Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

 PC
User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1215 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 614 out of 1215
  2. Mixed: 345 out of 1215
  3. Negative: 256 out of 1215
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  1. pjlennon
    Feb 7, 2012
    5
    - Even on the highest difficulty this game is jokingly easy. - No ability to zoom the camera out is nauseating (blur effect from turning) and it makes combat more difficult than it should be (at times). - Crafting is completely worthless,
    - Different character classes are pointless as they're all the exact same. Customization is awful. - Quests are repetitive. This is a MMO that was turned    - Even on the highest difficulty this game is jokingly easy. - No ability to zoom the camera out is nauseating (blur effect from turning) and it makes combat more difficult than it should be (at times). - Crafting is completely worthless,
    - Different character classes are pointless as they're all the exact same. Customization is awful. - Quests are repetitive. This is a MMO that was turned into a single player game and it really shows. - Cartoon graphics are fine, there is some decent lighting effects, it looks kind of like Aion. - It's by no means "open world" and it can get old real quick. - There are minor UI things that could be changed to enhance the game, which maybe they'll do in future patches. Still disappointing seeing as how much they play tested the game. - The story is absolutely forgettable, you click through almost all the dialog and click the blue quest lines, run to spot on map, repeat. - I can think of at least 10 other MMOs that could be turned into single player games and they would be more fun that this, which is disappointing as this just came out.    … Expand
  2. ErebusMaligan
    Feb 10, 2012
    5
    After playing 15 hours, i'm struggling to try and get my money's worth. The game isn't terrible... it just isn't very engrossing. And on the whole there is more negative than positive.

    Pros: -Talent trees are decent enough, and the ability to respec everything totally for a cost is a nice addition more games should have. -Combat is smooth and any individual confrontation is    After playing 15 hours, i'm struggling to try and get my money's worth. The game isn't terrible... it just isn't very engrossing. And on the whole there is more negative than positive.

    Pros: -Talent trees are decent enough, and the ability to respec everything totally for a cost is a nice addition more games should have. -Combat is smooth and any individual confrontation is enjoyable enough, if not a bit hack n' slash/console oriented. I had no problems with the camera as others have stated, but i wouldn't mind it back a little bit. -Seems to be plenty to do, and plenty of areas to go to -Plenty of loot, and i'm sure plenty of fun combinations of play when combined with the talent trees.

    Cons: -Repetitive... extremely repetitive quests, that never feel rewarding in any way. Half the time i don't even really know what or why i'm doing it, i just go wherever the dot is, because the dialog is extremely uninteresting. -It's just one long hack and slash game with no particularly engaging story. -Everything is incredibly generic or cliched. You are a hero with some ability nobody else has, with a lost memory who was resurrected.... -Extremely easy. While the combat looks cool and engaging, it's basically a series of hitting one button and pausing. Even with the difficulty on hard, it is 0 challenge to take on groups of 6-7 guys. I've only run into a few minibosses so far, but they were both easily beaten too. -Interface is cumbersome. The interface to view anything or change your inventory, is just way too much click around. It's not gamebreaking or anything, but every time i have to check on a new item it just takes way too long and gets in the way. It's like navigating a business application menu structure, not a game. -Graphics. Uninspired, very WoWish. As an avid wow player for the last 6 years, it's not a gamebreaker for me, but i never really cared for wow's graphics style either. The distance where objects pop up is beyond awful... you will regularly see things pop into view or higher texture only a few feet in front of you. There is also no way to adjust this or other common graphics settings that most games have had for the last 7 years...


    Any of the cons individually are not a deal breaker, and could be ignored, but taken as a whole, it's just not that entertaining. The demo is pretty much what you get in the full game, it never really becomes MORE than that.

    Just as a strict measure of entertainment per hour, WoW on average costs me about $0.1 per hour of entertainment monthly. Skyrim (which also had numerous flaws) I got about 287 hours out of before i called it quits, which equates to about $0.22 per hour. This game... i'm going to struggle to get 20-25 hours out of. That equates to about $3 per hour. So it's about a 14x worse investment than skyrim. Do the math, do yourself a favor, and at least wait until this is on a major sale if you are thinking about getting it.    … Expand
  3. BigTimeOwen
    May 13, 2012
    5
    There is not a single aspect of this game that really makes me feel positively towards it. It's well put together and perhaps well considered but the gameplay is entirely lacking, the story uninteresting and there are numerous problems with the interface and combat systems for PC. I will say that they shipped it relatively bug free and I had no problem with compatibility. However, the PCThere is not a single aspect of this game that really makes me feel positively towards it. It's well put together and perhaps well considered but the gameplay is entirely lacking, the story uninteresting and there are numerous problems with the interface and combat systems for PC. I will say that they shipped it relatively bug free and I had no problem with compatibility. However, the PC version was clearly second fiddle to the consoles and it plays like it.

