When big names collaborate it often turns out to be more hype than it’s worth, but when one of the world’s best comic book artists, Todd McFarlane, comes together with one of the world’s best fantasy writers in the form of R.A. Salvatore and one of the world’s best RPG game designers, Ken Rolston (the man behind The Elder Scrolls III and IV), then you better sit up and take notice.

The result of this amazing get-together is more than just a few embarrassing photos on Facebook. These guys have all contributed their strongest work to make the best game they can possibly make.

This game is Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Starting off dead, your character is soon revived thanks to a ‘Well of Souls.’ As it turns out you are the first successful patient of the Well, and this is a rather big deal. Regrettably it gives you life, and not memory, so you cannot remember anything. You are also unfortunately the last revival as some cloaked bad guys soon try to take over the Well. It’s up to you to find out who you are and what is going on.

At its core Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an RPG. You play a character with an open skill-set that you can then progress into certain skills and abilities, but unlike RPG’s of the past, these are not restricted to your class. As you practice using your daggers, so you level up your skill with that weapon, and so your character levels up as well.

Being a fantasy RPG, magic is obviously present as well. You can choose from various spells to either attack or protect, and the same principles apply that you find elsewhere, including how some enemies are immune to certain magic, and that if use too much magic and you run out of mana.

It may sound pretty basic to begin with, but where the kicker comes in is in the combat itself. It’s not a button masher where you hope your character hits something, nor is it a slow turn-based combat game. What we have here is possibly the best RPG combat system ever - there is more in common with God of War here than other RPGs. The combat is smooth, beautiful and takes skill to master. Timing attacks just right will give you sweet combos to maximize damage.

Now throw in the ability to mix a primary weapon, a secondary weapon and magic into the fray with the greatest of ease, and your battles become spectacular bouts of action and fun. Slice an enemy with a great sword and then electrocute him before sticking an arrow in his face before he even touches the floor again - easily done. Combine different combos and you soon feel untouchable.

The world of Amalur is more than just mindless action, although it is the primary focus. From the demo I played it was clear that a lot of love and effort went into the levels. The layout, colours and even ambient sound all add to the feel that you are in a real place, fighting real fights. It almost feels like it could be a new Fable game, yet it clearly is not.

Quests still need to be acquired and completed, so conversations also play a vital role. The conversations feel a little flat, and even though you have range of responses for different situations, it is not nearly as deep as Mass Effect. Though, when the game is about the action, the conversations never feel like they get in the way.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is the best parts of God of War, Fable and even a bit of Dragon Age. With great monsters, great atmosphere and the best combat system in any RPG to date, this will rock when it releases on February 10th across Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

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