The ubiquity of the action RPG, as an idea, is a little weird when you think about it. It's hard to think of two more disparate genres to try to combine, and usually the attempt ends up leaning too heavily toward one side of the coin or the other. Action RPGs often feel like roleplaying games that replace turn-based combat with overly simple button mashing, or like action games with some cursory, stat-building “RPG elements” thrown in toward the end of development.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning manages a surprising trick, then, in creating an action RPG that feels like a full-fledged action game and a full-fledged RPG. Unfortunately, only one of those two component parts manages to stand on its own in a satisfying way.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning ps3*, xbox 360, pc Release Date: Now

Now MSRP: $59.99 Official site * = platform reviewed

A large, empty world

Amalur presents the player with a ridiculously large fantasy world that would easily take hours to run across from one end to the other (thank god for a fast travel option to prior locations). But it's a world that largely feels empty. Not physically empty—there's plenty of lush scenery and amazing town architecture to satisfy your desire for eye candy, and there's a seemingly endless supply of hidden dungeons and sidequest-granting non-player characters to fill space and time. Rather, the world of Amalur feels emotionally empty.

Everyone in Amalur seems utterly obsessed with the idea of fate. I don't mean that people have a vague sense that they were meant for a certain role; I mean that everyone in Amalur seems completely committed to the idea that if something has been foretold by a fateweaver, there is absolutely nothing they can do to change it. This doesn't stop most of the characters from generally whining about their fate and wishing they could do something about it, however, which struck me as a little odd. I'd expect a little more resignation from a civilization that has fully accepted the idea of predestination.

Anyway, the idea of fate is used to justify your character's outsized importance in the game world. As a soldier in a decades-long war that has been miraculously resurrected by some magical Macguffin, the game goes to great pains to tell you that you are now unbound by the fate that traps every other whiny person in the land. Thus, you are the only one who can do anything meaningful to change the fate of the world, which is convenient, since no one else seems willing to even try without your help.

Fated to be hated

You'd think this would make all your in-game decisions feel really important, but your role in the main storyline feels as preordained as everything else in the world. While many scripted conversations give you a variety of response options, the overwhelming majority of those responses seem to make little to no difference in how the story progresses.

On top of that, the obsession with fate makes all the non-player characters seem especially impotent and meaningless. Like plenty of RPGs before it, Amalur makes the mistake of trying to get you interested in the lore of the world before you're interested in any of the characters that are in it.

Characters come off as cliched, one-note ciphers meant primarily to push the story along and throw out ridiculously comprehensive arcana about various races and locations and historical heroes. At no point is there any indication why the player should care about any of this backstory, or about the fate of any of the forgettable cast of cycling companions. It's telling that some of the sidequest-granting non-player characters pack more character development into their few lines than the main characters manage to show throughout the entire plot.

Enjoyable Action

Since the story is so utterly forgettable, it's a good thing that the action portion of this action RPG is so enjoyable. This isn't the stiff, formalized battle system of a game like Skyrim—the controls feel nice and responsive, and let you shift quickly between two weapons and a range of magical attacks and abilities without really having to think about it.

Even the simple battles in Amalur can be exciting, as large groups of enemies attack from all sides, often ganging up to attack together rather than patiently awaiting their turn. It's rare to have a battle that's just a rote mashing of the attack button until everything is dead. To stay alive, you need to carefully manage your positioning and attack timing with well-timed dodges and blocks.

You'd also do well to get familiar with more than one of the varied sets of weapons, which range from quick-strike daggers and slow, powerful hammers to long-range chakrams and bows and arrows. You'll end up seeing similar enemies over and over as you travel the land, of course, but there's enough variety to require you to mix up your attack styles and strategies occasionally.

Deep Customization

The combat system is also aided by an incredibly deep character growth and customization system that lets you tailor your character to your play style. As you level up, character development points can be distributed toward strength, sorcery or finesse, and amazingly you don't have to devote the entirety of your character to one discipline to make a decent character. It's perfectly possible to form a workable hybrid that dabbles in all three areas, making it easy to tune your character as precisely as you'd like.

I primarily used a sort of warrior-magician hybrid that wore enemies down with long-range spells before finishing them off with chakrams and daggers when necessary. Later, I used the game's "fateweaving" system to reassign my points toward pure strength, playing as a hammer-wielding, damage absorbing tank. The ability to easily switch classes like this takes away some of the pressure from feeling like you have to pick the one "correct" character development path right from the start, and lets you enjoyably play with as many roles as you'd like.

Outside of combat, you can customize your character toward a variety of skills ranging from blacksmithing and potion-crafting to improved stealth and hidden item detection.

The Expectations Game

How you react to Amalur likely depends on what kind of game you're expecting it to be. If you're expecting a good action game that bends over backwards to let you customize your character to fit your style, you won't be disappointed. If you're expecting a game that lets you play a major role in a memorable, epic story, you're out of luck.

Versioning note

I reviewed Kingdoms of Amalur on the PS3, primarily because I didn't receive my awesome new gaming test rig from Velocity Micro until I was already halfway done with the game. I did spend some time with the PC version for comparison, though, and aside from some minor interface differences, the games played practically identically. In fact, when you plug an Xbox 360 gamepad into your PC, the game adjusts to the standard console control scheme without missing a beat.

Playing with a mouse and keyboard gives more control options, allowing you to quickly switch between ten magic spells and abilities, rather than the four offered on a gamepad. Controlling the camera angle also felt a bit more natural when flicking a mouse rather than an analog stick. Still, trying to control the intricate dance of movement, dodging, blocking and weapon switching with my left hand hovering over one side of the keyboard quickly turned into a finger-tangling mess. Things felt much more natural on this score with a handheld controller, and this is the way it feels like the game was designed to be played.

The good

Responsive, intuitive controls

Satisfying combat that rarely feels rote.

Incredibly deep and flexible character customization options.

The bad

Forgettable story and characters

Obsessive focus on backstory rather than character development

Straightforward plot offers little opportunity for meaningful decisions.

The Ugly

Limited inventory storage forces constant micromanagement.

Verdict: Try It