    Like many have said, this looks and plays like an MMO--particularly World of Warcraft, outdated and cartoonish graphics included along with boring and entirely unoriginal quests. Most quests consist of fetch 5 X, kill Y. Add to that the character leveling system and it's definitely necessary to grind your way through all these mundane tasks in order to make progress in the game. The game touts its open world, but even that manages to feel incredibly linear and exploring it is wholly unsatisfying. For guys who worked on the masterpiece of a world, Morrowind, I have a hard time accepting that the rather boring (yet brightly colored) environments were all they could come up with.

    With the actual gameplay, I think it would certainly feel much more natural using a controller than a mouse. It is incredibly irritating, if using a mouse, to have your camera pointed in one direction while your character is pointed slightly in a different direction, and you press W to move or you attack only to have your character move or swing in the completely unintended direction. This can be a very big problem in combat because it is obviously much more fast paced than trying to hit some barrels. Say you swing the camera around to see how many enemies there are attacking you and you have your camera locked on in one direction, press attack and then your character swings in the entirely opposite direction. It's simply obnoxious. To add to that, the combat really is just button mashing the same button over and over with very little sense of timing or rhythm. It is certainly not revolutionary but maybe if you want something with no learning curve you'll find some satisfaction in it. The user interface is nothing short of obnoxious. The menu and the inventory are an absolute pain to use with PC. First, they selected some arbitrary keys to use for simple commands like drop which feel entirely unnatural and take some serious getting used to--why they couldn't just go with some standard techniques like right click to drop or click+shift to drop I do not understand. The inventory system is also an incredible pain to simply navigate. Equipping your weapons means going through 2 screens, first the generic pause screen, then the entire inventory screen, then the weapon screen and THEN you have to select primary weapon or secondary weapon. Why not put all the weapons on one screen, have you click one, then another--or maybe click it and then click primary or secondary? Even on consoles it makes no sense to do it that way. And if you want to change your magic spells? Go back and do it all over again. Then if you want to change your "moves," go back and do it one more time. A lot of people have spent countless on this game but I can only wonder how much of it they actually spent just fiddling through the menu.

