Don't bother me. I'm waiting for a passenger -- some suicidal idiot. Can't be caught chatting. I want to make a good impression. It's suicide. Really. Ask the others. Oh, wait, you can't. But don't worry about them. Like my mother said, "Don't weep for the fallen. Even if they could hear you, they wouldn't care."
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Rast BrattiganAs far as Western RPG's go
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, is to say the least, a very ambitious, fullfilling, and all round fun game to sink into. Developed by 38 Studios and featuring handy craftsmenship by Executive Art Director for the project, Todd McFarlane, and Executive Creator of Worlds, renowned fantasy author, R.A Salvatore, begs the question, could the inaugural venture for 38 Studios and Big Huge Games meet RPG fans needs in an already established market? Let's dig deeper to find out.
Story:
Note: I have chosen to leave much of the games storyline out of the review in order to preserve the story, and not touch on any possible spoilers.
As two gnomes drag your corpse to the slippery slope leading to a, rotting fly-filled pile of bodies, you are introduced to the chaos and lore that surrounds you. At this point you are also prompted to the character customization screen as the two hardworking gnomes inquire about who 'you' really are; we shall touch back with the customizable aspect's of the game later. Once you are disposed of and you begin to awaken, you eventually are met by a little scientific gnome known as, Formorous Hughes. He is but one of the many characters that you will meet during your journey through Amalur. He proceeds to tell you about, The Well of Souls, an invention in the Age of Arcana, said to one day bring life back into the dead. At this point the journey truly begins.
As previously mentioned, you will engage in a land and story that breaths lore and can easily motivate you to discover more of what this majestic land has to offer. With a multiplicity of races, from the Summer Fae, Winter Fae, Dokkalfar, and the Tuatha, it is needless to say that there is a lot to experience within the world of Amalur. During your travels throughout the Faelands you will encounter other notable characters such as, General Tilera, Alyn Shir, Agarth, and Ligotti Octienne, just to name a few. Each character has their own distinct personality that helps you further indulge in the story and increase your desire to explore the next page of your journey. This game engages you from the start in a land that revolves around fate and destiny, and you, well, are something of a different sort. You are a character that defies these laws of the land and thus are set on a path to harvest your powers and weave the fabric of a different cloth for the people of Amalur.
If you are looking to immerse yourself in a land filled with magnificent lore, an incredible amount of side-quests, well written dialogue, and basically just a deep, rich, satisfying main story, then
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, should definitely please you in this department.
Gameplay:Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning falls into the category of an action/RPG, and is not the most challenging of games on the market today. With that said, it does not take away from the gameplay mechanics and combat by any means. When you begin to create your character and choose from the four races that are at your disposal, you are known as 'The Fateless One', a character with nothing but the tattered clothes on their back venturing into a vibrant and chaotic world. Whether you choose to dual wield Faeblades and a bow, a longsword and a mighty hammer, or a staff and a pair of enchanted Chakrams, the way you choose to dispose of your enemies is entirely up to you. The combat is relatively seamless, fast-paced, bloody, and incredibly fun.
Much like any RPG, you gain experience and distribute that XP to cater to your play style. Where
Kingdoms of Amalur differs, in some ways to other RPG's, are the three styles of combat you can choose from. Some may find it somewhat limited, however one of the beauties of the upgrading system is that it can be altered at anytime, providing you have the coin, by visiting a Fateweaver who will allow you to re-distribute your allocated points. You also have other skills to add ability points to such as lockpicking, blacksmithing, detect hidden and so forth. A lot of the world, from pickpocketing, to lockpicking and blacksmithing is incredibly easy to accomplish. This can be redundant to some gamers who thrive on challenging gameplay, while others may find this a welcome relaxing journey that allows for the gamer to move at their own pace.
