Playing on the PC allows you to try out different control options

Feb 16, 2012 21:31 GMT  ·  By

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was released last week onto the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by 38 Studios and Big Huge Games, with the help of Electronic Arts.

I’ve already praised the game in our own review, while going in-depth with some of its best and worst features in this Gamer Diary series.

Now, it’s time to talk about the game and its control scheme, one that favors a console controller much more than the mouse and keyboard usually employed by the PC platform.

Role playing games began their life on the PC but, due to the overwhelming popularity of consoles like the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, developers often prefer customizing their own games to better fit such devices.

We’ve already seen this in Skyrim, whose interface was definitely catered to consoles, and now Reckoning also displays the same characteristics, feeling much smoother when using a controller.

One of the biggest areas where this is evident is the combat. The hack and slash fighting mechanics use combos that are much easier to perform with a controller than with a keyboard and mouse. You can also switch targets during battle with greater ease, meaning you won’t leave yourself open to attacks while you’re desperately trying to reach an enemy that’s out of range.

Keyboard users do have an advantage when it comes to special abilities, as they can map out nine such powers onto their number keys, instead of the eight that are available to those who wield controllers. Sure, once you get past number 5, it becomes a chore to use those unique attacks, but it’s still important.

There’s also another nice feature that stems from the keyboard’s wealth of buttons, as you can easily quicksave during almost any moment by hitting the F5 key. With a controller, you can either rely on the autosave function in the game or manually go into the menu screen, select save, select a slot and then perform the actual saving operation.

While these extra features are nice to have, a controller is still the best way to experience Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning on the PC.

What do you think? Are you playing with a controller or are you loyal to the mouse and keyboard combo?