    Overall I found no real enjoyment playing this game. When I wasn't irritated with the interface and gameplay mechanics I simply found it boring.    … Expand
  4. Nashira
    Feb 23, 2012
    5
    (PC Review) Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning could have been a great game if more effort had been put into it. I found the art style adequate. I've seen it regrettably compared to the visual style used in World of Warcraft. Aside from the colors in the Fae/Elven forests being similar, as they are in so many games, animated shorts, and videos, beyond that, the similarities end. The main(PC Review) Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning could have been a great game if more effort had been put into it. I found the art style adequate. I've seen it regrettably compared to the visual style used in World of Warcraft. Aside from the colors in the Fae/Elven forests being similar, as they are in so many games, animated shorts, and videos, beyond that, the similarities end. The main problems with the game were that I felt little connection with the main characters. I had minimal interaction with the main NPC's. I found the difficulty to be very underwhelming even at hard-mode. The "skills" that the character is forced to get as they level eventually break the economy one way or another. The player is given a choice of racial origin, yet this has little bearing on role play and nothing to do with the story. There's very little that makes me want to play this game again. The combat system was a good premise, even if it was a little wonky on the PC. All this aside, I found it fairly enjoyable to play thought once, with a half-way decent storyline. I only encountered a few bugs that were hardly game-breaking. If you are not the hard-core nightmare-mode type of gamer, and aren't too nit-picky you'll probably enjoy this for at least a play through.… Expand
  5. BuuGz
    Mar 12, 2012
    5
    Well the UI is a pain in the a** to navigate, I'm not sure why they didn't use the usual item equipping and went for that crap.. The combat is ok for the most part gets boring real fast tho because there is not much to choose from and there could have been far more abilities and i kinda wish the combat could have been done GoW style :D. I don't wanna talk about character models so muchWell the UI is a pain in the a** to navigate, I'm not sure why they didn't use the usual item equipping and went for that crap.. The combat is ok for the most part gets boring real fast tho because there is not much to choose from and there could have been far more abilities and i kinda wish the combat could have been done GoW style :D. I don't wanna talk about character models so much cuz they suck, the environment is OK nothing breathtaking and seems kinda outdated because it seems it should have been made for the year 2006 or something like that. Also the thing that annoys me is that i like the fact that the wold is HUGE but there is so little to do other than just plain grinding mobs like in an mmo that i actually haven't even been able to continue playing on daly basis because i know what awaits me for the next 2 hours ingame and really i don't wanna waste so much time for grinding, if i wanna play an mmo I'll do that and chat ingame with my buddy's while we grind. Also this being an RPG i think it lacks companions that follow you around. Also the races in this game are so dam boring that it hurt my brain and they look terrible that it hurt my eyes and the voice actin is so bad that it hurt my ears so all in all this should have been another stupid ass brainless grind fest mmo and not some single player RPG
    So ye its OK at best id suggest you don't waste time on it because you won't get back that time you spend on it, its sad really i really hoped it would be enjoyable i didn't even care about the graphics when i first saw some gameplay footage, oh well only combat will not make a good RPG the story is kinda more important here :D    … Expand
  6. Zedben
    Apr 24, 2012
    5
    At first, this game is really fun. You start out weak and gradually gain powers and such (depending on your style of game play). However, it just gets way too easy. To top it off the story is incredibly predictable. If you are on a tight budget, rent/buy used/borrow from a friend. The Escapist summed it up by saying it is Skyrim for beginners.
  7. Chipzahoy
    May 16, 2012
    5
    The game starts off better than it ends in my opinion. At first you are welcome to a lush world to explore, simple but effective graphics, and easy to learn & use combat. You immediately see the potential this game has early on. Thousands of side quests available, farming and crafting, making decisions during the story and the ability to try different classes mid game if your bored ofThe game starts off better than it ends in my opinion. At first you are welcome to a lush world to explore, simple but effective graphics, and easy to learn & use combat. You immediately see the potential this game has early on. Thousands of side quests available, farming and crafting, making decisions during the story and the ability to try different classes mid game if your bored of the one you are using. I found my self excited to explore a world that R.A Salvatore has written and do every side quest possible. However, just as quickly as you saw the potential, it is just as quickly washed away. Before long you realize you are doing the same quests over and over and over. The main story becomes so incredibly boring that you will start to skip the dialogue scenes. By the last areas on the map, I was walking past every side quest possible and only doing main story quests which lead up to a pretty disappointing and anti-climactic ending. The diversity of the each map area was also disappointing. From having areas with lots of trees, to area that have not as many trees. As well as a small assortment of enemies that only change in color as the game gets harder. Its by no means a horrible game and I believe that this game could only be as good as you make it. I was getting bored of it, because I tried to do everything which in turn let me see just how much this game is a rinse and repeat. For those who need a small fix of mmo without having to pay online to play, this MAY be something of interest to you. If you do, you will enjoy it more if you are a loot gamer, as this game is filled with it. In final, for those that do want to purchase this, it's definately not worth $59.99. Wait for a bargain bin of $19.99 or maybe... MAYBE $24.99 (and that's pushing it)… Expand
  8. amonteirojr
    May 19, 2012
    5
    Amalur feels very satisfying for the first couple of hours, then it gets stale for the rest of it's lenght. I don't mind the colorful art style but it lacks a strong identity or atmosphere. Story-wise it's even more disappointing, with little effort put to create engagement to the plot, I already forgot most of the game right after playing it! What a waste of detailed Salvatore's lore, IAmalur feels very satisfying for the first couple of hours, then it gets stale for the rest of it's lenght. I don't mind the colorful art style but it lacks a strong identity or atmosphere. Story-wise it's even more disappointing, with little effort put to create engagement to the plot, I already forgot most of the game right after playing it! What a waste of detailed Salvatore's lore, I find hack and slash combat fun but since you can stock so many healing itens there's almost no challenge to it. Well, i'd say rent it first, there are better alternatives.… Expand
  9. Kuroneko87
    May 20, 2012
    5
    Kingdoms of Amalur turned out to be a huge disappointment for me, I really did my best trying to love this game..yet i constantly feld bored after playing for 30minutes.eventually i spend over 40 hours playing the game hoping it would get any better...its a pretty big game but it just feel more like a free MMORPG..yeah but then on your own.....
    it pretty much doesnt add anything new to    Kingdoms of Amalur turned out to be a huge disappointment for me, I really did my best trying to love this game..yet i constantly feld bored after playing for 30minutes.eventually i spend over 40 hours playing the game hoping it would get any better...its a pretty big game but it just feel more like a free MMORPG..yeah but then on your own.....
    it pretty much doesnt add anything new to its genre..constantly i was send out doing quests like ...kill 10 spiders.....collect 5 donkey dicks....etc...the combat feels weird i was expecting something like Dark Souls..but its nothing like it.
    the story isnt event worth talking about..
    quite a shame considering some people from Oblivion are behind this.
    Im still confused about all the pretty high rates this game received    … Expand
  10. MrMuse
    Sep 7, 2012
    5
    Good points: This game is huge, the storyline is passable, the dlc's are big and worth getting if you like the game. Nice character animation during combat.

