Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Review
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Now, after a lengthy and difficult development cycle, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has finally been brought to light. The open-world RPG based on R.A. Salvatore's brand-new universe has a lot to live up to. While Reckoning is able to provide some excellent action-based combat, a very smart character system and some pretty deep lore, the game is dragged down by inconsistent quality, lethargic pacing and a lot of filler content.
A Prestigious Offering
You can't throw a stone near Reckoning without it landing next to some of the game's top talent. Developed by Curt Schilling and former Morrowind lead designer Ken Rolston, backed by a dense universe provided by R.A. Salvatore, and with art direction by Todd McFarlane, there's plenty of big names involved in Reckoning's development. Big Huge Games themselves have also made a name for themselves in the strategy community, having previously worked on the well-regarded Rise of Nations series. As a result of this talent, Reckoning bears the mark of an experienced development team.
However, in having such defined entertainment industry figures involved, Reckoning can come across a little bit less like a coherent product and a bit more like a big mixing bowl of ideas - often great ones, to be sure, but Reckoning isn't quite the "dream team" product it's been made out to be by its marketing campaign. As much as you might like or dislike Todd McFarlane's artwork, for instance, whether it actually meshes with the game universe is a matter of debate, and the vestiges of Elder Scrolls gameplay included also don't quite feel as developed as they could otherwise. It's an interesting mix, but perhaps not the most consistent one.
Fated for Greatness
Picking a place to start with a game of Reckoning's size is difficult, but it's fair to say that the lore and universe are one of the game's focal points. Created by R.A. Salvatore, in conjunction with 38 Studios for their upcoming MMO Copernicus, the world of Amalur is a massive place, featuring multiple continents and kingdoms all with thousands of years of history behind them, inhabited by some unique races as well, both Elder and Young. It's a lot to take in, and the game does a pretty decent job with its exposion.
Most central to Amalur is the concept of Fate. Amalur's world is cyclical, and the paths of its inhabitants are predetermined. While Young Races like gnomes, elves and humans tend to be largely ignorant towards it, the Elder Races, including the Fae of the Summer and Winter Courts, are governed almost entirely by it, to the point where their immortal lives are lived out again and again in sequence, their stories told the same way each time. Reckoning sets itself right on the cusp of change - the Elder Races are seeing transition where for centuries they saw constancy, and the Young Races seek to undermine Fate entirely through their magical and technological development.
For once, Reckoning manages to build its typical "Chosen One" storyline on top of something substantial. In most games, the protagonist is special simply by virtue of being, well, the protagonist. In Reckoning, your Fateless One is revived from death at the beginning of the game and left free of the shackles of destiny - while others must be fit with their lots in life, you are literally the only one with the power to change the fate of the world, rather than the only one who's badass enough to do so. It's a fantastic setup for the game, and has tons of potential for a deep and engaging story.
World of Amalur
The key word there is potential. Kingdoms of Amalur has all the makings of a modern classic, but is never quite able to capitalize on the things it sets up. There are some definite strengths, to be sure. The main storyline, as far as its plot points go, is actually one of the better ones I've played through in an RPG lately. Despite a general lack of choice and consequence in how it plays out, the A-plot of stopping the deadly Tuatha (twisted, evil Fae), and the B-plot around the Fateless One's past, mesh and collide in a pretty satisfying manner. Similarly, there are a lot of excellent sub-plots to be found in the game's various faction quests, including the Fae-centric House of Ballads, and the Warsworn, a mercenary outfit which struggles between its antiquated notions of chivalry and honor, and the need to be profitable and successful in the current world. All these faction quest lines are well-developed and offer a bit more in the way of choice, although most of the consequences are cosmetic, and they don't really interact with the main story at all.
While the main and faction quests are generally quite engaging and well-written, however, Reckoning suffers due to its sheer size. The game draws much from modern MMORPGs, and as a result, its massive world is focused heavily around fighting through excessive numbers of filler enemies, picking up random loot (99% of which is junk), and performing side-quests which rarely go beyond your typical FedEx and monster slaughter models. There are some definite exceptions, and the writing is occasionally entertaining enough to give enjoyable context, but after the first few hours these side-quests all tend to blur together and begin to lose meaning. The bulk of the game's 100ish hours is made up of doing these side-quests and trekking across the vast, repetitive world of Amalur, and, while it's able to keep itself going for a while, about 30 hours in I was already getting tired.
The odd thing is, Reckoning actually gets better as it goes. Most games are front-loaded with their content, mostly because they want to impress gamers right out of the gate - after all, most players don't finish games and they want to see all the cool stuff to justify their purchasing decisions right off the bat. Reckoning starts out as an okay action-RPG with some good combat, but the early focus on side-questing around monotonous forests and caves doesn't do it too many favors. However, stick with it long enough and the game's better elements creeep out of the woodwork. The game's first city, Ysa, marks the turning point, and is when the story really begins to come together. Many players may not get that far, which is a real shame as it's when Reckoning hits its stride; frankly, it should have happened five hours in instead of 25.
