Okay, let me try this again…
I got most of the way through my first review of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning by the time I got a call from my editor asking for a progress update. We talked over the game for a bit and I found myself admitting to feelings that were very contrasting to the way my review was piecing together. I wanted so badly to like this game. An open world action RPG with deep customization? Right up my alley. It has everything going for it. It’s the first major release from Curt Schilling’s (yes, THAT Curt Schilling) 38 Studios. The game has a tremendous pedigree of talent. New York Times bestselling author R.A. Salvatore crafted thousands of years worth of history for the land of Amalur. Todd MacFarlane, creator of ‘Spawn,’ supervised the art department. Ken Rolston, formerly of Bethesda, served as Executive Designer. Everything was in place for this game to be astounding. Yet something fell flat…
I was having a hard time writing my review of Amalur the first time around because I simply didn’t find myself with any passion for the game. The hardest part of playing Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, was actually wanting to play Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning!
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning throws you head-first into a world at war. Humans are at odds with the relentless Winter Fey. Amalur is a land ruled by destiny with every man, woman, and child moving towards a predetermined fate. After dying on the battlefield your character is revived through the arcane magics of the Well of Souls, leaving you curiously without a destiny of your own and free to carve out your own fate in the world.
The story is presented through use of cut-scenes and dialogue wheels very reminiscent of Bioware’s popular conversation system. Nearly everyone you come across has something to say or, more importantly, something to ask you to do. Through dialogue you can accept or refuse their quests and be as nice or as mean to them as you choose. Nothing really sticks, however. There never seem to be any long lasting effects of treating an NPC one way or the other and nothing is ever truly gained or lost based on your choices.
That is, of course, if you can find anybody to begin with. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning actually began life as an MMO before making the switch to a single player experience and it shows. The world is often altogether desolate, save for clusters of NPCs gathered around town squares or packed into local pubs. You may come across the odd wanderer between point A and point B but Amalur, in large part, is a very lonely place – and not in the deep and introspective way that Dark Souls is.
In between the cities of Amalur you will, of course, run into all manner of enemies that need a handy slaying. This is one point where I must say Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning shines. Being that you are left without a destiny, you are not tied down to any one character class. Any time you level up, you can choose to take on a new destiny, each with its own perks and bonuses. There are multiple weapon slots available allowing you at any time to have a mix of any of your weapons active and ready to be called upon in battle. Longbows, daggers, swords, hammers, staffs… any weapon can be placed into your primary or secondary weapon slots and used on the fly in combat in addition to any magic spells at your disposal. The combat can be fast and action packed and is a welcome challenge during the long walks between one town to the next.
The environments and character models are fine enough to look at. Everything has a colorful and less than real quality to it, much like the Fable franchise. Character models are often exaggerated and the game has a certain charm in its style. The fantasy world of Amalur separates itself by not looking like anything that would exist in our own world and given time to grow over future titles could become something awe inspiring. The sound design is workable as well. There is a varied cast of voice actors and you will listen to a lot of dialogue before you come across a recycled voice, which is much welcomed when most NPCs in other titles all seem to share a communal voice box.
Amalur does everything that a game should, just not in any stand out fashions. There is nothing inherently wrong with the game but nothing that really hooked me either. There are many fantastic RPGs based on existing licenses that I am familiar with and care about. I just found no real reason to fall in love with this game. It’s definitely worth a rental to see if it’s your cup of tea. I can easily see a first time RPG gamer getting into this title. 38 Studios has been open about their plans for the future of this series. An MMO is touted to be in the works and we’ll have to wait and see if it warrants a return trip to Amalur.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning faces the very precarious position of launching as a brand new intellectual property directly between two of the biggest RPG releases of recent memory: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Mass Effect 3. Skyrim was released last November and still continues to dominate the hearts and minds of many gamers. Mass Effect 3 is less than a month away and will wrap up an epic trilogy that many people, myself included, have found themselves wrapped up in for countless hours and multiple play-throughs. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a capable game and does a good job in most areas, just not good enough to get out of the shadow of the titans it’s being launched against.