    Bad ponts: The story is PASSABLE, differing character development results in fairly similar gameplay which is largely about spam-clicking the mouse. Game saves can break easilly for no apparent reason perhaps destroying many hours    Good points: This game is huge, the storyline is passable, the dlc's are big and worth getting if you like the game. Nice character animation during combat.

    Bad ponts: The story is PASSABLE, differing character development results in fairly similar gameplay which is largely about spam-clicking the mouse. Game saves can break easilly for no apparent reason perhaps destroying many hours of play/work.

    Overall - HUGE and mildly entertaining time sink with unforgivable technical issues (save losses) and a bland storyline    … Expand
  11. Nataraja
    Mar 16, 2013
    5
    I decided I need to downgrade the game more. Great initial concepts with horrid execution. Bad porting of console controls. Mediocre graphics. Horrible voice acting. Bland quests. Horrible facial animations and out of sync dialog. I pretty much only give it 5 due to the concepts. Execution is TERRIBLE. Avoid this unless its really cheap and you have nothing else to do.
  12. Atsuri
    Jan 7, 2014
    5
    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a so-so game, sometimes even good, but it fails miserably at trying to be something it will never be.

    Pros: - Good variety of side quests - Ability to join numerous factions and enjoy related storylines - Ease in grasping game mechanics and flexibility in changing playstyles - Intuitive combat system with an emphasis on dodging/blocking and chaining    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a so-so game, sometimes even good, but it fails miserably at trying to be something it will never be.

    Pros:
    - Good variety of side quests
    - Ability to join numerous factions and enjoy related storylines
    - Ease in grasping game mechanics and flexibility in changing playstyles
    - Intuitive combat system with an emphasis on dodging/blocking and chaining attacks

    Cons:
    - Bland, generic, uninteresting characters, which look almost like clones
    - Uneven, exaggerated voice acting
    - Disappointing, generic main plot
    - Console-specific gimmick strongly tied to the main plot (Reckoning Mode)
    - Bright WoW-ish graphics completely misaligned with the dark theme of the main plot and frequent brutal finisher animations
    - Poorly executed, generic skill tree
    - Oversimplified mechanics crafting, lockpicking, sneaking and performing stealth kills
    - Generally low difficulty even on hard mode catered more to younger, casual gamers, but conflicting with the age requirement (18+ in Europe)
    - Uneven difficulty of challenges very easy lockpicking versus extremely hard dispelling (which has a time-lag bug sometimes rendering it impossible to complete)
    - Uneven difficulty of enemies some are ridiculously easy, while others can constantly and unrealistically home-in their attacks into the player character
    - Stagger on every received blow (be it player character or enemy) leading to stun-locks on both sides
    - Lack of player character voice-over or even simple mimicry during cut-scenes and dialogs
    - Etc, etc.

