It seems now that every new MMORPG claims to be more action-oriented. Apparently, sometime between the MMO heyday and now, audiences have decided they want more Ninja Gaiden in their loot-gathering, and each new entry in the genre promises to be the one to deliver. TERA is the latest to take on the challenge, billing itself as a "true action" MMO. In a hands-on demo at PAX East 2012, I was surprised to find that boast mostly accurate.

I was grouped into a five-man team with a Bluehole developer acting as the healer, to help ward off against embarrassing death. I was assigned to the Slayer DPS role, a nimble melee fighter with a focus on closing distance, quick strikes, and then getting out of danger just as swiftly. The dungeon itself was fairly straight-forward, with some easy enemies to get a handle of the controls, followed by a longer boss encounter.

While the combat wasn't quite on-par with a purely third-person action title, it was certainly approaching it. Rolling towards an enemy, letting loose with quick strikes, and then dodge-rolling away before it had a chance to respond felt quick and responsive. It avoided the common MMORPG stigma of issuing a command and watching a character perform it. Instead, the commands correlated quickly and directly, for a more active experience.

Tera

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