Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

This review has taken a while to get to, as I originally planned to write it about 3 weeks ago. I just didn't feel right about posting a review of a game that I didn't sink as much time as I deemed necessary into it. So, here I am, after a considerable number of hours, ready to tell you what I thought of this title.

STORY
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning takes place in the Faelands, one of the Kingdoms of Amalur, as it is caught in the grip of war between the mortal races of Amalur, and a renegade sect of the immortal Fae, known as the Tuatha. Your character wakes up in the "Well of Souls" after a minor case of death only to discover that, in this world where everyone's fate is written, you are now free to choose your destiny.

The main questline is essentially there to explain why your character has no set fate, and how that affects both the world in which they live, and their particular skillsets etc (more on that later).
Overall, the narrative structure is something quite similar to The Elder Scrolls games, in that the main quests are but one aspect of a game that can be thoroughly enjoyed without touching them (past the tutorial stage, of course). I mean, you ARE Fateless, so you can do whatever the hell you want, in theory.

PRESENTATION
KoA: Reckoning has a very distinguishable visual style, that feels like a mixture of a few different fantasy games, but also works as it's own style. The world map feels large and epic like the Elder Scrolls games, but the actual usable areas are somewhat restricted, and feel like the fable games. The vibrant colours, and somewhat cartoonish people and creatures certainly help keep KOA very memorable, and while not the slickest graphics in the market, they do the trick.

The voice acting is generally pretty good, with lines upon lines of story related dialogue, as well as unrelated history, is almost always kept interesting by the varied voice actors. And I have to say, not one voice seemed out of place for a particular character. On the downside, the lip syncing ranges from acceptable to awful. That said, however, it doesn't really leave that much of a bad impression.

The soundtrack consists of your typical "epic" fantasy orchestral arrangements, and theres really not a whole lot to talk about. Other games have done it better, but Kingdoms of Amalur does it well enough.

GAMEPLAY
The meat of KoA: Reckoning is most certainly it's gameplay, which does what most other RPG's fail to. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning provides a deep and intuitive upgrade system with high quality action combat, the likes of which would normally be restricted to action games such as God of War or Darksiders.

While the combat isn't quite as complex as God of War, the mechanics are surprisingly deep, considering you have 2 buttons for attacks (1 for each equipped weapon), a dodge button, a block button, and 4 powers used via a simple, customizable shortcut.
Many of the advanced combos are achieved by pausing between attacks, or holding the attack buttons longer, and it's quite enjoyable having such a basic combat system that can become quite deep.

There are 3 separate class trees of the standard mage, warrior and rogue fare; but KoA's Fateless premise allows for some mixing and matching. As points go to the different skill trees, fate cards open up, allowing certain class specific bonuses. If players were to choose from different skill trees, mixed fate cards open up, even the 3 class "Jack-of-all-trades" card, if you're feeling up to it.
It's nice to see an RPG that doesn't shoehorn you into a role before you have a chance to play it.

Aside from going places, killing things, and talking to NPC's, there isn't a whole lot to KOA's gameplay. Nevertheless, it certainly leaves an impression, in the already crowded Fantasy RPG market of recent years.

My one biggest complaint, is that while the world seems big and epic, there really isn't that much freedom. While the gameplay is very good, a jump button would have been welcome, as would a deletion of all invisible walls.

REPLAYABILITY
The large variety of weapons, class abilities and play styles should be more than enough reason for most players to keep coming back to the Faelands. And if that's not reason enough, the quests (main, faction and side variety) all have intriguing stories, and many of them delve into the rich history of Amalur and it's races. The story doesn't change much, as far as i can tell (concerning multiple playthroughs), so gameplay changes would be your biggest selling point for a second play-through.

OVERVIEW
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an Action RPG with a simple, yet deep combat system, a vibrant and varied landscape, and a very colourful visual style. It's main story is a good enough way of explaining the world, and why your character is important, but it's just as easy to ignore it, and play how you want. Is it worth a full price purchase? I think so. While it may not have the freedom of Skyrim, it has a charm all of it's own, and the world is just too interesting to completely pass over.

That's another game down, and I'm not sure what I'll be doing this week. Perhaps the downloadable game "I Am Alive"? I'll try to let you guys know before then. See you next week!