Join Senior Staff Writer Chris "Pwyff" Tom on his first significant foray into sandbox MMORPGs as he checks out Perpetuum, an EVE Online-like MMO... but with robots!

The real draw factor of Perpetuum is quite obviously that it's a robot-based MMORPG in an industry where robot-based MMO gaming is sorely lacking. In this regard, Perpetuum delivers fairly well, giving players a few choices for their robot-piloting needs. There are three 'factions' in Perpetuum: Thelodica, Pelistal and Nuimqol, with each faction having a weapon advantage and disadvantage against the other two factions, creating a giant game of robot rock-paper-scissors. Long story short, Thelodica's long-range laser robots are strong against Nuimqol's short-range electromagnetic 'shotgun' robots, but Thelodica is quite weak against Pelistal's missile-based bots, which can fire missiles over terrain that blocks laser fire.

One of Perpetuum's most interesting balancing acts, however, is how each 'tier' of robot interacts with the other 'tiers.' The fact is, a month into playing Perpetuum, players are quite capable of piloting even the biggest and baddest of the robots - the heavy mech. Unfortunately, unlike most linear-MMOs where 'heavy mech' automatically means better than a regular 'mech,' each level of robot in Perpetuum has a different role. Heavy mechs and mechs both provide massive long-range firepower, but against the smaller, more agile assault bots, these big mechs suffer from poor accuracy issues.

Not only this, but how players spend their EP on extensions plays a huge role in how well they can pilot specific tiers of mechs. While it doesn't require much time for a player to be able to pilot a mech or a heavy mech, it takes much, much longer to get the other extensions that make you effective as a mech. This system of giving players all of their toys up front is actually quite frustrating for those who are more used to World of Warcraft's straight-upgrade style of play. Many players looking to come to role-play as Voltron in Perpetuum have come away extremely frustrated after realizing that, without the training in other core extensions (weapon optimizations, land speed optimization), they're actually much weaker than someone piloting a light robot.

To wrap this up in more succinct terms, Perpetuum is definitely a lot of fun, but only if you come into it with the right mindset and realize that it's going to take a while before it really beefs up. If you come into Perpetuum with loot-based goals, like owning the biggest, baddest robot of all, then I can guarantee that you can achieve that goal easily within a month or two. Unfortunately, like all sandbox MMOs, Perpetuum is really not about big robots, it's about what you do with those robots. At the end of the day, if you want EVE Online with more tactical combat (or so I've been told), or if you're wary of starting EVE and being unable to catch up to the veterans, Perpetuum is a solid introduction to the world of sandbox MMORPGs.