Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a fast-paced new franchise by Todd McFarlane and RA Salvatore. As a 30-something guy on the brink of stepping into married life, I can’t thank the gaming industry more for releases such as this.
If it’s one thing about the gaming industry that excites me, it’s the fact that for the past 30 years, it’s been growing with me. Children of the 80′s will remember the movement from the Atari to the Nintendo — and how we now have full control over our finances, allowing us to re-live our childhoods through our kids or if we don’t have kids, in ways that can bring back that “gaming bachelor” lifestyle. And we don’t even have to go way back. Kingdoms of Amalur doesn’t try to re-invent anything. Rather, it’s the perfect game for those of us that have been looking for an MMO that plays like a single player game. It’s Devil May Cry meets World of Warcraft, if you may. Because the world does resemble a lot of WoW, despite the claim of Todd McFarlane inspiring the character design (can’t find fancy flowing capes though). KoA appeals to me because it’s a “single player MMO” .. something that I can drop in and out of at any point in the game. No save points. You can save anywhere. It’s a basic hack and slash with a ton of flashy moves you can customize. If you care for the lore, you can go deep into it, but if you choose to just breeze through the character gab, the game doesn’t penalize you for that. KoA isn’t difficult either, but neither is it a walk in the park. Most enemies act as fodder for a small number of battles that can get frustrating at some point. It’s enough to get you up from that relaxed position on the couch to really focus. The game lends this to you on occasion and overall, provides you with an illusion of being challenging.
And that’s fine. You know why? Because you’ve got so many other things to do with your life.
So is the game worth it? KoA has something to offer gamers of every sort without trying too hard. You can choose to get lost into the creative mind of RA Salvatore or merely hack and slash your way through the different quests. It doesn’t matter. At the end, KoA’s sole objective is to have that handy pause button ready to bring you in and out of the game anytime you’re ready.