Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Previews

GamesCom has been generous with coverage for the upcoming open-world action-RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and we serve you two new previews for the title, starting with GameSpot, that had the chance to go hands-on with it and comes away with a brief piece to describe their experience:

Jumping in to play as a warrior class on a PC with an Xbox 360 control pad, we were immediately able to pick up the basics of combat. Our character had two different types of swords, mapped to the ‘X’ and ‘Y’ buttons, while roll was available on ‘B’. You can also block attacks using the left trigger, and timing this during enemy attacks sends them reeling back–a perfect time to unleash a follow-up blow. There were also special alternate moves that were accessed by holding right trigger, such as a rage move that came in useful when things got a big hectic.

As well as playing the game, we also got to hear about Reckoning’s interesting approach to classes, which it calls Destinies. You start out by creating your character and customising them in detail, but what you don’t do is put them into a character class having not played any of the game. Instead, you spend the first hour of the game experimenting with different play styles, and as you level up, the more you can specialise using the skill tree.

Then we move to Metro which complains about the writing and wonders if the game isn’t perhaps a little too similar to The Elder Scrolls franchise:

Despite the third person viewpoint Morrowind and Oblivion are the most obvious influences, but there are others too. The combat in particular is considerably more fun than anything yet seen in Elder Scrolls, possibly including the forthcoming Skyrim. Instead of slightly listless first person combat the game seems much more influenced by third person brawlers such as God Of War, with a pleasing range of meaty attacks and a breezy animation style that’s even reminiscent of classic coin-ops such as Golden Axe.

There is a slightly disjointed tone to the game though, with the often cartoony monster designs seeming rather out of place next to the earnest but derivative quests and prose. We know that’s R. A. Salvatore’s shtick, but a lighter tone in the script perhaps something that even veered towards straight parody would’ve made a world of difference. As it is we quickly lost interest in learning about all the peculiarly named lands of Armalur or meeting all the various fantasy stereotypes.

The gist of the plot is neatly tied into the gameplay though, with your main character having been recently brought back from the dead by a new gnomish invention. This allows you to circumvent the ‘˜destiny’ ordained for all the other characters in the game world and choose and frequently change your own as the game progresses.

This is the equivalent of traditional classes, or the job system from Final Fantasy, and allows you to work your way through the skill trees of whatever destinies your fancy, mixing and matching different elements as you choose.