Title: Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning
Developed By: 38 Studios and Big Huge Games
Published By: Electronic Arts
Console: Playstation 3, XBox360 and PC
Genre: Action RPG, Hack and Slash, Open World
Classification: This game has been classified MA15+ for Strong Fantasy Violence
Review Conditions: This review was done on an Australian Playstation 3 version of the game. There should be no difference between the versions.
Special Thanks: Electronic Arts for providing me with a sample of this game.
As technology has progressed over the last few years, so has the capabilities to develop more detailed and enriched open world games. Whereas a huge world might have been considered having a bit more freedom in terms of gameplay and more open environments back in the 90’s, now we are seeing developers producing entire fantasy worlds with everything from mystical forests to not so plain hilly environments. I won’t deny it is not my usual area of focus, but when the opportunity arose I could not pass up on checking out Kingdoms of Amalur: Reconing, a recently released game developed by 38 Studios and Big Huge Games which has been published by Electronic Arts in Australia. R.A. Salvatore provided the game universe and lore while Ken Rolston acted as the game’s executive designer…. both considerably big names in their respective fields and the target genre… but do they plate up a good game? Read on to find out in my review of Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning.
As this is a world where your quest is driven by your own actions during the game, they do not drag you along the quest with a pre-made character but let you assume the role of a unique character tailored to your liking in design and name. The game comes equipped with four character classes however these seemed to have very little to do in terms of storyline. But anyway, upon completion you would have designed your very own custom corpse as you begin the game being carted along and seemingly sent to your deathbed when you are mysteriously resurrected. This is thanks to an innovation known as the Well of Souls for which you seem to be the only living success story, but despite having lost your memories are forced to flee the well due to attacks by a force known as Tuatha and from there begin your quest to find out your past and put a stop to the evils that plague the Kingdoms of Amalur.
In my opinion the quality of the storytelling is a mixed bag, some elements being done very well while others not so much. The actual development of the world and the games lore was perhaps one of the more successful elements to it – filled with elements based around magic and fate, development of the world and its characters and all the other elements that I felt put it on par with other games in the genre. R.A. Salvatore without a doubt in my mind did a good job at the overall world development. There were some areas for concern however. As there are plenty of other games in the genre, to really stand out I felt they needed to contribute more to the development of the main character him/herself (Not many options in my opinion to define them) along with a more open main storyline. I will hand it to them as well, some of the sub-quests they had were really good and offered more vague decisions than most games would include, but for the majority they were still your stock standard quest plotlines you would find in any normal online game or open world RPG with little to no purpose in the overall development of the world.
Overall, the plot wasn’t brilliant but provided enough lore and storyline elements to keep me satisfied. It did however need more in order to set itself apart from the other games in the genre.
Perhaps it was the darker setting in the games first 20 or so minutes but when I began playing this game I automatically went to *Expect disappointment* mode, but fortunately after that stage and getting out into the open world setting it is hard to deny that a lot of time went into designing the world and its characters. To get over the disappointing component first… designing your custom characters is pretty bland, offering four character classes each with both genders was good however your ability to customize them was limited in comparison to similar games and I could not find a design that matched my tastes (You are talking to a guy who spent 30 minutes perfecting his character design in Demons Souls) and the slider based system was also a limiting factor. As well, the character models themselves were rather shoddy and would have benefited from a little bit more realism. Fortunately, in terms of the rest of the character design potential it is pretty good – featuring a good variety of armor and weapons each of which suited the theme of the world and the character class they represented. Character animation wasn’t perfect but the few faults did not detract from the enjoyability.
Environmental designs were the winning aspect and for an open world game, perhaps some of the better I have seen in a fair while. Leaning towards the more bright and colourful tones, the resulting fantasy world was a pleasure on the eyes and suited the themes and plot of the game pretty well. While some of the dank and dark areas are disappointing, possibly why I was a bit worried about the design at first – the external areas (Forests, Towns and even building interiors) were the highlight for me. It is hard not to appreciate the effort that has been put into the design of this game however it is still marred by some elements such as character model designs and using too many cliches that keeps it from being perfect.
When it comes to the games music, it is almost flawless – the only flaw being that it was not present enough in the game, often to the point where I found it hard to appreciate it during the general sections of the game. But as with most games of this sort, in an open world where every NPC wants to put across their opinion it is not possible to fault the voice acting. Featuring a sizable talent cast who can adapt themselves to any characters personality (and have a lot to say while they are at it).
Moving on to the gameplay, it comes off as your normal everyday gameplay mechanics but comes through with a strong combat system. The game features three character classes – Might, Finesse and Sorcery or in other words Warrior, Thief and Mage and while not being as expansive as other games gives you the option of mixing and matching from the three, thus the ability to form a jack of all trades, master of none character if you so wish. The game further expands the class system through a destinies system which rewards you for sticking with a particular class or mixing and matching fields, each yielding different bonuses. For example, while level 11 Sorcery will net you the Destiny of Initiate and bonus Elemental damage and reduced mana cost, merging Sorcery and Finesse will unlock you Disciple or other titles. Of course, giving a set amount of money will allow you to unbind your destiny and allow you to reskill your character from a physically weak mage to a defending warrior.
I mentioned this system for two reasons, the first being that as we begin a game, many will make a mistake with how they skill a character so you won’t have to reset the game over it. Secondly, it is to help you appreciate the games battle system which is real-time action “hack and slash” style that mixes close action fighting, ranged fighting and defense and while I wouldn’t call it overly challenging, offered some fast-paced gameplay that will have you making use of the myriad of skills at your disposal along with forcing you to use the character destiny into account as you plan your battle strategy – to me it was not a game you could just button mash to defeat an enemy. The boss fights in particular proved most memorable which really test your ability to plan and adapt with a moments notice.
Outside of the battle system, it is hard to set it apart from other games. They provide you with a considerable amount of loot and a very easy way to compare stats so there was never really an option to have crap armor or weaponary on your character. The games questing system was also comparable to most similar games in the genre with very few quests that stood out from the generic batch of “go here”, “defeat this” or “collect x amount of y”. There is one thing that you are guaranteed from this game provided you are willing to put in the time and look over some minor problems and that is replayability. With a main quest that can take 20-30+ hours depending on the difficulty, the number of side-quests and things to collect could easily double or triple the time you initially put into the game in my opinion making it pretty good value for your money.
This game would most probably not make the list for my Game of the Year 2012, especially considering this years line-up of games seems pretty solid so far, however while the storyline may be a bit on the tedious side and the design could use a bit more work, it was what I expected – a very solid open world action-RPG with open-ended gameplay that would not lock you into one style of play or keep you too close to a linear path or play-style.
Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: C-
Design: B-
Music/Voice Acting: B
Gameplay: B
Replayability: B+
Personal Opinion:B
Overall Score: B-