Granted, it's true that the MMO-style forward progression of the game, focused largely on side-quests and hopping from one locale to the next as you begin to out-level the enemies, never really goes away, but by the time you learn to overcome the usual obsessive-compulsive reflexes that define so many single-player RPGs (you really, really shouldn't go looting every last chest or picking every single flower), it might be too late. Even as Reckoning provided much more immediate and effective locations, plot points and character abilities to use, I found myself less and less eager to jump back in simply because I got burned out on the early game. If I had known at the time, I would have rushed the main quest from the start and never looked back. Part of it's my fault, but given that the game is sold as an open-world experience, I think it's a fair complaint when so much content never rises beyond mediocre.
Action-RPG Done Right
All of this that I say about Reckoning's repetition is worth bearing in mind, but there's a flip-side to the game that also makes it one of the best action-RPGs seen in years. Though the action-RPG genre has always struggled to marry fast-paced, responsive combat with the depth and breadth of a genuine RPG character system, Reckoning might well be the first game that really succeeds at it. Part of this comes down to the fact that that combat is up there with other dedicated action games like God of War in terms of fluidity and responsiveness, and part of it also comes down to the fact that it doesn't cut out the role-playing in the name of that action. Reckoning provides a very solid stable of both combat-oriented character development and non-combat options, and it makes previous attempts like The Witcher 2 and Divinity II look clunky and awkward in comparison.
In keeping with its theme of Fate, Reckoning allows players to freely build characters. There are no preset classes to choose from, which means you can tinker around at your leisure with the options available, and be rewarded for it. If you find yourself enjoying magic, then pumping points into Sorcery abilities will unlock both extra damage and moves to use in combat, as well as more and more devastating special attacks. Stealthy players, meanwhile, will be happy to learn that stealth, complete with instant-killing backstabs and a focus on critical hits and dodging, is also just as viable. All character types can partake in Fateshift Mode, which provides a big damage and armor boost for a duration, after building up the Fate meter by performing special attacks and combos.
This is accomplished largely by splitting up character development into two different systems. The first, skills, cover all of your combat abilities, and are divided into Sorcery, Finesse and Might. There are no attributes to assign, but rather, new tiers in a given skill tree are opened up by continued investment in that tree, meaning that if you want to unlock the ultimate abilities of each, you'll need to stay dedicated. That said, all skills, even low-level ones, remain useful throughout the entire game due to upgrades - my magic user's lightning ball became a deadly area-of-effect attack later on, for instance. Mixing and matching is just as effective as sticking to one tree, as hurling spells while slashing away at enemies with twin daggers gets the job done as well as raining fire and ice down on their heads.
Non-combat options are handled by the game's abilities, which don't take the form of a tree, but rather a Mass Effect-style investment system. There are nine abilities in total (Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Detect Hidden, Dispelling, Lockpicking, Mercantile, Persuasion, Sagecraft and Stealth), and all are useful. Some of them are self-explanatory - Alchemy and Blacksmithing let you brew potions and craft gear - but others, like Detect Hidden, allow you to identify hidden treasure and secret doors. Lockpicking and Dispelling form two different kinds of mini-games for unlocking chests, and they are both satisfactory, but can be bypassed or automated in a few different ways if you have the necessary skill level or items. Crucially, non-combat abilities also play into quests - there are frequent dialogue checks that include just about every single ability, and maxing out Persuasion isn't enough to guarantee mastery over conversations, unlike just about every other RPG out there.
The final piece of the puzzle is the game's Destiny cards. As I mentioned, Reckoning doesn't have any attributes or classes, but Destinies sort of fill the niche by providing you with passive bonuses. Destinies unlock based both on your level and your investment into the different skill trees, so a jack-of-all-trades will get appropriate bonuses, but won't ever have quite has high a mana pool as a dedicated sorcerer or as big a damage bonus as a straight-up fighter. Combined with the cheap and freely-available respec options, Reckoning gives you a lot of choices, but wisely avoids forcing you into them for the entire game should you change your mind about your play-style. While normally I'd be a much bigger proponent of consequence in gameplay, Reckoning is not a 20-hour Fallout-style game, and given the choice between maxing out your character and respecs, I'll definitely take the latter.
For me, what makes Reckoning's mechanics stand out isn't so much that it does any one thing excellently (though it is quite competent), but rather it's that it never, ever leaves certain character builds behind. It is exceptionally well-balanced as far as different archetypes, skills and abilities go, and unlike some games you will rarely if ever regret investing in a particular path. Moreover, for an action-RPG it is surprisingly quick to give you alternatives in completing quests, and that goes a long way to making things more interesting. Reckoning is, frankly, better-designed and more mechanically engaging than just about every action-RPG I've played... which is why it's so unfortunate I have to then qualify that statement by saying "if it was half the size."
