Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Preview

In case you’re looking forward to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning’s release or simply are interested in some more coverage of 38 Studios’ open-world title, you may be interested in this preview Official Xbox Magazine penned for the action-RPG, courtesy of some hands-on time spent with it.

After studying the four selectable races, we go with the Almain for their alchemy, blacksmithing, and persuasion bonuses. Upon selecting a patron god that grants us an additional 5-point boost in armor and physical damage, it’s time to customize our physical features. Reckoning sports the usual face-, hair- and eye-tweaking sliders, but also has more tattoos and piercings than Travis Barker. Embracing the punk rock attitude, we choose a pixie-haired female, complete with nose ring, black lipstick, and a tat.

With our character ready to save the world or go to a rave the gnomes dump her on the decaying flesh pile. Apparently destined for greater things, we rise from the dead, loot a big-ass sword from a skeleton, and meet Reckoning’s first menaces. In a fun nod to the dungeon-dwelling genre, we introduce our blade to a pack of oversized rats; sporting oozing soars aplenty, the rodents are some of the ugliest we’ve seen, and they don’t get any prettier when we reduce them to pulpy red puddles.

Despite the grisly display, our thumbs are more engaged than our eyes thanks to the responsive, lightning-quick combat. As anyone who’s chatted up a villager or mixed a potion will tell you, RPGs are great at weaving epic yarns and doling out quests, but sometimes fall short in delivering visceral battles. Recalling the fluidity of a dedicated third-person actioner, Reckoning’s slicing-and-dicing isn’t sullied by any of the stuttering or hesitation that sometimes plagues the genre’s mechanics.