    If for some reason you still want to play KoA: R, I suggest buying it at cheaper than 10 euro/dollars. For more you can simply pickup Skyrim, which is far superior with all of the available mods, at random sales. I really tried to like this game, but the number of ludicrous mistakes on the developers' part make KoA: R not worth one's time.    … Expand
  13. blade01
    Jul 31, 2014
    5
    I will not write a long review, ill keep it short.This game can easily be described as generic and lazy!Visuals are ok, sometimes great!The problem is:Everything looks the same.There are some presets(desert for example) but thats it.The world is big, too big.Its not filled with good content.Not one quest is memorable.Not one character is memorable.If you search a great story or epicness,I will not write a long review, ill keep it short.This game can easily be described as generic and lazy!Visuals are ok, sometimes great!The problem is:Everything looks the same.There are some presets(desert for example) but thats it.The world is big, too big.Its not filled with good content.Not one quest is memorable.Not one character is memorable.If you search a great story or epicness, you wont find it here.The world is static, nothing changes, ever!The crafting system is interesting at first, and far too strong.Everything youll find will be crap compared to what you can craft.Boring.All in all not worth a buy, sorry.Entertains the first hours, suckz pretty quickly after that.… Expand
  14. CrimsonEwok
    Jul 6, 2014
    5
    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a game that tries hard to imitate other games like Fable or Dragon Age, but it never really seems to find it's own identity. Like many other reviews stated it feels like an offline mmorpg but without the friends. The main quest and the side quests are often boring and are often void of any decent dialog or variety in activities(boring fetch/kill quests thatKingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a game that tries hard to imitate other games like Fable or Dragon Age, but it never really seems to find it's own identity. Like many other reviews stated it feels like an offline mmorpg but without the friends. The main quest and the side quests are often boring and are often void of any decent dialog or variety in activities(boring fetch/kill quests that are all to similar) . The dialog wheel which is present in this game is largely at waste and I found myself skipping as much of the dialog as possible. So if you are expecting something deep to hold your attention this is not it. The combat is the only thing that is pretty good/decent in the game, but eventually it gets kind of repetitive without anything of interest in the world to explore(nothing feels worth raising a weapon for). This game receiving praise from reviewers is surprising it is mostly mediocre IMO. If your looking for something different maybe try Dragons Dogma instead they both came out around the same time and DD has some admirable features.… Expand
  15. Keth
    Sep 20, 2014
    5
    This isn't a terrible game. I really liked the character creation/development; it feels open and let's you mix and make the character you want to play. -- However, there are some downsides. Yes, the graphics and acting are kinda low for a game this recent. The story is interesting but not gripping. The side-quests are, well, side-quests. -- It's the combat that get's me. Slow reaction toThis isn't a terrible game. I really liked the character creation/development; it feels open and let's you mix and make the character you want to play. -- However, there are some downsides. Yes, the graphics and acting are kinda low for a game this recent. The story is interesting but not gripping. The side-quests are, well, side-quests. -- It's the combat that get's me. Slow reaction to commands, unresponsive, too many uninteruptible, undodgeble things. You will burn through potions like water. There are fights that will unload on you no matter how much you try to evade. The combat is pretty, fun animations, cool executions, but that's about it. I really don't think I can finish this one. I'm tired of being mad at the control.… Expand
  16. Ratingss
    Mar 20, 2023
    5
    This game is a lot like Fable, even the music sounds the same, it just hasnt any of the little things that made Fable so unique back then.
    When i first played this in 2012 i ran into a game breaking bug and gave up. It never was a marvel but the graphics still hold up well, just do yourself a favor and turn off the awful post processing.
  17. iburnaga
    Mar 3, 2012
    4
    Camera with an obsession with the floor, trying to sell you dlc that just contains weapons for 6 bloody dollars not two weeks after launch, mediocre gameplay. Nothing special, buy it on sale unless you're just itching for an action rpg.
  18. Dethstar
    Jun 7, 2016
    4
    Around 20 Review from so called professional critics that seem to have been purchased to give a high critic meta score but the Avg user score is far more honest.

    Utterly generic, quite tedious and felt like it was a long time out of date even at launch. Not the worst game in the world as it works and has no bug but certainly one of the most tedious.
  19. Riot
    Feb 12, 2012
    4
    I only played the demo but I really struggled to get to the end of it, wanted to quit 1 hour earlier. To sum it up this game looks and feel like a Bioware clone done bad. The RPG elements are scarce and badly outlined. There is no real inventory, the list type is extremely unfriendly and hard to use. The whole menus are unfriendly and hard to get accustomed to. Speaking of RPG, theI only played the demo but I really struggled to get to the end of it, wanted to quit 1 hour earlier. To sum it up this game looks and feel like a Bioware clone done bad. The RPG elements are scarce and badly outlined. There is no real inventory, the list type is extremely unfriendly and hard to use. The whole menus are unfriendly and hard to get accustomed to. Speaking of RPG, the character creation is a joke, there's presets to be chosen from, neon glowing lipstick and hair colors, and ridiculous face tattoos. I'm baffled that in an age where facial 3D morphing is implemented in character creation, we are left with 20 premade choices!

    Crafting exists in this game but seems basic and too easy, not really a crafting in it's true name, just gather stuff in the world (gathering is a decent word, more likely looting) and assemble them in town. The lockpicking and dispell actions are very badly done: lockpicking is more based on your luck rather than your skill and in order to dispell you need to do it at least 10 times to get it right, badly explained and frustrating because it's time limited.

    Graphics are old, somewhere around the WOW age, but improved with tons of blur to make it look filtered. Colors look fake, objects are squarish and again too much blur.

    Dialogues are well made, congrats to that, the combat system is very well made, no complaints there, also I haven't noticed bugs or glitches. Quests are a bit too many and too stupid, but maybe you need them to appeal to a fantasy niche. Creatures are extremely cartoonish and child like, again the fantasy niche.

