Kingdoms of Amalur‘s supposedly going to have combat that’s even better than Skyrim. Key word here: “Supposedly.”
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was a surprising treat at E3, being described as “everything you love about the best RPGs into one package.” The game’s got some big names involved, too, with a story by fantasy novelist R.A. Salvatore and artwork by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane. With the title’s launch just around the corner, its lead designer has stated that it’ll surpass other excellent titles like Skyrim thanks to features like the best combat to ever appear in a videogame.
Speaking to Gamefront, Ken Rolston (known for his work as lead designer on previous Elder Scrolls titles Morrowind and Oblivion) talked about what will make his latest RPG better than all other games in that genre:
“What makes Reckoning differ from Skyrim? The simple answer is that Reckoning has the best, coolest, fastest-paced, most tactile and silly-exciting fantasy combat of any video RPG.
“The pace, fluid movement, tactical richness, and physical and visual theatre of fantasy combat has always seemed the weakest feature of video RPGs, and Reckoning offers a fresh new answer in that department. There are a couple of other obvious contrasting features, like Reckoning‘s more vivid, colourful art style, and easy-to-pick up, faster-paced gameplay in general.
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“Both games are way too big and and have way too much to do, and they both seduce you into playing for hours and hours and hours.”
Based on what I saw in the game’s demo this afternoon, I’m willing to agree that it’s got a big storyline that feels like something straight out of one of Salvatore’s books; the art style is also impressive (even though it’s more than a little reminiscent of World of Warcraft). That said, I’m not sure I agree with the claim that it’s got the best combat ever to appear in fantasy videogames, based solely on the the fact that I kept getting stuck on objects when I tried to roll away from enemy combatants.
You can download the game’s demo for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
