Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Even though 'saving the world' is like really important and good fun, you probably won't have time to actually save it. Reckoning's plains and villages are filled to the brink with humans, gnomes who all need your help. They are just side quests, but also the most fun we have had in Reckoning. [March 2012, p.92]

There is just so much to love about Kingdoms of Amalur. Its genre-elevating combat and gorgeous visual design are unparalleled and will undoubtedly be emulated in years to come.

If you consider yourself an RPG addict, you'll surely find plenty of things to do in the world of Amalur. Intense storytelling, fast paced action and hundreds of quests will kill your free time like never before.

No matter what you're looking for, whether it be amazing gameplay, immersive storytelling or perhaps a riveting new world to explore as you fully customize and re-customize your character at will, Reckoning has it all.

When you set aside the forgettable characters and boring dialog you find a game that is so well polished in many of its other aspects. The title boasts one of the best combat systems ever in an action-RPG and a highly flexible class system that allows the player to choose to be whatever they want to.

Amalur is a game that makes no pretenses about what it is. Every town has people in need, every monster needs killing, and every cave and dungeon needs exploring. You'll want to keep taking on quests because maybe you'll get a new sword that does more damage and looks cooler. Its dedication to enhancing player-power makes it a joy to play, even if a few minor issues keep it from true excellence.

Reckoning does a lot of things right. 38 Studios should be proud of their first title. Hopefully with some revisions, especially with the camera and difficulty balancing, we'll see an even better title next time.

I've cursed the name of more than one ex-girlfriend for uttering these words, but here they are, nonetheless: I loved Amalur, but I'm not sure I'm in love with it. It's a beautifully realized game with a lot of solid features, but it falls just short of blowing me away. That it came so close is both its blessing and its curse, but I'd still say it's worth a playthrough if you're even the slightest bit curious.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a good role-playing game with an open world that offers you a lot of freedom. Despite some flaws, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a game every RPG-fan will enjoy.

Occasionally, Reckoning plays it too safe. As good as the combat is, it cannot make fights against giant rats any more interesting. Crime follows the Fable route of, "if you disappear and come back later, all is forgiven." Reckoning teases with consequences, but either doesn't follow through or does so in wacky ways.

If there's one thing this game suffers from, it's originality. Other than that, Kingdoms of Amalur delivers on almost every level. Overall this is a gigantic and well-developed RPG which will keep you playing for a long time to come.

Reckoning is not about narrative. In this respect, it's a defiantly linear experience. What it is about is gameplay choice within the oft-rigid of an RPG. The way it accomplishes this is particularly fresh, and maybe even suggests a new precedent in the evolution of the genre. It's about time, right? Big Huge Games has clearly been paying a lot of attention to what's going on, and the result is that Reckoning is a patchwork of everything great that's been done to forward modern RPGs in recent times. [March 2012, p70]

Overall Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning is very competent, especially if we consider that this is a new entry. It is visually appealing and very immersive during the action, which manages to mix accessibility and depth in a very balanced way. It offers an immersive fantasy world, but for some reason fails to be memorable.

Kingdoms of Amalur is a nice RPG mechanic; well designed, well oiled. Almost spotless. It's pretty, polished, interesting. But there's nothing to surprise or puzzle you. The story is fine (and supports the gameplay), the world complex, but nothing comes out of the ordinary in this high fantasy tale, similar as it is to a thousand others. As a result, it's played with fun as a regular Action RPG, rich in content, but quickly digested as well. More soul for the sequel, please!

In conclusion, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning provides another immersive gaming experience that will force many people to lock themselves up again while they complete this game. It's also a strange game that uses modern RPG elements and also classic RPG elements that creates this strange hybrid RPG system that works on most levels but may feel dated for some. Given that, if you're a fan of RPG titles and need something after your Skyrim addiction, than Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning may be the perfect game to fill that spot!

Kingdoms of Amalur is simply fun. (...) When broken down to its features, Amalur is still outmatched by other RPGs, but it seems quite eager to learn. World and monsters are something to behold, it offers a lot of roaming space for its heroes and the story keeps you interested enough.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an ambitious RPG that mostly delivers on its promise. The main quest is as lengthy as RPGs of yesteryear, while the amount and variety of quests bring an MMO flow to a single-player experience.

Reckoning may not set new RPG standards by any means, but it's an earnest attempt at encapsulating everything we love about the genre as a whole. [Mar 2012, p.82]

There are plenty of really great things to see and do in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and that stuff--the main quest line, the faction quests, and the interesting combat--makes the game fairly easy to recommend. But it's hard not to be at least a little disappointed when you start seeing the various spots where the game doesn't live up to the high bar set by its best content.

It's always hard to break out with a new IP, but Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is worth your attention, but you better have a big attention span as there is so much to do and see, you may run around for hours like a chicken with its head cut off.

Amalur does a lot of things better than some of the best out there. The combat is stronger than Skyrim's by a long shot, and the world feels more alive than games like Fable. It tells a good story well, and lays the foundation for a series we hope to see more of in the future, fate be damned.

Niggles with the art style and slightly sub-par storytelling mean this isn't a classic, but with a few minor tweaks there's no doubt it could have been. Roll on the sequel.

The Kingdom of Amalur offers a huge world to explore including dungeons and different regions. There are a lot of varying quests, NPCs and enemies with a enjoyable combat system. On the other hand, you will suspect even without knowing that the game was originally planned to be an MMO. The optics aren't up to date, the hero can't talk and in my opinion, the setting is not dark enough.

Despite its problems, Reckoning is a good game with a lot of stuff worth checking out. But even with all of the talent backing it, it's just on the edge of being something much greater than it is. For a game that's all about breaking out of the confines of fate, it's a shame that so much of the content feels stuck within such narrow conventions. [Mar 2012, p.88]

Amalur is a brisk action blast that just happens to last upwards of 50 hours. Not the best world ever built, but a fun place to spend a few weeks. [March 2012, p.110]

I still can't decide if it suffers from a lack of identity or if it successfully blends various traits and styles. I do know the storyline and quest objectives could've been better, and I know this super fast-paced action may cause RPG purists to go, "uh…this is an RPG?" Yeah, it is. One you want to play? Well, one you want to try, at least.

Needless to say, Reckoning is a repetitive experience. If you've played the first five hours, you've seen everything the game has to offer except a few bosses and superficially different environments.

Kingdoms of Amalur's combat and character advancement are fantastic enough to overshadow how bland everything else is.

Similar to Dragon Age: Origins, not everyone is going to bite. However those who do will be extremely satisfied with their meal.

It's compulsive - as all good action RPGs need to be - but lacks the quality to make it a game for all tastes. [Issue#215, p.80]

Sporadic in pace and quality of content, this is the area in which Reckoning borrows too heavily from its MMO ancestry and it really doesn't pay off.

Not as good as we expected, but Reckoning will appeal RPG fans with many hours of fun.