Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3

Release Date: February 7^th, 2012

While most RPG’s today tend to rehash the old and tiresome play, the developers of this game sought out to change that.  Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning seeks to breathe new life into a genre that is quickly melding into the same bland old style.

Big Huge Games, who is developing this game, wants to make single player RPG’s fun again. How are they doing this? Well, simple. They’re giving the control back to you. They’re not restricting you to choose a class and stick with it the rest of your character life. They give you awesome weapons and armor and then let your character kick ass with them and look good doing it. Finally, they let you do all this in a massive world with seemingly endless quests.  I’ll explain…

Move Over Classes, Make Room for Destinies

Pretty much every PC RPG game that comes out the gates these days lets you choose from a short list of classes and then forces you focus on that one class the entire game. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has devised a brand new class based system, called Destinies. Destinies are not chosen at the beginning, but earned as you level up and progress through the game.

While you are leveling, your character gains ability points to spend in three basic trees; Might, Finesse and Sorcery. Each tree is filled with unique and appealing abilities that enhance your characters power, combat maneuvers and passive abilities. As you spend those points, the game rewards you with equippable Destiny Cards. Destiny cards give your character a class title and award you stat bonuses and sometimes additional combat maneuvers to make your play style even more powerful and fun.

There are 40 different destinies you can acquire and every one is a viable and fun play style. You can swap out destinies at any time in the game. Should you also decide you are not happy with how you spent your ability points, you can visit your local Fateweaver and for a cost, reset all of your points and start fresh.

Finally! Awesome Combat and RPG Mechanics in One Game

In the past, you pretty much have a game that either has crappy RPG Mechanics but awesome combat or visa versa. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning may well be the title to successfully marry these elements into one awesome game. I have to admit; watching the combat videos from Reckoning leaves me breathless at times.

Every nuance of movement has been scrutinized for natural flow, enemy AI is interesting and unique, and the special effects are quite appealing. If I only mention one weapon style that has impressive flow and effects, it has to be the chakrams. These are circular blades that when thrown seem to have a life of their own and truly have to be seen to be fully appreciated.

Attacks are controlled by just a few buttons or keystrokes but combos are employed by your timing of those buttons. You have variances in attacks by timing and what position the character is in at the moment. The game boasts to have a very natural and easy feel to it. No matter which general play style you are using (Might, Sorcery or Finesse), all of them are very engaging combat. It’s not your typical pull, spam attack button until dead and repeat, it’s much more challenging where oftentimes you have to manage multiple enemies of differing types with varying strengths and weaknesses forcing you to crowd control is.

200+ Hours Play! Oh yeah!

It was stated by the Lead Designer, Ian Frazier, that they had a competition to have the game testers and developers attempt to complete every single quests as fast as they possibly could on speed running and nothing else. The fastest time to do this was just over 200 hours. That should give you some idea of the scale of the size of this world and just how much there is to do in it.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning takes place in the massive open world of Amalur, during the Age of Arcana. Amalur has a history comprised of 10,000 years of unique and compelling lore fathered by New York Times Bestselling Author, R. A. Salvatore. The writers have entwined this lore, with strict adherence to Salvatore’s writings, in every facet of this game to characters, settings and of course quests. There is the main quest line that threads throughout the game, 6 major faction quest lines each with their own involved and compelling stories, and hundreds, if not thousands, of side quests to immerse yourself in.

Other key elements to the open world worth noting is the game comes with fast travel, player housing, sneaking, traps, hidden objects and doors, lockpicking, full day/night cycles, crafting systems, combat with a bow, a slim moral system, crime and punishment, no in-depth character romance, hundreds of unique armor sets and weapons, a prefix/suffix item generator system with millions of possibilities, and hundreds of hand-crafted dungeons.

My advice to you is to pry your fingers away from that tired old RPG genre you’re playing and watch a few videos of this game. I’m confident you’ll be as excited about it as I am.

Read my full article filled with videos, pictures and information about Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Patrick Dunkley

RPGReviewer.com

Trophies and awards will be added for Xbox 360 and PS3 players although the game will stay the same as the PC version for the most part. Wii gamers won’t miss out with Nintendo securing an exclusive beach town add-on for the Wii version.

The Nintendo DS version will be slightly watered down but will allow users to still build their Sims houses and furnish them (much like the mobile version). They will also be able to use the stylus to ‘sculpt’ their Sims facial features and attributes. The DS version will also get a story mode in which players will be able to unlock new furnishings and buildings.

The PSP will not be receiving a version of The Sims 3 at this time.

I’ve always enjoyed the Sims although I found the ‘play in background’ feature annoying in The Sims 3 as it meant you missed a lot of important moments in your family and it also made it ridiculously easy to make money in the game. With that feature turned off however it has brought a lot more to the game and made the options nearly endless which is a great thing to see in any RPG.

So if your a console gamer you can look forward to getting your calloused hands on this in a few months. For PC gamers, no need to wait, you can get The Sims 3 now.

Bioware is expanding on their already cool game with a new playable and very shapely character, Kasumi Goto, in a new downloadable expansion called Stolen Memory.

