Braxis' Review: Kingdoms of Amalur
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#1:
Braxis' Review: Kingdoms of Amalur
Author:
Braxis
,
Location: Connecticut, USA
Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:03 am
—
Many of you may remember the thread that happened when the demo for Amalur came out, and everyone was comparing it to Skyrim. I feel that, while they have been looped into the same Genre by the game industry, they are not really the same. I classify games by the main draw, the core reason that keeps bringing you back for more. In Skyrim, this would be exploration, I can spend hours and hours just traveling around and experiencing the world. In Halflife 2, it would be story, the characters are SO compelling, and I actually care what happens to them. Battlefield 3... (or any of the other games that BK has supported), has been challenging myself against the world of gamers, and playing with my BK brothers and sisters.
Amalur's core draw is a bit harder to nail down. I originally praised the story and world for being HUGE in scope and depth, there are hundreds of discrete characters, (tho they needed a bit more variation in the models, you got a bit of a multicolored clones thing going on occationally), and there is a great variation in the voice actors. The problem is that all of these characters have a terrifying propensity for dumping a dissertation on the local lore/rumors/political situation as soon as you cough politely and say "hello, how are you". Don't get me wrong, I LOVE a good story, but I wish that there was some bit of choice to have or skip the deeper lore if you wanted. Amalur attempts to do this as a well, through a series of "lorestones" scattered around each area that tell you a story of the history of the area, and when you complete the set for that area, a permanent stat bonus. I wish that they had made the lore stones more pervasive, and toned down a bit on the dialogue trees. But then, I can't think of a single game similar that has actually managed to strike a good balance at this (I'm looking at you, Bethesda), so maybe I'm being unduly demanding...
As for style to the game, there is a bit of a cartoon-y feel to everything, but I think that it lends itself really well to the type of story that this is. the world and characters are vibrant and detailed, with very smooth motions. Combat is extremely intuitive and fluid, even though it is a different key set-up from any other game I have played, it took me all of a minute to adapt. Combat is where this game really shines, I don't think I have ever had this much fun in an "RPG" with the combat. I would liken combat to a slightly toned down version of God of War, or maybe Prince of Persia.
Some members were complaining that there was not enough loot, and I sort of agree, but at the same time, I almost think that there is too much loot and not enough USEFUL loot. There is tons and tons of junk items, and if you don't have ready access to a town or shop (like when you go exploring) then you are forced to destroy items. I'd rather they just gave me more gold, or barring that, more components for crafting or somesuch.
I really like Amalur. It is a wonderful foray into a fantasy world that blends varied and smooth action mechanics, a fantastically detailed story, and beautiful setting and location pieces. It is not without flaws, the third act seems to abandon the exploration in favor of a more linear climax, the NPC's tend to ramble, there are weird artifacts from the days in development when they wanted this to be an MMORPG (Daily grind quests and such). But overall, this is a VERY good game. Good to the point that it completely distracted me from BF3 for getting on a month, and I think that may be the highest praise I can give.
SSG.Braxis*BK*
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