Our subject today is Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning for PS3.
What brought my attention to this game? Two names: R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane. If you have the minimum appreciation for fantasy fiction (specially D&D based) and ever heard about Spawn, you know these guys.
So, my expectations were quite high about this game. But, unfortunately, unjustified as you will see.
Playability
Game playing is a lot like playing God of War. And hey, that's great!But here comes the first annoyance: at least Kratos can jump. Your character in this game cannot.
It seems a lot stupid since your character can change fate itself. But he/she can't jump a single tree root! Expect to be stucked in some scenarios just because your character can't jump a cliff.
Yes, it is true that there are some specific places that your character can use jump (and sometimes from pretty high places, without losing life) but those are not everywhere. Expect to walk around a lot of places just because of that.
There are more annoyances: some weapon combinations are not the smartest possible. Your character does have a limit of equipment he/she can carry, but you can use a huge hammer that requires both hands to swing and still use a shield (and don't have to be a buckler) to block. Same thing for other weapons. And hell, from where those weapons come up while the character is not using them? Forget it, I don't wanna know...
The point here is: if you want to sacrifice reality in the game, that's ok. But do it in a way that at least makes sense.
Another annoyance it the totally absence of axes. I like axes. How come a game like that doesn't have an axe?
What about two swords at the same time? Salvatore, where are the two classic scimitars all of us love to see dark elves (or whatever they are called in this game) using?
I just can't hit if it does not look good
There are several sequence of attacks your character will develop. Once you start one, you will be in trouble to stop it, so you're just exposed to be hit by a NPC.More than that, your character likes to pose for each sequence finished. Great... until a troll smashes your character's head to the ground because of it.
Almost linear RPG
I'm a big fan from Fallout. It doesn't matter which one, or how old the game is, you got a lot of options during game play.This does not applies to this game. You can be a bad, good or an idiot character and the difference will be noted just during conversation with NPC's.
Hey Salvatore... did you slept while writing the game story? Put a trainee of yours to do it for you? I hope you just got some very lazy programmers to make the game non-linear.
You can hit anyone you want, but some will just not die
Looks like the character has a minimum part of the plot, you can hit them a lot until they fall... just to be raised again from the dead, as if nothing happened.Quoting Homer Simpson: "the quest is mine and I do anything I want with it".
Some side missions should never be included in the game
Some side missions are just too boring: not just that, they don't add any color to the game. Keep trying to touch pillars to see if you get the correct sequence of notes from it? Boring... and just to see a boogan?Bugs
There are some bugs in the game that weren't fixed. Some are related to the 3D modeling, others with the scenarios. Once I got "buried" into the ground meanwhile jotuns were smashing my head... had to get out of the game.In other situation my character failed a persuasion test with 95% of chance of success... I never found a way to get the quest finished after of that.
When visiting some cities you get a nice overview from them, like flying over them. That's fun in the first time: all others are just an annoyance that you won't be able to avoid every time you enter again in those cities.
Never ending text to read
This game should have a great story, but I never had the patience to read all the text it comes with it. Most of it had very little relation to the plot and after some tries I just kept pressing the button to get away with it.Very little interaction with NPC's
You can talk and hit NPC's and... that's it. Nothing else.You can't give them equipment. You can't give to them a potion to save their lives. There isn't any way to heal them (at least with my "fighter style" character).
During the game you will some help from them during combat but considered yourself lucky if any of them is actually capable to putting down a single enemy.
Conclusion
If you want play a electronic RPG, go find other options available. Baldur's Gate is still the best in my opinion.If you want beat n' up in Tolkien's style I strong suggest you to take a look at Lord of the Rings: War in the North.