That thieving prick!

Playing Kasumi will unlock the ability to become a master thief. You will recieve a new mission in which you will get to try out Kasumi’s new skills in stealth and deception. The mission involves recovering some data, hence the name ‘Stolen Memory’. The pack will also include a new research upgrade, a new weapon and of course and new achievement to strive for.

Kasumi Goto

Price was released on Monday

Bioware has announced that this pack can be purchase for US$7.00 using points systems on the Bioware site or XBOX360. Players can expect to download and play it early April 2010.

Cool teaser video of Kasumi

It’s  been out for around 3 weeks now and after much playing I feel that I can give this game a proper review. For simplicity I’ll refer to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as BFBC2. I’m not going to bore you with long paragraphs about gameplay and sound.

You can see from the video’s that it looks good. My PC (which is not state of the art) can run it on medium at 1920×1080 fine with no lag. Sound is fantastic. Nuff said. Let’s talk about the cool stuff.

Comparison to previous Battlefield games on PC

• While the max server size is only 32 players, the maps are designed so that 32 still feels like 64.
• Having scenery to hide behind that doesn’t disappear from a distance provides hundreds of sniping positions making the sniper an actually useful class.
• While there are general unlocks for your player, class specific unlocks can only be realised by playing that specific class. This makes it a bit rough at the beginning until you get some better weapons and things like a Med Kit, Ammo Kit and Defibrillator Paddles, but it also serves to toughen you up for whats to come.
• A new points system gives you points for just about any team action.

tanks provide an integral part of all Battlefield games

Let’s get hardcore!

BFBC2 features an all new mode called Hardcore. This mode disables your cross hair and HUD map making it harder for the players and giving it a more realistic feel. As a Medic you need to stay super alert to any of your team mates being killed as you will no longer be able to check for them on the mini map.

Losing the cross hair makes aiming with the 40mm GL a lot more difficult. Which is good as it prevents people from spamming them or using them excessively over their rifle.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Explosive power

Being able to take down the wall of a building that a sniper is hiding from comes in super handy. The 40mm Grenade Launcher and rocket launchers punch a nice hole in the side of buildings. If too much of the wall is destroyed, the building eventually collapses, killing anyone inside who isn’t quick enough on the keys.

Squad up

One of the best new features of BFBC2 is the ability to spawn on any person in your 4 man squad, rather than just a squad leader. This makes being in a squad crucial if you plan on your team winning the round.

A single squad, with a good balance of classes (Medic, 1-2 Assaults, 1-2 Engineers), can flank and rip through and enemies base wrecking devastation. With the Medic to revive any fallen team mates and the ability to respawn on a team mate if that fails, your squad can stay alive a long time.

If you try to be a solo hero like in Call of Duty… you will die… real fast.

An important Public Service Announcement from EA

Game modes

There are four game modes in Battlefield: Bad Company 2:

Conquest

The typical style of Battlefield game. Capture the flags, first teams tickets to reach zero loses. All conquest maps have 3 or 4 flags that are spaced out evenly between each others home bases.

Rush

This a completely new type of game for Battlefield. There are two teams, attackers and defenders. The attackers must attack and destroy two objectives in the defenders base. If the objectives are destroyed the defenders must move back to the next base where the process is repeated through 5 bases. The attackers goal is to destroy all objectives at all 5 bases before their tickets run out. The defenders have unlimited tickets and instead must simply prevent the attackers from progressing to win.

Once you get the rules down and learn to play with a squad this is a very fun game mode.

Squad Rush

Same as rush except there are only 8 players in the server. Just 1 squad for each team. You get a special pin if you win one of these rounds.

Squad Deathmatch

This is for all those players who are new to the Battlefield games and prefer lone wolf to playing in a team. 4 vs 4 vs 4 vs 4. Sticking with your squad has it’s benefits but can also get you killed as a larger group is more obvious. If you go lone wolf, keep moving around and always check your back. If you can find a squad that sticks together, hole up somewhere and pick off any lone wolfs on the other teams.

Conclusion:

While this game did not fail in including EA’s usual long list of problems it has proved itself as a great sequel to the Battlefield franchise. Plenty of variety is enabled through multiple game modes and dozens of guns and equipment. The customization level is beyond that of any other FPS online game. It also proves itself visually with a great engine and special effects. This is also a genuinely fun game that will provide you with 100′s of hours of entertainment. I give this game 8.5/10 for kicking serious butt. Criteria rating: 7/12

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is on sale at Amazon:

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Advice and Tips

• Like I said before, be sure to squad up to stay alive.
• Throw a lot of ammo packs and med packs around. Not only will this give you a heap of points but it will greatly assist your team.
• If your team is already half filled with snipers, you don’t need another one.
• Keep moving unless sniping. Sniper rifles do a lot of damage and you can’t afford to get hit.
• Use the scenery at cover and flank around the side of your enemies base, even if your attack fails it will hopefully cause enough of a distraction to allow the rest of your team to move up.
• Rocks provide more stable cover than bushes… of course.
• If hiding inside a building, keep clear of the inside of walls. An RPG hitting the outside will result in your death.
• Spot all infantry, especially if you are a sniper and can’t make the shot. Spot, spot, spot.
• If you are in armour, hang back and support the infantry by picking off and spotting enemies. Moving in close to the objective will usually result in you taking several rockets up the ass.

