Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Review

The lackluster gameplay world of the modern RPG have finally met their match with Kingdoms of Amalur. Even after 40 hours, I was still chugging along at quests through the expansive world the game has to offer at ease. Every second I spent tuned into my character was a second of fun that felt well spent. I didn't feel sorry for myself after a ten-hour play time session like I sometimes feel in games like Fallout or Skyrim. I came away from the game saying to myself, "Wow, that was a blast!"

Amalur's unique take on RPG combat kept me glued to the controller hours on end. The game's action oriented, yet arcade-like experience felt like a much-needed refreshing experience for me. I wasn't exchanging blows with an enemy by simply standing in one spot and spamming a few skills here and there. I was actively involved with every beat of the fight, blocking and dodging every blow my opponent tried to land on me.

I truly felt apart of the action. One faulty mishap could spell disaster for me or my comrades fighting alongside me.

And thanks to such a deep customizable skill tree to pull from, I had the opportunity to play the game however I wanted. I could dash around my enemies with lighting speed as a "rogue" like assailant, or I could bash my way through a fight armored head to toe in plate mail. Heck, I could I even burn my enemies to ashes with a few eye dazzling fire spells in a "mage" like fashion.

And if I was up to it, I could even mix and match between the three hierarchies to be the warrior I want to be. If I so desired, I could very well be a tank-like mage, outfitted like a warrior yet armed with a frost-wielding staff. And the ability to seamlessly switch between weapons in mid-fight from say a bow to a sword kept the action ever so delightful and very much benevolently spiced up each and every encounter.

No one fight would ever look or enact the same way. My tactical approach to each and every enemy could vary and change on the fly depending upon how I wanted to fight.

Even though Amalur's heart and soul is its gameplay, the game's story is nothing shy of weak either. Crafted from the brilliant mind of New York Times bestselling author R.A. Salvatore, over 1000 years of history is brought to life for us to explore a truly magnificent world rich with a vibrant past. I found myself always clinging to the chance to find out more about this person or that, a region's history or even the scoop on what the heck made this guy so evil that I have to kill him. Why, why, why?

And it is all there. Whether told to you in song, read from a scripture, or spoken aloud by an NPC, this game has one of the deepest and most diverse pool of lore to grab from that is sure to spark any RPG fan's interest.

In terms of your own personal story, the game kicks off with your own character awakening from death itself — your death of which remains a mystery until later in the game — thanks to the handy-dandy contraption known as the Well of Souls.

Everyone in Amalur has a fate that they're destined to follow, no matter how good or bad, yet from the moment you arose from the dead, the threads of fate weaving all around you and everyone were broken, leaving you free to follow your own path of action, of which your "allys" take advantage of by pushing you into a war with the Tuatha, destined to one day rule the world.

Such a plot takes place across the entire expansive globe, opening the path for you to explore all of the goodies the world of Amalur has to offer, of which is split into continents and regions. Although the game's world may feel a bit restricted due to the fact that it may come off as a lot more "linear" that the likes of say Skyrim, there is still a massive amount of content to explore.

And as you work your way through the game's main story, hundreds of side quests will open up to you, many of which open up to entire new quest lines, all equally interesting with tales of war, backstabbing treachery and love (everything you'd come to expect from other games main attractions, yet squeezed into one fun quest line). There are also a handful of factions available for you to work your up through to the point where you will eventually lead that order. Once again, each and every faction quest line has enough detail and attention put forth into it to make it seem like another game in itself.

Accommodating Amalur's vast world is the game's lustrous art style that was reminiscent of the style popular MMO World of Warcraft relishes in. Though the engine does suffer from some minor drawbacks, such as a poor texture draw distance, the many environments to be discovered are lush with detail, ranging from tree infested forests to the wide open desert plains of the south.

Though grim compared to your visceral surroundings, character models aren't very well done and struggle to keep up. You may come across the same man multiple times in the game because of the lack in character customization. Not much has been done in this department to help you or the other NPCs stand out among each other.

Another section of the game that deserves to be well accredited for is the game's musical score and voice acting crew. Every character has their own voice and rarely do two sound alike. And fortunately for everyone playing the game, each and every character was superbly voiced as well and just slapped in the face with some random person's piss-poor sentence. Everything in the game was accompanied as well by a wonderful soundtrack that, although few in track count, got the job done in the end.

Closing Comments:

Though the meat and bones of this game is the combat, Amalur's beautiful world and rich story and lore the game pulls from is more than enough to keep anyone, RPG fan or not, engaged for hours on end. The genre has finally met its match for crafting together a game that has all of the elements you've come to love and expect, only this time gameplay wasn't pushed under the bed.

Score: 9/10

Replay Value: High