Kingdoms of Amalur finds its own footing in the gaming world

Even before its release, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, was being compared to other games. It’s frequently measured against World of Warcraft, and similarities to Skyrim are nearly impossible to ignore. But the influences don’t matter if the game can’t stand on its own merits, which Kingdoms of Amalur has no problem doing.

Fate is the core plot device in the game, and it’s established early on that all citizens of the world of Amalur are bound by whatever their fate holds for them. Certain people, called fateweavers, can even read fate with pinpoint accuracy, up to and including death. Then, your character is introduced, promptly ruining this well-established order.

You wake up in a heap of rotting corpses, suffering from a typical case of Protagonist’s Amnesia. Having been resurrected by gnomes seeking to solve the mysteries of mortality, you soon discover that you’re now a blank slate not bound by destiny, and can change the fates of those around you. Kingdoms of Amalur does a good job giving you enough reminders that your actions are screwing up the natural order of things without getting so repetitive in the cutscenes. And while the game’s premise isn’t exactly mind-blowing, it’s at least a decently clever framing device for your actions.

After getting the story sorted out, the combat is easily the best part of Kingdoms of Amalur. Fast-paced and fluid, there’s always a sense of accomplishment when you manage to clear out a room of enemies without taking a single hit.

There are myriad different ways to approach a fight, from dodging around your enemies and landing quick strikes to stunning them with magic before moving in with a greatsword. If you’d rather opt for stealth, some confrontations can be avoided altogether with careful planning. But however you approach a fight, you always have a plethora of tools at your disposal to make your enemy’s day very unpleasant, and using them to their maximum effect is incredibly satisfying.

“Reckoning mode” is particularly fantastic, as you basically get to be a wrecking ball on two legs. You have to build up a “fate meter” in order to use it, but it strikes the perfect balance between being available too often and being usable so infrequently that you’re scared of wasting it. Executed correctly, you can take down several powerful foes in a matter of seconds and receive a massive experience bonus in the process.

The biggest issue with the combat is that it’s easy to become stun-locked, basically meaning that if you take the first hit, you’ll take them all. It feels unfair, since enemies don’t seem to suffer from the same problem — they frequently break through your blows to give you a good wallop.

At other times, the game’s AI can be exceptionally dull-witted. For example, after sneaking up on a pair of brutes twice my size, I managed to kill one immediately using a stealth kill. After a quick yet elaborate death animation, the other enemy hadn’t noticed either the noises of distress or the wild flailings of his now deceased comrade from no more than five feet away.

Outside of combat, the world of Amalur is also esthetically pleasing. Liberal doses of colour through a variety of regions, all with their own character, do a great deal to distract from the world’s relative small scope. The soundtrack and voice acting are also well done, though the silent protagonist and single-word conversation prompts make interactions feel a bit one-sided.

When you aren’t fighting, crafting and smithing activities also help keep you busy. Though they’re not necessary to pursue, they offer a way to help even the odds in particularly difficult fights. There are also plenty of side quests and a few different combat factions to get involved with. But whereas in Skyrim it was easy to have your quest log inundated with 30 tasks at a time, Kingdoms of Amalur doesn’t give you so much to do that it feels like a chore.

While it may draw comparisons to an endless number of titles on the market, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is still a solid game in itself. It has a couple flaws that hold it back from being amazing, but its clean, vibrant visuals and frenzied, engaging combat do a lot to make up for those blemishes. If you’re an RPG fan, there’s no reason pass over this title.

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