    All in all I had the feel of playing a more budget-wise version of Torchlight and after getting bored through the demo I am convinced this is not for me and do not see much potential of it.    … Expand
  20. f0lly
    Mar 28, 2012
    4
    It's just not possible to trust the professional critics anymore. There is no way this game deserves the high ratings its getting from the pros. Outdated graphics, boring story, boring quests. And the awesome combat that everyone seems to rave about? Just a click attack until everything is dead. Rinse and repeat for every damn mob. Save your money, or wait until its for sale for $10.
  21. DougM
    Feb 12, 2012
    4
    The disappointment with this game is almost immediate with the introduction of the character customization tool that offers no real customization. After a minute or so of exhausting all the customization options the player then enters a a low resolution world inhabited by some of the most uninspired character designs in modern video game history. The attempt at a story is hobbled alongThe disappointment with this game is almost immediate with the introduction of the character customization tool that offers no real customization. After a minute or so of exhausting all the customization options the player then enters a a low resolution world inhabited by some of the most uninspired character designs in modern video game history. The attempt at a story is hobbled along by one insufferable NPC dialog after another. The voice acting is downright awful and rarely in synch with character mouth movements. Thankfully the developers have enabled subtitles by default and a convenient skip button which allows the player to speed read through the babble. Side quests are chores, the main quest is nonsense, the 'open world' is full of force fields, the menu system is clunky and the much vaunted hack and slash combat is crippled by the out of control camera view. KoA is essentially Ratchet and Clank with generic RPG cut scenes. Recommend avoid this hateful title until it reaches the Steam bargain bin.… Expand
  22. HappyWolfie
    Feb 12, 2012
    4
    Mediocre game with full set of trendy features, player cant see anything new in this game. Game world is 2d with no heights. Scenario is boring, fighting is flawed (PC stunned after each hit of any enemy, character action speed is static) etc etc.
  23. sai
    Feb 20, 2012
    4
    The story line is rather generic and becomes clumsy with side quests, although I understand how some may see this as a blessing. The combat system for an RPG is great and definitely one of the highlights, but KoA is the final nail in the EA coffin for me. Sure they release great sporting titles, but if I wanted an xbox I would have bought one already. There is no option to reallyThe story line is rather generic and becomes clumsy with side quests, although I understand how some may see this as a blessing. The combat system for an RPG is great and definitely one of the highlights, but KoA is the final nail in the EA coffin for me. Sure they release great sporting titles, but if I wanted an xbox I would have bought one already. There is no option to really change your graphics nor is the in-game aiming all that accurate, you just seem to always hit your target or open that door lever.… Expand
  24. Artoflameness
    Feb 10, 2012
    4
    The review sites have failed again, big time. Corruption runs amok..
    Another worrying trend is that the first (few) poster(s) in the user reviews section on any game are from the marketing department of given game. At the moment the game is available to the public, they already know that the game is polished, contains X hours of gameplay, it delivers, etc.. And of course 10/10..
    This is    The review sites have failed again, big time. Corruption runs amok..
    Another worrying trend is that the first (few) poster(s) in the user reviews section on any game are from the marketing department of given game. At the moment the game is available to the public, they already know that the game is polished, contains X hours of gameplay, it delivers, etc.. And of course 10/10..
    This is absurd.
    Fortunately they can't offset the user score too much. I am grateful for this, thank you metacritic for your site and system.

    About the game:
    Pros: Somewhat solid combat system, more than average content, stable-polished engine -> no bugs.
    Cons: Generic world, bad and boring story, low level of immersion, horrible camera placement, outdated graphics, console-port feeling (GUI and controls)

    The game plays and feels more like Diablo, than a traditional RPG. Some people may like this, some may not.
    The main problem with the game is the disparity between graphic style vs story. The game tells us a dark and epic story , but tries to do this with a cartoon-ish, funny style. (in fable the story was in harmony with the graphic style).

    (sorry for my bad English)    … Expand
  25. naudica
    Feb 12, 2012
    4
    DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.. Yet. It is incredibly unbalanced, on the hardest difficulty you will 1 hit everything. I died once in 25 hours of game play. And it was because I was AFK.

    Healing potions are instant and can be spammed to full health, the trade skills make your character incredibly overpowered. The skill tree "Might" makes your character literally un-killable. You can sit there for    DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.. Yet. It is incredibly unbalanced, on the hardest difficulty you will 1 hit everything. I died once in 25 hours of game play. And it was because I was AFK.

    Healing potions are instant and can be spammed to full health, the trade skills make your character incredibly overpowered.

    The skill tree "Might" makes your character literally un-killable. You can sit there for 20 minutes getting hit over and over again and never die.

    The world is barren, and feels like an empty MMO server. The storyline is incredibly bad, and you will find yourself skipping through all of it after the first few dialogues. Zones and quests don't take into account character level so you end up fighting mobs way below your level. The main ability called "Reckoning" will end boss fights in 1-2 hits, making even the hardest encounters very very easy. All in all the game just needs to be balanced. Wait till they patch it a few times before spending $60. Trust me!    … Expand
  26. musicgamer
    Feb 13, 2012
    4
    On receiving this game I thought it was fantastic Rpg/Adventure with great Action. I was really hoping to enjoy this game, BUT!, am now discovering how actually bland and simplistic this game is - esp once your about 7hrs inn!!

