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    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

    Game » consists of 12 releases. Released Feb 07, 2012

    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an open-world singleplayer RPG with combo-based action and the trappings of an MMORPG. Reckoning is set in Amalur, the same setting as 38 Studios' planned MMO codenamed "Copernicus."

    electricboogaloo's Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (PC) review

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    Kingdoms of Middling Side Quests

    The minds behind Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning are certainly cultured in the world of fantasy RPGs. Ken Rolston brings his pedigree (and some Bethesda alumni with it) having worked on both The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind and its successor, Oblivion; while accomplished fantasy writer R.A. Salvatore breathes life into the world of Amalur, creating a 10,000 year history for the developers at Big Huge Games to pull from. When you factor in the fantastic art design from Todd McFarlane and the enthralling backing from retired baseball star Curt Schilling (yes, really), it’s easy to proclaim you have a veritable dream team of talent for the genre, and the exciting precedence for a new IP to really blossom.

    There is large weaponry aplenty
    There is large weaponry aplenty

    Reckoning starts off on the right path, even if its beginnings are fairly derivative. Upon creating your character using a fairly limited creation system, you wake up amongst a pile of festering, rotting corpses. You were previously dead yourself but have since awoken: a successful lab experiment and the latest in a long line of video game protagonists suffering from a contrived bout of amnesia. Before long you discover you’re quite the unique prospect in the land of Amalur: one without a pre-determined destiny. This is a world governed by fate, its residents able to visit fortune tellers to see how they’ll end up; left to live their lives on a decided path. Only the Tuatha – an evil race of elves – are able to be resurrected once they pass, so the fact you’re the first non-immortal to do so has shifted the balance of the kingdom and left you without the burden of a preordained life – a blank slate ready to be crafted.

    Not only is this a superb premise for the narrative that unfolds but, as you can imagine, it also factors into the gameplay and character building. There are three archetypal RPG classes to choose from: Might (warrior), Finesse (rogue) and Sorcery (mage). Each presents itself with different skill trees but you’re not asked to pick one, singular class. Instead, you’ll dump points into different active and passive abilities on each tree, allowing you to mix and match classes. This allows a fantastic amount of freedom and variation as you’re able to craft a skill set of your choosing, perhaps mixing together Finesse and Sorcery to create a stealthy magic-user, or combining all three sets together to reap the rewards of a well-rounded jack-of-all-trades.

    Depending on what path you choose you’re granted with multiple destinies that provide you additional stat bonuses. So if you choose Might you may find increased damage multipliers or supplementary health, while someone combining both Might and Sorcery may receive a bonus to elemental damage and improved mana regeneration. It’s a meritorious system that encourages experimentation, the lore endorsing re-specialisation if you want to try another path.

    Of course, that will come down to how you want to play Reckoning. Each class brings with it its own set of weapons, from longswords and giant hammers, through to daggers, longbows and staffs. Their over-the-top designs provide a sense of personality, while more unconventional weaponry like the chakrams and faeblades offer a welcome change of pace from the more regular fantasy tropes.

    All your shanking needs are met
    All your shanking needs are met

    Whichever set you choose you’ll find a simple one-button setup. There are no elaborate combinations for increasingly complicated attacks (whether you’re using a mouse and keyboard or a gamepad), instead you’ll time and change the pace of button presses to execute different combos. It’s easy to pick up and play and there’s a nice fluidity to the way it handles, allowing you to go from using a staff, to slicing guys up with a pair of daggers before switching to a variation of magical, elemental attacks. It hits hard and is very satisfying; Reckoning’s bevy of diverse enemy types requiring a smattering of dodges, blocks and counters to stay out of trouble. Crowd control is often the name of the game, facing off against big and small foes; magic-users and straight up brawlers. It keeps you on your toes, the game’s loot-driven nature repeatedly throws up new weapons to starve off any sense of tedium.

    It’s the side quests that invoke the greatest sense of apathy - and even implicate the combat in some major ways. Along your travels you’ll encounter an overwhelming amount of quest givers; your map quickly filling up with blinking lights like it’s Christmas at Rockefeller Centre. This cluster of side quests and tasks offer little but middling content despite their increasingly high numbers. Collect x amount of items or kill y amount of enemies; it’s unimaginative and provides a stark reminder ofReckoning’s MMO beginnings (and its future), drudging up mundane and repetitive quests to pad out the content. None of it is compulsory, of course, but when a game is stacked with 200 or so quests, it would be nice if some of them were the least bit enjoyable.

    If you do decide to partake in any number of these quests then there’s also a real threat your character will over-level, negating any sort of difficulty the combat once had. You’ll often find yourself fighting enemies with grey names, indicating they are no match for your combat prowess; it’s a wonder they don’t flee in horror at the sight of you. This seems like a major oversight, particularly for a game as action-oriented as Reckoning is. The combat may be fantastic but it’s still relatively simple. If you play too many side quests the formula becomes rote, and that simplicity just can’t carry a hundred hour game. Reckoning may be a loot driven game, but no reward is worth the banality the side quests offer.

    Fortunately, the main quest line and faction quests are eminently better. Your character may be an emotionless entity, but the rest of the writing and voice acting elevates the narrative’s quality. There are branching storylines, interesting and set-piece driven combat scenarios, enjoyable boss fights and plenty of exotic locales.

