It’s interesting to review a demo, but since I just spent
the better part of 3 hours playing the demo for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
(KoAR), I thought I would share.
Note that this game is rated mature and you will need to be old enough
to access the game website. KoAR is a single player RPG from 38 Studios and Big Huge Games. 38 Studios was founded by Curt Shilling and KoAR is their first
game and features significant input from Todd McFarlane and author R.A. Salvatore. The KoAR demo is available via download
on Origin, Steam, Xbox Live and the Playstation Network. The full game will be
released on February 7, 2012.
The demo starts with a cinematic scene of two Gnomes pushing
a cart with a sheet covered body. As they push the cart, the two Gnomes discuss
the body upon it and this discussion leads to the character creation steps. A
little different take on the RPG usual setup fare and after the opening
cinematic you awake on a pile of dead bodies. From there you are taken through
a tutorial to try and exit the tower you find yourself in while getting
equipped and learning a bit about how you got there. Once out of the tower, you
find the start of an open world adventure and soon are in a nearby town and
picking up multiple quests to gain experience and loot. After the initial
escape from the tower and completion of that first quest, you have about 45
minutes of game time to explore the world before the demo ends. This is plenty
of time since it does not include time spent in the menus or speaking with
non-player characters.
The look and feel of KoAR is very nice. The graphics are not
as picturesque as say Skyrim, but have a nice feel that is better than but somewhat reminiscent of World of Warcraft. It is easier to
see items to pick on screen than in Skyrim due to the helpful lighting effects.
The overall combat mechanics and magic system are interesting; especially the
over-the-top sword bashing you can give the early monsters. There are a couple
of interesting mechanics that involve specific combinations of buttons to yield
special effects and they are worth the frenzied button mashing (I was playing
on the Xbox). One thing I especially liked was the lock on target nature of the
bow, where I didn’t have to constantly be moving to keep the enemy in my sights
while shooting (unlike Skyrim where 15 hours in I am still having difficulty
tracking dragons with a bow). The game also has the usual pick up ingredients
and supplies to mix potions (alchemy) or make items, but unlike most games,
finding a source of a particular ingredient doesn’t guarantee that you will be
able to harvest it (sometimes you fail unless you Alchemy skill is trained up).
As you battle and explore, you will gain experience that will eventually lead
to you leveling up, which will allow you to raise your skills and choose perks,
rather than a the increase your skills by using them that makes you increase in
level mechanic in Skyrim.
As you play the demo for KoAR, you unlock items for use in
the full game and a few items for Mass Effect 3. If you plan on playing either
game, you should spend the couple hours trying out KoAR. I give the Kingdoms of
Amalur: Reckoking demo 4 Mick Happies. I enjoyed my time in Amalur and will
likely be picking this one up after it drops on February 7.
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