KoA: Reckoning Review

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!

If Skyrim, Fable and God of War had somehow conceived a child, it’s name would be Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. This game just barely made it into my top list of 2012 (however short that list is at this point) if not for the god-awful camera. Once you get used to it the game is really quite fun and worth the money spent.

What I Liked

The combat is what really hooked me in the game. I’m the type of guy that loves to play all the different ways a game could be played. In Skyrim, for example, I have 3 characters almost to max level, each having gone a different path (Mage, warrior, stealth). I had to make different characters because unless you use Console commands (on the PC) you cannot undo your points you spend on perks. With Kingdoms of Amalur, or KoA, you can pay a Fateweaver to undo your points and skills and replace your gear and play the game completely different without having to play the story again. I really like that aspect of it, although it does get quite expensive at times.  The combat is fluid, fun and reactive. My favorite fights involved large number of enemies since they lasted longer. 

The story in the game would be the weakest point of the positives. With all the hype over R.A. Salvatore’s involvement writing it I was expecting something uniquely epic. The aspect about your specific nature in regards to you not having a destiny is interesting. But after that you pretty much go from town to town, collecting quests, with giant spiders, elves (Fae), Gnomes (Gnomes) taking up much of your screen time. It’s a solid story, but nothing ground breaking.

The graphics are nothing that will set a new standard, but they are pretty. Very good design with the colors they used. You’ll travel from magical forests to rolling plains, mountainous regions, desolate deserts and magnificently large cities. I thoroughly enjoyed the cartoonish look, and the effects for combat never wavered. It reminded me heavily of Fable, but smoother and with a more vivid color palet.

Many people may complain about the quests being the old reliable sorts like fetching these plants, kill these spiders, rescue this damsel. Though with the combat as good as it is, I never minded it one bit. I had a lot of fun killing all the kobolds in an area until one of them dropped what I needed, or hunting down the leaders of a gang of bandits for sweet revenge.

The crafting in was actually addicting. Set up as an experimental based style (try these combinations of materials to see what you get) and once you got it down, maximizing my weapons, armor and potions became something I spent a lot of time doing.

The systems behind the combat and crafting will be familiar to anyone who has played an RPG in the last 15 years. Skill trees and Talent Trees are essentially what we have in this game. The difference is this is one of the few games I’ve played that actually rewards you for putting points anywhere you want. There are the 3 talent trees, then depending on where your points are and how much is spent, you get “Destinies” and these give you bonuses that pertain to the points you spend. If you want just straight Might points, then you’ll gain more and more powerful Might destinies that enhance things like melee damage, armor, blocking, etc. If you want to mix up Sorcery and Finesse, you’ll gain bonuses to Mana regen, elemental damage, crit, etc. Things that would enhance the abilities you use in those specs. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the different trees and the system lead me to try as many as I could!

Something that all RPG games need is a map, something to show you where you are. The map in this game I found to be very helpful. Quick travel is available for free anytime you can see the sky, and you can travel to any town, dungeon, spider-infested cave that you have been to in person.

I played this game on the PC, but I used a wired Xbox 360 Controller (No I don’t have an Xbox anymore). For action games in third person that are not shooters, I generally prefer the feel of a controller. Although if I wanted, the keyboard and mouse option was available anytime. All I had to do was move the mouse or use the keyboard and it would just switch automatically. Same goes for going from keyboard/mouse to controller.

What Could Be Improved

My biggest gripe with this game is the camera. It’s not very easy to control, it is way too close to you (with no option of adjusting that distance) and it doesn’t allow the game’s awesome color palette to be shown. In times of combat, the camera does zoom out, but I wish I could let it stay that way outside of combat. The game has really great graphics and the color they used would be better shown off if we could see more of it and less of the ground and of my character.

The dialogue in the game was painful at times. It’s pretty bad, and there really is no reason to make those bad or good choices, it’s pointless. Your character doesn’t speak, which I had no problem with, but it would of been cool if he had some Link-like grunts and screams. The talking animations for the NPCs are also laughable at best leaving much to be wanted.

When you start out your game, you will of course be customizing the look and feel of your character. In this, the game is quite weak. A few different options for race, some stat bonuses here and there, but in the end, you’ll be wearing armor that hides all of the details of your character anyways.

Score 3.8 / 5

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has a lot going for it. Very fun combat, great RPG elements, a decent story. It does suffer from a fairly awful camera, but it’s not enough to stop me from playing the game. I know this is the first in a new franchise of Kingdoms games, so I look forward to 38 Studios’ next game with a few added improvements.