    I was hoping KoA:R would have varied quests and many options/decision paths/discoveries as described and mentioned by the makers before the games release!!!!.. Now    On receiving this game I thought it was fantastic Rpg/Adventure with great Action. I was really hoping to enjoy this game, BUT!, am now discovering how actually bland and simplistic this game is - esp once your about 7hrs inn!!

    I was hoping KoA:R would have varied quests and many options/decision paths/discoveries as described and mentioned by the makers before the games release!!!!.. Now with 14hrs of game play(approx); all I've been doing is bashing the attack button, slaying creatures for the many samey side-quests, or, simply fetching mostly useless item(s) that still involve slaying everything!!!. While combat seems cool and engaging at first, it's nothing more then a series one button presses and occasional block pausing. You can easily take on groups of 4-7 guys with ease!! EVEN ON HARD LEVEL!!..This does start to drag at times, as it doesn't really require anything, just attack, attack, attack!. You walk a few steps before you have to repeat the same action attacking everything in your way, but, without any real challenge, as enemies do fall fairly easily. I actually just run past them now!...After a few hours play the gameplay with KoA:R doesstart to become action repetitive, actually very repetitive!!! . This is made worse as KoA:R lacks challenge, or required skill, or even discovering enemy weak-points, that can make fighting more varied and interesting as battles come far to often. I also found one attack technique seems to beatsall (so-far!) - the many attacking options are there, but, are not , actually required.

    I do find it rather stupid, for a game of this sort, that annoyingly, you are stuck to the ground!! You can't jump freely or over anything!. Because of this stupidity you are forced to walk around everything just to reach a place you can see just a few steps away, but can't, as its blocked by a small rock, fence, water, edge, lake..etc; forcing you to find a longer route. You can't even fall/step-off the edge(unless its at a very limited fixed game design place)!!!!...The world, while attractive and fairly varied, it is rather flat as you don't reach high places, no hills, no mountains, no ladders, no reaching high peaks - everything is on ground floor! This is also not a true open world game in the sense of Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout games, as you are funnelled into a one direction with many area architectural designs within the game world fairly similar - though painted with different textures !

    The story isn't very engrossing at present (14hrs) and seems fairly generic so-far. Also there seems to be NO consequences to the actions you make!! I slaughtered a whole village, yet no-one cared! this destroys feeling for a living game world. There isn't much activity gong onn in the villages, and can be quiet and empty in many areas too (so-far!). Cut scenes are poor, your character just stands staring of into the distance not reacting to anything; as do other characteres!!. Lip sync is bad too! like a badly dubbed movie.

