KoA: Reckoning - Review @ PC Gamer

KoA: Reckoning has been reviewed at PC Gamer. The score is a modest 74% because of "generic world design and familiar story":

For a character whose greatest talent is the ability to change his own fate, you make few decisions with any lasting consequences. Big decisions at the end of faction questlines offer the illusion of choice, but without changing the world in a meaningful way. Beyond wiping out its wildlife, there aren’t many opportunities to leave your mark on Amalur. There’s something rigid and mechanical about the way quests are dished out in clumps, too. I found myself clearing zones as I would in an MMO, turning in batches of completed missions as fast as possible so I could quickly move on and see something new.

Above all, Kingdoms of Amalur is too long. With a faster main quest and the wildlife-slaying filler quests removed, the scenery would change faster and progression feel less like a grind. More care could have been taken in making each area feel interesting. The Faeland’s verdant forests, sunny plains and deserts are pretty, but always derivative. It just doesn’t feel like a place where people live, and there’s no sense of discovery to exploring its lands.