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Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning

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Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is the first game from developer 38 Studios, owned by former Major League Baseball player Curt Schilling, and its subsidiary Big Huge Games. It was published by 38 Studios and Electronic Arts. It is an open-world role-playing game (RPG) and is available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC. Amalur is one of my favorite games for a multitude of reasons. This review will focus on the story, overall world construction, and game play because I feel that they are the most important aspects of the game. The story of Kingdoms is far and away the best part of this game. Legendary fantasy author R.A. Salvatore, writer of the Forgotten Realms series, was the head writer and “world creator” for the game. Creating a story that keeps players …show more content…

Salvatore's writing and the artistic skills of Todd McFarlane (The Amazing Spider-Man, Spawn) make for a beautiful, detailed, and expansive world. Kingdoms of Amalur is set in the Faelands, which are divided into four distinct regions. Spanning miles and miles of land, the developers included a convenient fast-travel system that allows you to instantly teleport to any city, village, or dungeon you've previously been to. This feature makes what first appears to be an intimidating land much easier to navigate. This is definitely a must-have considering the hundreds of side quests available in the game. One could theoretically play for days having never even touched the main storyline. The quests are offered by citizens in need of help, and each NPC's look and personality feels unique. This abundance of things to do and people to help, as well as the beautifully-designed and varied settings, really makes the world feel alive. For the less completion-oriented player, however, all of the side quests can start to feel redundant; find this, kill those, rescue that person, repeat. Those quests are optional, however, so the player is free to do as many (or as few) as they

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