Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. [DEMO]

[Jusatsushi]

PC version played - demo is on Origin and Steam. Also out on 360 Gold and PSN.

This ticks every box for me.

Epic, yet knowingly over-the-top high fantasy script and setting, fast paced combat stripped straight from God of War, deep levelling up system with classes and skill trees, awesome epic loot...

Game maths = World of Warcraft + God of War / Torchlight.

Demo gives you a dungeon to escape that acts as a clever introduction to the fighting styles (Swords/Daggers/Staves), and once you are out you have a timed 45 minutes (timer stops when in dialogue or inventory) to quest and explore the **** out of the nearby, sprawling environment.

The reason I mention WoW above is that the graphical style really reminds me of that. Obviously it's much more detailed, but the use of vibrant styalised colours as opposed to the realism of say, Skyrim, is really striking. Also the questing is similar - lots of '!' and '?' over people's heads.

The combat is the standout though. I'm sure it gets a lot deeper and more involved as you gain more skills, but already at level 3 (where I was when my 45 minutes dinged) I was dodging, parrying and combo-ing in full real time. Not something we've really seen in what is, esentially, a Diabloesque game.

This only entered my radar in the last week or so with EA's marketing push. Clearly they sense a hit here - so do I.

I urge all who like loot-em-up's and RPG's to at least hit up the demo.

[dataDave]

The reason I mention WoW above is that the graphical style really reminds me of that. Obviously it's much more detailed, but the use of vibrant styalised colours as opposed to the realism of say, Skyrim, is really striking. Also the questing is similar - lots of '!' and '?' over people's heads.

The spells pack the same punch as they do in WoW. You can really feel the big hitters land.

I really like this game. I hope it does well so that they can get their MMO version out.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Think it plays darn good, love the combat and the speed of the game.

[MisterBubbles]

Must say i was pleasantly surprised in a good way and the combat feels just right, might even think of a day 1 purchase.

[nakamura]

Despite my initial disappointment that there is again nothing new in this game, it does play very nicely. It looks good with a nice atmosphere, certainly the blossoming flowers part was nice. I do have rather major gripes with the overactive camera though, it moves the second you turn and was quite dizzying.

I am currently playing Baldurs Gate on PS2 and this feels very much the same as it, even down to the inventory.

[Brad]

ON paper this seems to have everything. My concern is that in most RPGs you have no chance against enemies that are too high a level for you but it seems to me that in this, as long as you had enough skill / reflexes you could probably take on anything and that would take away the need to level up. All that's based on my gut feel with the demo though. I am still tempted but I'll be waiting for reports back form you chaps on here.

[teddymeow]

Not my cup of tea usually but I thoroughly enjoyed this. Looks great, plays pretty well too. Only thing that could improve it would be a lock on button and a slightly more responsive right stick camera.

[dataDave]

You can change camera sensitivity in the options.

[eastyy]

it feels like a combination of so many other games like torchlight/gothic/world of warcraft/fable i think me getting it depends on how big the game is not in length but more of world size

[Daragon]

Other than visuals etc, does anyone know of any differences between the 360 and PC versions?

Anything exclusive to either?

[Deuteros]

I've read that playing and completing this demo awards you a few items to use in both Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and Mass Effect 3 but, apparently, it's not as straightforward as simply playing the demo, it seems you also need to have an EA account and/or a BioWare Social account.

Could someone please clarify what exactly is necessary to unlock those bonus items? I'd be playing the demo on the Xbox 360, if that makes any difference.

[ezee ryder]

You need to play the demos whilst logged into your EA account (Origin account if you're a PC user) to get access to the unlocks in the full games. It's all explained in the T&Cs towards the bottom of this page - http://reckoning.amalur.com/me3

[k0pp0]

For some strange reason the graphics instantly turned me off of this - I think I'm a bit fed up of the WOR style chunky-ness? I ddo have an urge to go back and play with the combat a bit more though.

[SUMIRE]

This feels like a cross between a Rare game and Fable. Loved the demo.

[Flabio]

Genuinely impressed with this.

It's WoW's aesthetic and basic quest mechanics married to a proper action RPG set of controls.

I enjoyed my jaunt through the demo more than the 30 or so hours I put into Dragon Age...

Yeah, it does nothing new. But sometimes all it takes to be great is to see what works and do it better than anyone else. Not every game HAS to be full of new things.