    I will continue to play to the end, but it feels I'm using my thumb to bash buttons more then making deep choices, figuring out things, making moral choices that effect game direction, or searching for meaningful items/loots to help progress (everything is just thrown at you without ant real discovering!). With the streamlined and generic Rpg that is rather simplified has taken away the depth of an involving Rpg and has made it more a arcade large Hack n Slash game - without depth!!!    … Expand
  27. ZootMan
    Feb 16, 2012
    4
    I was sooooo rooting for this game. I bought into all the stratospheric hype, the comparisons to god of war/devil may cry caliber combat, the expansive world with enormous variety and locales, the myriad of weapons and skills and talents to acquire and complement the game systems.Sadly, expectations rarely match the end product.............First off, the good-visually, the game makes aI was sooooo rooting for this game. I bought into all the stratospheric hype, the comparisons to god of war/devil may cry caliber combat, the expansive world with enormous variety and locales, the myriad of weapons and skills and talents to acquire and complement the game systems.Sadly, expectations rarely match the end product.............First off, the good-visually, the game makes a great first impression, with WoW/Torchlight-esque cartoony fantasy style characters and objects. The world is colorful, the animations are expressive and the scope of the world is huge. The inventory system is genius. The ability to 'trash' unwanted items is a godsend, and would have made Skyrim vastly improved for loot finding. After trying all three variants of combat, the mage is enjoyable to play, as a DPS role equivilent to an MMO style 'nuker' character.............And now, the shortcomings. If you thought, like myself that this combat would be as rewarding as say a Ninja Gaiden, stop... just STOP...Do not purchase this game. You will be bored silly. I have beaten Ninja Gaiden three times since its relaease, and action combat is best when fast, fluid and responsive. Amalur does not achieve this high watermark. You cannot cancel attack animation with a simple counter/block. For the first few hours, I thought it was user error, but the more I played, the more a I realized that the game is essentially turn based realtime combat. If you can deal with this, then great...but the majority of action gamers, PLEASE STEER CLEAR. Disappointment abounds........Unfortunately, this game being the size it is, carries with it a great deal of complaints. The story, the lore is a fanfic...funny sounding name here, some artifact of power here, nasty antagonist with malevolent-sounding name there. Well tread terrain with zero originality. Take every fantasy trope you can imagine and set to blend and you have amalur. Switching gears, the combat classes themselves are way out of balance. As I said, the first 5 hours with a mage are enjoyable. Respeccing to the other two, it was abundantly clear how inferior and less fun they were to play as. There is no excuse for not providing adequate crowd control in a single player class...............As I said, I wanted to enjoy this game. It simply comes up short in the combat. The designers could have provided a simple canceling fix so you could actually counter/block effectively. But nope, get ready to dodge roll A LOT. Yawn....… Expand
  28. pnathan_28
    Feb 16, 2012
    4
    When this game was about to release i was really excited for it , i mean just take into account the pedigree of talent behind the development team alone plus all the previews and pre-launch talk, mostly on G4 made me want to play KoA . That was then, now it's a completely different story. this game can only be chalked up to a MASSIVE disappointment. i really wish now i had waited for theWhen this game was about to release i was really excited for it , i mean just take into account the pedigree of talent behind the development team alone plus all the previews and pre-launch talk, mostly on G4 made me want to play KoA . That was then, now it's a completely different story. this game can only be chalked up to a MASSIVE disappointment. i really wish now i had waited for the reviews, this one in particular instead of getting caught up in the hype and pre-ordering KoA. Granted the combat is engaging and better than just about every rpg on the market but that is all this game has going for it. The graphics are OK, the camera is sub-par , the voice acting and dialogue are dull and boring.
    my biggest fault with Amalur is that, with any good rpg, you have an emotional investment in your character as they are an extension of ourselves , and in this respect KoA fails miserably. i tried (45 hours into it) till i just couldn't feign enthusiasm anymore. at no point did the game give me a reason to care about my character or the multitudes of fetch -quests that i was being sent on. all you FANBOYS out there that are waving your pitch forks around need to realize that this game did fail on delivering what it set out to. thank you to the brave few who came out with an honest review of this game while the rest of the reviews pretty much rehashed EA talking points .    … Expand
  29. xRevolution
    Mar 23, 2012
    4
    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning does not have very good graphics, it has cartoon-like graphics and the gameplay does not suit my style very well. It is not really difficult to master, easy to learn instead. I am suprised by all the good ratings. I always rate RPG's 4+ because I am not a huge fan of RPG games which give it a bit of unfair. Being no real fan of RPG games does not mean i likeKingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning does not have very good graphics, it has cartoon-like graphics and the gameplay does not suit my style very well. It is not really difficult to master, easy to learn instead. I am suprised by all the good ratings. I always rate RPG's 4+ because I am not a huge fan of RPG games which give it a bit of unfair. Being no real fan of RPG games does not mean i like none. Some just suit me and some just don't, and this one didn't do it for me. I like other RPG gmaes above this.… Expand
  30. sdi
    Sep 26, 2013
    4
    Where to begin.From the generic storyline, world ,quests and painfully unmemorable characters or tedious combat system?You know you got something wrong with your game when the most memorable character is a drunk mage and fights become a chore after two hours of gameplay.Conversations are meaningless and almost failed to engage me in every occasion and didn't give me the illusion that a rpgWhere to begin.From the generic storyline, world ,quests and painfully unmemorable characters or tedious combat system?You know you got something wrong with your game when the most memorable character is a drunk mage and fights become a chore after two hours of gameplay.Conversations are meaningless and almost failed to engage me in every occasion and didn't give me the illusion that a rpg is supposed to offer to the player.The crafting system is moderate at best and customization is almost non existent.The combat system shows some potential as it is easily picked up and customized to your liking. Overall this game is below average and definitely didn't live up to the expectations and hype.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

44
#44 Best PC Game of 2012
24
#24 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
18
#18 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. PC PowerPlay
    Apr 5, 2012
    60
    Fast and flashy combat in a shallow fantasy world. For the solo MMO player only. [Apr 2012, p.62]
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  2. CPUGamer
    Mar 27, 2012
    80
    For all the things that don't work well, the exciting combat and deep world make KAR a very worthy game to play. It's a shame Electronic Arts is doing such a poor job of promoting it, as there is enough here to make the foundation of a very solid franchise.
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  3. PC Gamer
    Mar 21, 2012
    74
    Great combat and mountains of loot can't compensate for Amalur's generic world design and familiar story. [May 2012, p.72]
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