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Gamespot says…

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening doesn’t reach the high standards set by its illustrious precursor, but it’s still a great game on its own terms. The combat and questing are as fun as they ever were and will keep you involved up until the very end, in spite of the uneven quality of the story and the characters that fill it. Oghren once said, “Misery, vomit, and malt liquor. Ah, reminds me of home.” You know you’ve missed such delights too, and now’s the time to head back.

Kevin says it’s good fun but lacks the memorable experience of the first game. Read more.

IGN says…

It should come as no surprise to fans of the original game that Dragon Age Origins Awakening is going to give you more of what you want. There’s an epic story with choices that really matter, fantasy combat with loads of amazing enemies, and a deep character system with lots of flexibility. It has a strong narrative connection to the original game, but the sense that your previous choices matter isn’t as strong as we’d have liked. I still miss the old companions, but the new characters are just as interesting once you get to know them.

Steve Butts was all smiles about this expansion and seemed to enjoy playing it a lot. Read more.

My Review

Is coming out soon!

Get it now on Amazon or Play-Asia

Gamespot video review (includes gameplay):

EA is still putting out fires in regards to issues with online play. The demand on the game has been a little stronger than initially anticipated and as a result the servers have been down around 20% of the time.

But enough about the usual problems that accompany an EA game. I was hoping to highlight a few points that I like a dislike about the game. If you are like me, you have played every Battlefield game to come to PC since the beginning with Battlefield 1942.

It is clear from BC2 that EA is changing the Battlefield franchise to a) appeal to the console market and b) make an easy transition for Call of Duty fans. Here are a few of the things that have changed:

Things that annoy me (but are not overly devastating):

1. While you are still able to spot enemies and send orders to your squad, all other voice commands (previously used by the function keys and then the radial menu) have been removed. This is quite annoying if you wish to thank someone or ask for ammo.
2. No more prone position. Yes that’s right, just standing and crouching.
3. You can no longer send a buddy a message in the friends tab.
4. Setting up the joystick properly for the UAV and the helicopter appears to be impossible.
5. You cannot change the spawn HUD key. It is defaulted to Enter, one of the most heavily assigned keys on the keyboard. Hopefully this is fixed in a patch.

   

Things that are just different

1. This one doesn’t annoy me so much as that it is just like CoD. Grenade and Knife are now a button rather than a weapon selection. This is more realistic and prevents you getting stuck trying to select your rifle again after throwing a ‘nade.
2. Another CoDism: There is no health bar, rather your screen just gets bloody as you get more hurt making it more difficult to see.

Things that are completely excellent:

1. Assault, support and medic skills have been redistributed. Assault class now contains automatic rifles with ammo packs. Medic now contains light machine guns and medical packs.
2. The recoil is much more realistic which forces you to make small bursts with your gun.
3. There are many more weapons to unlock to suit everyone’s different tastes.
4. Gravity and time delay are active on all fired munitions meaning that sniping and shooting at a distance involves some skill and patience.
5. Everything blows up! Sniper annoying you in a building? Blow out the wall. Trees in your line of sight? Drive over them. Blowing up barrels as the enemy runs past is also great fun and highly effective when sniping.

Conclusion

This game has an awesome amount of potential and the couple of nights I have played issue free have been very enjoyable. The scenery looks great and the simplified gameplay does not detract from the enjoyment of the game. Worth picking up a copy in a couple of weeks when the bugs have been ironed out. Although if you can’t wait until then and want to start ranking up and unlocking today, you can grab it off Amazon via the link below.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Read my full review of Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

A great video from pixelenemy.com

While the single player mode follows a linear, yet action packed story line, the online gaming mode offers a brand new leveling system. Points are awarded for kills, kill assists, reviving, healing, repairing and achieving objectives. Bonus points are awarded for specials like head shots and achieving objectives.

Rather than earning unlocks as you progress up the ranks like Battlefield 2 and 2142 you must play with a specific class to earn unlocks with it. As you continue to earn points with that class you unlock new weapons and gadgets.

At this point in time there are still some bugs being ironed out with the online play as there tends to be when these games are first born. Nothing like a few 100,000 gamers to give a game a thorough thrashing.

Personally, I really enjoy the graphics and new features like recoil. I also like how bushes and explosions in appear even in the distance, unlike in BF 2 and 2142 where you would think you were hiding in some shrubbery. However 500m from you in a snipers scope all that is seen is you lying in the open on a hill. Now you may hide in the bushes and snipe your heart out while being quite well camouflaged.

Single player plays like Call of Duty with no hit points and only 2 weapons being carried at a time. The story line is fairly standard but being able to blow apart every building you see does not get boring.

Pick up your copy of the best action game of 2010 on Amazon [read my review]:

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Check out this gameplay trailer: