Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning Hands On
By Mike Gunn
If you were to design the perfect fantasy computer game, you would want to start with a good story. Hmm... well, for fantasy, how about R.A.Salvatore, one of the greats at telling this kind of story? You'd want one of the best designers in the RPG genre, too, right? You can't go past Ken Rolston, lead designer of The Elder Scrolls Morrowind and Oblivion, can you? It's gotta look right, too, but let's go for something out of the box - say... Todd McFarlane - the creator of Spawn.
Check, check, and check - that's exactly the team EA has assembled for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It's one hell of a team, and one that will either deliver a magnificent masterpiece or result in a disjointed mess.
But which option is looking more likely?
Well, we got our hands on a full pre-release copy of the game and - after 30 hours plus of play, very little sleep, and empty pizza boxes galore - we still can't put it down. This singleplayer RPG combines its three strong elements in a remarkably compelling way.
First of all, there is the core story. Having woken from the dead, you are a person without a destiny. Your fate, as they say, is in your hands. As you play through the game and make choices - both good and bad - you write your own destiny, and that of those around you.
Secondly, there is the quest system. Love or hate questing, it is the meat of any RPG game. What strikes you very early on in this game is that the quest lines - whether it's the main one, the faction quests, or the side quests - are different to what you may be used to, have twists and turns, and are well thought-out. After the basic tutorial quest line where you try out the game basics, you can pretty much pick up quests as you want across a vast an open world. It's your fate, and you write the story as you play. Side with differing factions, mire yourself in petty village politics, or undertake great deeds that will result in new songs being written.
The combat is all action-packed. Be prepared to give your controller a thorough work out as you deliver killer moves to a vast array of different monsters. All have their own abilities and vulnerabilities for you to discover - and overcome. As you would expect, progression and experience result in new moves and abilities. There is a comprehensive set of skill trees and, invariably, not enough skill points to get everything you want.
Graphically the game delivers a wonderful array of different environments, that are all logically linked. As you explore you unravel more of the map and thankfully more fast travel points. Thankfully? because areas previously cleared have a nasty way of repopulating.
Like all good RPGs, the land is populated by a wonderful array of characters. The quality voice acting serves the game well, and you will find yourself smirking at some of the character, while others. Let's just say you will want to make sure your next conversation is through a seance.
We're not sure what will change prior to release, however the only little niggle we had was with the inventory and menu systems. It can be quite convoluted to access items you need, having to step down three layers of menu and then scroll through a long list of items to identify what you want. Some attempt has been made to logically group them, however the sheer number of items you gather up can be overwhelming at times
From what we've seen of it so far, this game deserves to be a massive hit. From our (extensive) hands-on, it has all the makings of a masterpiece. Be sure to check out part two of our preview on Friday, when we'll explore some of the deeper aspects of gameplay - like crafting, some of the weapons, and the combat styles.
As you level up, you have to make three key choices. The first is which core skills you want to level up. These include lock picking, alchemy, stealth, persuasion, and many more. All are important, and with only a point to spend each level, you have to make some hard choices. The game caps out at 40 levels, so there's no way you can top-out all of the available options. Decisions, decisions.
Combat is a combination of skills and weapon abilities. Start with a simple dagger thrust, but hold down the combat key, then punch it again and you force-punch a wicked dagger strike, with a follow-through and so on. The bleed and fire effects get the blood pumping, as well as the always cheery glow of burning flesh.
Its not all action in an adventurers life though. Crafting also plays a part in the game. Alchemy is a real boon for health pots and boost potions. Blacksmithing allows you to break down items and make new ones more to your liking (including their special abilities). Sage crafting is about combining gems and socketing them into weapons and armor.
All of these are core skills, so you can't be master of them all without missing out in other important skills. In our first play through, we chose Alchemy and were never short of pots. There are heaps of herbs to pick, and a huge array of different pots you can make (including ones that boost other core skills).
There is a surprising amount of depth in both the skills and crafting aspects of the game. In fact there is enough in this aspect of the game alone to make you want to play through multiple times just to try out the differing combinations. We can't wait for the game to release and our chance to reveal more in our final review.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning releases on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on the 10th of February.