You can choose from three difficulty settings, and even on hard, it is not too challenging. The nice thing about the gameplay is how fluid combo moves and combat truly is. The magic can be fierce and destructive, and wielding any blade can give you a beaming sense of satisfaction when slaying unfortunate enemies. Not to mention, the combination of magic-rogue, warrior-mage, or combining stats in all three creates a varying degree of combat. If you enjoy running through a world and not having to worry about dying every five minutes,
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will defintely please the casual side of us, but may not give you the supreme satisfaction you sometimes desire when crushing a foe you have had trouble with defeating.
With an easy to use combination of buttons to deliever blow after blow, and a fluid directional pad use for spells, the game thrives on frantic, sometimes defensive, combat that is easy and accesible for any gamer to learn.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning does not disapoint in the gameplay department, due to its fun combat, its easy accesible learning curve, and the fluid speed at which your character can move through the world.
Graphics/SoundFrom sound design, musical score, the incredibly diverse and colourful landscapes,
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a beautiful experience. Even when you begin atop a pile of death, the sound of the buzzing insects, and depth of colour can almost immerse you to the point of actually imagining the smell of your surroundings. Amongst darkness, the colour still is prevelant. At points the scenary could cause a gamer to pause and embrace the environment. During combat or visiting a neighbouring village, the graphics are fluid with limited to no tearing or pop-ins. There were no hiccups during even the most intense moments of battle or large boss fights. The map and mini-map are incredibly easy to navigate to your next destination. The land itself fits the story and lore the game essentially was set out to create. The menu is very easy to use and in no way, is it confusing or problematic. The in-game combat menu for potions or spells is very well constructed and does not bog the gamer down with frantic button presses or the possibility of making the wrong choice.
Like other RPG's you will have choices to make that can alter the course of the game or influence a characters descision. The interface for dialogue and choices should not cause any issues to the player. However, even when you make certain choices, it really, as a whole, does not influence the game drastically when compared to other games. Customization, whether it is blacksmithing, weapon/armor selection, or your initial character creation is simple to use. You can add tattoos or scars to your characters face, change his/her hair style, and choose your characters race. It is not the most extensive character customization, yet it still allows you some aspect of creation.
Aside from a few hiccups with the dialogue not synching properly with the characters during conversations, the game flourishs with an extensive and well constructed score and voice cast. From the sounds of swords bashing against shields, or the crackling of lightning during a spell, to the witty and somewhat quirky dialogue, the game is only extending its hand further to enjoy the world of Amalur. Side quests, which are plentiful and all over the vast land, allow the gamer to meet a variety surrounding culture and life that thrives within this world. At points the musical score willl disappear and then pounce back in, however, it really doesn't take too much away from the game, due to the fact that enemies and the wild life all have enjoyable and somewhat funny sounds that work well with the environment. There is a variety of enemies that you will encounter again and again, and this can become tedious at points, and almost reminiscent of when games were originally created with a colour palette that had a range of only a few primary colours. This is not a game breaker, yet it does become redundant at points.
The graphical representation and sound of the game is great and well balanced. From lush environments and some of the best dialogue in any recent game,
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, aside from a few drawbacks, does not fall short of the mark in this department.
Achievements::
The majority of the games achievements are story related and easy to obtain as your progress through the story. Some achievements are faction related. For example, you must take part in certain questlines in order to obtain some achievements, that are not standard to the main story line, but this is not an issue considering it only helps the player benefit further from the games richness and depth. Not much grinding is needed in order to unlock the games achievements either. You can easily look at the list and make that your goal, per say, and then move onto the next. From
to
the achievements presented to the gamer in
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is not a challenging completion.
Conclusion:Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a well-crafted, very fullfilling, extensive experience, that will take the gamer, not only on a visual pleasing, but excellent world of story and lore that will should deliver a very pleasing journey for any fan of RPG's or action in general. This game is a good purchase with over 50 hours of campaign, and thats only if you touch base with the general quests and sub-questlines of the game, and a definite rental. The DLC is really good, eventhough I have only played the Island of Dead Kel, which is truly fun and diverse, but also allows you to traverse between the lands of Amalur and does not restrict you just to Gallows End.
Ultimately,
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a solid 4.5/5 or 9/10.
4.0