    Locations are varied
    Locations are varied

    For the world of Amalur is a large place with distinct areas for you to explore. It doesn’t encourage exploration as much as something like Skyrim, instead opting to funnel you down corridors between much larger areas; but it’s a vast game world with plenty to see, the art style shining through despite its poor draw distance and some low-res textures. The desert area provokes an oddly befitting Wild West vibe with its orange hues and rocky mountains, while the wide open plains of Erathell are transcendent with their use of space and colour. Reckoning might not have the graphical fidelity of some of its counterparts, but its bright colour palette, excellent art design and smooth level of performance is certainly an aspect to be lauded. The orchestral score helps too: it’s often riveting, inciting a sense of enchantment and wonder, beckoning on your adventure. It’s really phenomenal throughout.

    The same cannot be said for all of Reckoning’s many parts, however, but there’s an enjoyable game here with some interesting ideas - providing you stick closely to the main quest line and faction quests. The drabness and profusion of the side activities is too big a dampener to ignore, especially once it significantly impacts the gratification of its combat. If you treat Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning as a shorter, story-driven experience, you’ll have a much better time of it than the completionist who chases every single side quest.

    12 Comments

    Avatar image for durakh
    Durakh

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    Edited By Durakh

    Thank you very much. Great read and informative

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    masternater27

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    Edited By masternater27

    Good review. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm about 25 hours in and starting to get bored. I've done every side quest and task I've come across and I'm starting to out level the game. I think I'm just gonna hunker down and do the main story stuff so I can get it traded in before ME3 comes out otherwise I won't be finishing it ever.

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    Jedted

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    Edited By Jedted

    Great review! As someone who enjoys doing side quest this pretty disapointing that they are the most boring part of the game. From what i saw of the main story in the demo it didn't really sound that interesting to me.

    I'll probebly rent it some time later this year after i'm done with ME3.

    Avatar image for electricboogaloo
    ElectricBoogaloo

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    Edited By ElectricBoogaloo

    Cheers guys! I even managed a recommendation from the one and only Dave Snider!

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    Fallen189

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    Edited By Fallen189

    I took the game down at about 30 hours. It was okay, but the last boss was stupid as hell

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    fox01313

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    Edited By fox01313

    Good review & agreed, even without a few of the xp bonuses in gear, the side quests are way too numerous. Between the side quests & blacksmithing, I went through most of the 2nd area over the ocean (after the huge fight scene as the armies met) picking up hardly any loot as it just wasn't worth even selling as money wasn't a problem with nothing better showing up.

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    ptc

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    Edited By ptc

    I'm playing now and really enjoying the game.  Trying my best to ignore the side-quests so I don't overlevel, but there are a few that I can't resist.  Side-quest issues seem to be the common theme with most reviewers.  Since these are completely optional, I can't knock the game for including them.  Some things I'd like to highlight:

    1. Glad you mentioned the music in the game.  I've found it delightful.  Really nice orchestral scores.
    2. The combat is fun - way better and deeper than Fable 2 (which is the closest point of reference for me)
    3. Having the opportunity to re-distribute up all your skill points is fantastic.  You can re-invent the game essentially whenever you want by switching between classes.  It opens new combat options and new weapon/armor options.
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    deactivated-6418ef3727cdd

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    Nice review. I took the completionist approach and burned out after 60 hours. I didn't even reach the winter-fae lands before I promptly uninstalled the game after about 20 hours of doing boring shit and fighting grey monsters with the exact same gear.

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    sammo21

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    Edited By sammo21

    My biggest problem with amalur was I got bored...the combat is competent and the skill stuff is fun BUT I always felt like the enemies were too easy even on hard. The quests for the main story and the factions are good but I can't think of any one side quest that I thought was worth going through.

    I heard they were thinking of implementing a patch for the difficulty. I hope so.

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    JoeyRavn

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    Edited By JoeyRavn

    I just don't think this game is any good, at all. It's mediocre, at best, but that's stretching it. The combat is boring as fuck, the plot is shallow and weak, the characters are completely forgetable, most quests are extremely simple, linear and uninspired and the game overall is extremely repetitive. Even though all the elements are there (a huge world, extensive lore, a set of developers with an amazing pedigree on the genre), the game lacks any kind of distinctive personality. It's like playing an MMO, without the MMO part.

    Purchasing Amalur is, by far, my biggest regret this year. I don't think any other game let me down as much as this one.

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    TaliciaDragonsong

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    After reading this I will find out what the main story is and only pursue that.
    I already felt a bit bored by the endless running and recovering stuff somebody lost or needed.
    It's a shame though, the world is massive and deep, but it all feels very "been there, done that", a bit too generic, but a nice try nonetheless.

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    mewarmo990

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    Edited By mewarmo990

    I agree with your review. The game is really not completionist-friendly, if only because it gets so damn boring if you go out of your way to get every quest and collectible. Meanwhile, I really enjoyed the story and the combat never got old.

    Thanks for the write-up!

    Other reviews for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (PC)

      Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Review By: Andrew Bohnenberger 0

      Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning ReviewBy: Andrew BohnenbergerKingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a single-player fantasy action role-playing game developed by 38 Studios and Big Huge Games. The game was released on February 7, 2012 and published by EA Partners for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. With big names like Ken Rolston, R.A. Salvatore, and Todd McFarklene attached to this game, does Amalur have what it takes to compete with the Elder Scrolls,Fable, and the Dragon Age Series?Sto...

      1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

      A decent game, dragged down by some bad design choices 0

      Role-playing games are going to have a hard time of it in 2012. They will be competing for gamer’s attention with probably the two biggest RPG releases of the last 5 years, Star wars: The Old Republic and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. There is hope for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning however, if it can carve out its own identity against these two titans of the genre and present something different and interesting for those players already bored with what 2011 had to offer them.At a glance Kingdoms ...

      1 out of 3 found this review helpful.

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