MMORPG. You go out into the wilderness, kill things, and therefore gain experience, money (credits), and items.

For full story click on link below
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/tabularasa/news.html?sid=6176825&tag=topslot;title;4