GB Feature: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Preview

After spending a considerable amount of time with the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo that was released on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 yesterday, we bring you our full impressions via a brand new three-page preview. A snip:
Reckoning takes many of the design tenets of open-world games like The Elder Scrolls and Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga, but more than any, it draws inspiration from the Fable series. In fact, the resemblance to Fable, at least on the surface, is almost uncanny - the artwork is cartoonish and feels like a mix between Lionhead's game and Blizzard's signature Warcraft style, there's a tinge of humor and levity that runs throughout the quest design and writing, and the action-style combat has more in common with traditional action games or even brawlers than other action-RPGs.

To label the game as a straight-up open-world affair is a little bit inaccurate. Rather than featuring a near-limitless stretch of terrain to explore, Reckoning follows the more traditional hub-area approach that RPG fans will be more than familiar with. The world is divided into a number of distinct zones, with multiple building interiors to explore and dungeons to delve into. Despite the traditional structure, however, the sheer size of the world is impressive - the full game looks like it will have over 30 distinct hub locations to explore, each stocked with dozens of quest opportunities. It's hard to tell just how progression will be handled in the full game, but with such a large world at our fingertips, it's hard to not get excited at the prospect of traversing it.
We've updated our image gallery for the game with a slew of new screenshots, as well. Enjoy!