The Start

Well, here we are at the beginning again with Kingdoms of Amalur. I know it has been an anticipated game for some time, but now is when I can finally post about it.

Where to start, I guess with character creation. I was not impressed with this aspect of it. Skyrim on the other hand let me create my person using a preset of facial features, much like Fallout 3, where Bethesda came up with a model, and cloned it into their other games.

Kingdoms, has worked on building the character from the ground up, in respects to visualizing what your character looks like at any given time. You can actually se the movie scenes where the character has no helmet.

On this note, with the emphasis on the story behind your main character, "getting to know you" is the style that was come up with. You could easily find yourself lost in the story lines of this game, but there is no humor, only dark, deception, and greed.

I find that using the controls was very easy. Almost too easy, as you could find yourself doing nothing more than blocking with a shield, hacking and slashing, and using health potions. Instead of following down this path, KOA uses a radial menu that with the push of 2 buttons, you could be casting shock to rid yourself of the troll attack. Quick and easy is the button layout, there was no fumbling trying to get your character to move around.

The only thing I found that may have been a problem with the controls was the camera. I found that at points, I would lose my character behind rocks and trees in the middle of battle.

As to the magnitude of the game, the amount of places to discover on the maps was staggering. I skipped a few caves here and there to run equipment back to town, thinking I would get back to it as soon as I finish with equipment changes, only to find myself working on another side quest.

I find myself watching the npc's in the game, thinking they may do something neat, but the only ones are the ones running from you or trying to kill you. There are some neat creatures in the game, and the weapons and armor have a ton of options when looking at the unique and rare items.

On the same note, you only have a standard look to the items that can be blacksmithed. I would have liked to have seen a list of how weapons and armor would look with a different style. I also noticed that there are no spears you can get for yourself, but your enemies have them. Don't I get a chance to use one? Using the selected weapons is fine, but we are talking about a weapon we can only have used against us.