Presentation & Playability
Most games of such colossal scope have to cut corners in order to make ends meet as far as production values go, and Reckoning is no exception. Graphically, the game boasts some very solid (but subjectively appealing) artwork that bears a passing resemblance to other lighthearted RPGs, with a heavy emphasis on bloom, bright colors, fog and other high-impact effects. Look a bit closer, though, and the game reveals a few flaws. There is extensive pop-in when wandering the game's open environments, almost always prevalent and sometimes distracting. The game's texture detail is also occasionally poor - on a grand scale it works well, but the seams do show. The flip-side of this is that the game runs at a perfect 60 frames per second on my two-year-old gaming system, and I never once encountered any stutters or other issues that plague other open-world games. The console versions don't run quite as smoothly from what I've heard, but they still reach for 60 fps rather than the more standard 30 fps.
The game's audio typically fares a bit better. The sound effects populating the world of Amalur are evocative and appropriate - babbling brooks, dripping caverns, crackling torches and so on are all in the right places and give a good sense of atmosphere. In combat, enemies roar and scream convincingly, and weapon and magic effects alike are satisfactory. Voice acting, meanwhile, is pretty solid. RPG fans will no doubt recognize tons of familiar voices - most notably Steve Blum, Jim Cummings and Cam Clarke - and the cast itself is quite extensive and varied, keeping you from hearing the same actors over and over. Some performances are a bit weak, with occasionally awkward line readings and poor attempts at conveying emotion (and to be honest, the pseudo-Irish accents tend to be pretty bad), but it's definitely on the same level as the competition.
Reckoning's soundtrack, composed by industry veteran Grant Kirkhope (GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, and more) is effective and bears a distinctly filmic touch, with common musical themes that creep in and out. It's all fully-orchestrated rather than synthesized, which is a plus, but while I'm a fan of Kirkhope's other scores, Reckoning's is a little generic next to contemporaries like Jeremy Soule, and aside from a few pieces here and there, the music mostly fades into the background.
From a usability perspective, however, Reckoning is a bit disappointing. I played the game on the PC, and was instantly put off by the user interface and controls. The fact is that the game just does not play very well on a mouse and keyboard, and a lack of support for certain key bindings and mouse buttons make things akward for anyone not interested in the default layout. Even on a gamepad, though, the interface has a number of problems. Although the ability to throw any item in your junk bag at the touch of a button is welcome, the endless menus and sub-menus for managing inventory items are, frankly, frustrating, and you will frequently spend minutes of your time sorting through the limited inventory space, scrolling through overlong and cumbersome lists. The game's UI does not make good use of screen space either; many menus inexplicably take up only 20% of the real estate, for instance.
Moreover, the game's camera perspective is disorienting at times, with the camera zooming in during combat rather than pulling back, and sometimes even clipping through the ground or lagging way behind your character. Using a mouse, camera movement feels floaty, as if it's mapped to a virtual analogue stick rather than any sort of 1:1 input. Big Huge Games claim to have taken fan feedback into account and may patch some improvements in, but for now I simply can't recommend playing the game without a controller.
Last, it's worth bearing out that the game's technical side has been dramatically improved since the demo version. While the demo was rife with missing dialogue, texture corruption, broken quests and other problems, the final game is far more polished, and in fact is probably one of the most stable, bug-free RPGs I've played in some time. Some players have reported game-halting bugs, so I can't guarantee the game is perfect, but for my 60+ hours spent with it, I had a smooth experience. The review copy I played was tied to EA's Origin digital distribution service (though you can also get the game on Steam and other services), so the standard DRM disclaimer goes here, but for what it's worth I encountered no issues with Origin while playing.
Conclusion
Reviewing a game like Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is tough. It is a massive experience and very hard to capture in the span of even this much text, and furthermore, in trying to hit so many markets (action gamers, RPG fans and everything in between), there's always going to be someone who's disappointed, or something that I failed to touch on. Encapsulating it in a nutshell for a final verdict, a "buy or don't buy" statement is going to be hard simply because everyone's going to want something different out of it.
Reckoning is one of the strongest mainstream RPGs in some time when it comes to its core mechanics, and brings together some excellent combat with a genuinely interesting, if somewhat generic, fantasy universe. However, its own sheer size gets in the way of it achieving its potential, with too many filler quests, and too much time spent running around empty expanses of terrain hunting down level-scaled loot. If you can force yourself to stick to the main storyline and the faction quests, Kingdoms of Amalur provides a great 40 or so hours of gameplay that fares far better than most other open-world RPGs. I just wish it wasn't wrapped up with an extra 60-odd hours of less-than-stellar content.
All that said, the world of Amalur is an interesting one, and I'd love to see more of it explored in the future. Reckoning is, despite its flaws, still a very solid RPG from a studio that has never put one out before; given this fact, I'm very excited to see where Big Huge Games and 38 Studios will take their universe and gameplay in the future.
