Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

KINGDOMS OF AMALUR: RECKONING

RATING M for Mature

In game six of the 2004 American League Championship Series, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling beat the New York Yankees despite playing on an injured ankle -- one that bled so badly that Schilling's victory became known as the "bloody sock" game. It's the stuff of baseball legend.

And it's a legend that's more dramatic than anything in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the first game from Schilling's 38 Studios. It's a solid rookie outing for the developer: excellent mechanics, a decent fastball and a good strikes-to-balls ratio but not quite an all-star performance. A win, but far from a perfect game.

Reckoning is a role-playing game set in a quasimedieval fantasy world. Once you create your character male or female, human or elf, fighter, sorcerer or rogue, your lifeless body is dumped in a pile of rotting corpses. Fortunately, a crafty gnome has been working on a way to resurrect the dead, and you're his first successful experiment.

When you re-emerge on the surface of Amalur, you discover it's in the throes of a civil war between two factions of immortals: the nature-loving Summer Fae and the destructive, corrupted Winter Fae. Humans and elves, with their puny mortal life spans, are mostly caught in the crossfire. But since you've defied the grim reaper, you're regarded as a savior who can bring peace to the world or destroy it.

PLOT Medieval fantasy -- enough said

DETAILS Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $60

BOTTOM LINE Fine first start