8. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Developer: Big Huge Games & 38 Studios The dramatic collapse of former American baseball superstar Curt Schilling's 38 Studios may have been the biggest, most dragged-out story of the gaming industry in 2012. Defaulted loans, government involvement, mass auctions, lifelong fortunes lost, the state of Rhode Island now owing the Amalur IP (!) - the saga had the highs, lows, twists and turns of a Hollywood movie. Now that the dust has settled somewhat, it is possible to look at the game at the center of all of this in a fair and reasonable light. Because despite it's flaws, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a very good game. Let me address the game's two biggest flaws right off the bat: the game's level cap is too low, and the dialog scenes between the player and the NPC's are incredibly wooden and emotionless thanks to a cluttered interface and wooden animations. It really is a shame about the poorly done dialogue sequences, because Reckoning's fantastic voice acting performances really highlight the unique lore of Amalur, which is something the game didn't really get credit for. Turning the usual RPG trope on its head, the game has you heading towards the goal of actually fighting
against fate and destiny in order to become free. Interesting literature, locations, and the occasional talking stones paint a picture of a fascinating world with a deep history and lots of potential for future iterations. The game world is beautiful, bursting with color and surreal landscapes, and its "zoned" open-worlds make exploring a bit less daunting than something like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The real reason you want to play, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, though, is for the combat. Not only is the combat accessible, visceral, and extremely satisfying, but it's also extremely flexible. Broken across the 3 categories of Might, Stealth/Finesse, and Magic, your skill points gained from leveling up feed directly into your combat abilities and allow you to create the absolute perfect fighting machine of your choice with an unprecedented amount of control and customization. Once you discover the perfect blend of styles that you like, you can evolve your character in that direction and take him/her into the field to lay waste to enemies of all varieties. The actual combat mechanics in KoA:R are fantastic: significantly deeper than something like God of War, yet not requiring the steep learning curve and pinpoint precision of something like Bayonetta. It is a fine blend of action and role-playing that hadn't really been seen before. That low level cap? No need to worry. A good chunk of Reckoning's miscellaneous side quests aren't essential, and you can have a excellent experience playing through the main game's story quests, all the factions (don't miss these), and a decent amount of additional side quests in about 60 hours. Even if we never hear from this franchise again, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a fascinating look at a studio's attempt to innovate and revitalize combat in Western RPG's in a way that could be accessible to non-RPG enthusiasts. While the game didn't quite reach every ambition it had, it is still an excellent game with some of the very best combat mechanics to appear in a WRPG. A fascinating document of a studio that came and went in a flash, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning deserves to endure for far longer than its creators.