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How do you tell if you're under cover or not? Once again, the Tabula Rasa interface tries to keep everything right there on your screen so you don't have to take your eyes off the action. Let's take a close look at your targeting crosshairs.

Obviously, the center of the crosshairs is what you're aiming at. Unlike a first-person shooter, you don't have to aim precisely at the enemy; just point your crosshair near the target you want, blaze away, and the game mechanics will determine if you hit and how much damage you do. Your crosshairs will light up when something is targeted.

That light-colored ring around the center of your crosshairs is also important -- that shows how much ammo is in your current clip. Tapping "R" will reload your weapon (you'll see the ring fill back up). It's important to keep your ammo full whenever you can, so get into the habit of reloading between skirmishes, and keep your eye on the crosshairs to see how much ammo is left in your clip.


But what about cover? How well are you hidden? You can tell this by looking at the waves of color that surround your crosshairs when you're under fire. You can see at a glance where the damage is coming from (don't let yourself get flanked!). If the damage indicator is red, that means that the enemy is getting a clear shot at you. Duck behind some cover! Orange and yellow mean that you're getting the benefit of partial cover, and green means that you're getting maximum cover. Use the environment to your advantage!

The next game area is littered with plenty of great cover. Use it! Watch how the game interface responds. Master the art of cover and you'll be a brutal fighting machine.

Here's something else to try: hand-to-hand combat. Rush up to a Bane and hit the 'melee' key ('F' by default). You'll put out a pounding! (NOTE: If you were in the earlier betas, you'll notice that the melee and use keys are now bound seperately). Melee combat in Tabula Rasa is immensely powerful -- but I'll let you figure that out for yourself the first time you kick an enemy in half. As you advance in the game you can decide if you want to stick to ranged attacks or boost up your hand-to-hand skills. Be careful -- the enemy is just as powerful up close!

Now that you've got the basics, you can enjoy the rest of the tutorial: a full-on base assault. Afterwards you'll go it alone to learn a little more about the mysterious Logos powers that only sensitive humans have access to.

From there, the world of Tabula Rasa is yours to explore. Enjoy the beta, and remember that all beta players are under NDA, so unfortunately you can't send screenshots to all your friends or blog about the game. We'll see you on the battlefield!