Preview: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is set to capture the attention of both action lover and RPG fans.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning may have one of the strangest titles on the 2012 games roster, but every time it’s shown, I gain more and more love for it. A few weeks ago I was part of a behind-closed-doors presentation and also had a very brief hands-on session. This is what I discovered about the first game in what EA is clearly hoping will become a new RPG franchise.
Right from the initial spiel, Reckoning is an interesting prospect. I’ve never been one for traditional RPGs and prefer the more recent sexification that encourage action gurus such as myself to enter the epic worlds offered by the RPG genre. While Reckoning still boasts a robust RPG foundation, there’s a big emphasis on the action. Todd McFarlane, the mind behind Spawn, has been involved in Reckoning’s development and the award-winning animator has certainly injected a healthy dose of awesome into its animation system.
Both during hands-off and hands-on time the attention to detail was sublime in regards to level and character design, as well as the aforementioned animations. It looks and feels more like a high-production computer-animated film than your average RPG. Let’s be honest here: RPGs are usually forgiven for having the odd bland environment and understated animations. It’s great to see a new IP eager to kill off some of the negative conventions of the genre.
Speaking of killing off, the story starts with the player awakening on a pile of dead bodies. Apparently, the protagonist is the first successful test subject to be revived by the Well of Souls (cue Raiders music) and, because of this, has the ability to choose his or her own destiny. As would be expected, you can choose your sex and one of four different races. It’s up to you to select from a preset appearance or invest the time in customising your look across a variety of aesthetic choices.
Refreshingly, what you don’t get to choose from the outset is your class. Instead, Amalur uses a ‘Destiny system’ to allow players to create their class based on how they choose to play the game and level up their character. This is similar to what we’ll experience in Skyrim, and is another step in the right direction for the RPG genre. Personally, there’s nothing worse than having to weigh up the frustration of restarting a game with the prospect of spending the next X amount of hours playing as a class that isn’t quite working for me.
Outside of these class choices, players will also be able to explore a “massive world” which, in practical terms, breaks down to five unique regions, six factions that have their own storyline options and more than 120 handcrafted dungeons. Main quest haters will also be able to dabble in hundreds of different sidequests. Combine all of these options with 60 abilities to choose from across three core categories (might, finesse and sorcery), and player empowerment becomes a whole lot more interesting and palpable.
The crafting system sounds fairly generic until you peek beneath the hood. Alchemy and ‘sagecraft’ (creating gems to buff weapons and armour) is straightforward, while the blacksmithing has an interesting spin that allows you to deconstruct salvaged equipment and use the various components to build/mod the gear you want.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012