The Spartans Speak
"Tera Online" brings good first impressionsThursday, March 22, 2012 By Jen McCall
When competing with systems like Xbox 360 and Play Station 3, it would seem computer games have lost the appeal they once had in the 90s and early 2000s. However, a few online games are still holding strong. “Tera Online” is to be released in the United States on May 1. For those who are fans of “World of Warcraft,” but are getting bored of the same old point and click routine, this game is worth checking out. When someone pre-orders “Tera Online” from Gamestop for $5, they will have access to the beta game every other weekend until its release. This allows those who pre-order to get a feel for the game, but also allows the company to work out any bugs that players encounter before its release. Not only are players able to create characters and level them ahead of others—the cap being Level 50—but they will also have first dibs on the names they want. The goal of “Tera Online” is to have the races, ranging from humans to elves, band together to defend the world of Tera from the Argons who wish to destroy it. “Tera Online” is also unique when it comes to the combat. It requires the player to set up combos for their attacks, as well as dodge attacks from others. The skill is learning when to attack, when to dodge and how to do both effectively. There are eight classes to choose from such as a warrior, archer, sorcerer, etc. Each requires a different skill level. Archers, for example, tend to be easier to play than warriors or slayers, both of which are close-combat classes that require the user to learn when to dodge and when to attack. Because I wanted to gain experience with a more difficult skill, I play a warrior in the game and noticed it does require skill, but is easy to pick up and control the character. The third-person camera view is a bit tricky at first because the mouse controls it, but the player can easily adjust. While users are able to play the game on their computers via keyboard and mouse, they can also use Xbox controllers. This feature should help sales, as many users are accustomed to playing Xbox rather than using keyboards. The graphics are phenomenal and go into such distinct detail from character customizations to the game setting and monsters. The view when the characters fly from one city to another is breathtaking and realistic in the quality of the mountainous landscape. At the same time, the monster players differ in details and appearance so that even if they are similar, similarities don’t reveal themselves until the monsters attack. While battling is fun, creating the character is fun too. A player can customize the skin, eyes, hair and even where the eyes and nose fall on the face. For instance, my character is an Elin, a tiny little girl creature with animal ears and a tail. Not only does she look like me—minus the animal ears and tail—but she sounds like me, too. It’s pretty cool when I can play a game and make it seem like I’m actually battling these monsters. “Tera Online” is user-friendly and really gets the player in the game with the impressive graphics and character customizations. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to be as impressed with the fighting and graphics, but I was pleasantly surprised. |