While I love Massively Multiplayer games, for a lot of people they've become very rote. When I say "MMOG" you almost certainly think of a fantasy game like World of WarCraft or EverQuest 2; even the most-anticipated in-development titles are fantasy games, like Warhammer Online or Age of Conan. The pre-launch death of Gods and Heroes , though, should be proof enough that the fantasy market is becoming a tough one to crack into. So what's the alternative? Sci-Fi, of course. Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa (TR) dodges these sword and sorcery pitfalls by offering a bleak view of the far future. TR is a departure from the genre standard in a number of ways, with fast-action FPS-like gameplay alongside its alien main course. Though this title isn't the second coming of the Massive genre, it's an enjoyable departure from the norm. Read on for my impressions of the return of Richard Garriott.

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