KoA: Reckoning - Review in Progress #3 @ IGN
 

IGN's Colin Moriarty has written the third part of their Review in Progress for Reckoning, with one final part that includes the score yet to come. There are some pretty strong claims that are rather incredulous, to be honest:
There's also another batch of readers questions, leaving me wondering if Colin is much of an RPG fan:
More information.

Mass Effect had consequences, but I wouldn't call them as meaningful than the ones in Fallout or Arcanum. ME gives the minimum amount of the stuff, not sure why it's put on the head of the scale.

About the first part concerning gameplay, that is no surprise to me, I've always known this will be its strong point. Hopefully the rest are not weaknesses.

I strongly disagree regarding the gameplay: it's better than Skyrim for sure, but it can't even compare with Dark Souls, where putting every piece of gear is a tactical choice, not mentioning weapons' impact and damage, and the trade off between armor vs. equip load. Try better, Colin Moriarty.

What does "WRPG" mean ?

Western Role-Playing-Game. It's to differentiate from JRPG (Japan Role-Playing-Game).

Although, BioWare is known for making WRPG, their latest games feel a lot more like JRPG without turn based combat…

Hmm, I think he only thought of it as gameplay mechanics, the superficial part, the animations, control bla bla. You bring a good argument though, I'm not sure if the two should be differentiated.

My level of respect increases for a game reviewer (or actually most anyone who offers opinions) when statements are made without strong absolutes.

"Reckoning easily outclasses all of them in the gameplay department. The competition isn't even remotely close in any respect."

This is an extremely strong statement and I have a huge amount of doubt that it would represent any sort of majority opinion. I would prefer such a strong comment to be prefaced with "in my opinion" — probably a small issue to others but in my opinion it severely makes much more palatable a statement which seems very subjective.

I think the Reckoning will be a nice distraction, but saying the combat is better than Skyrim is patently ridiculous. In fact they shouldn't be compared, as one approaches realism while the other favors arcade action.

Based on the demo, Skyrim has infinitely better archery and stealth combat. For melee combat, I think the styles are so different that it makes little sense to compare them directly.

That said, Skyrim - for me - is about immersion more than anything else. There's NO WAY KoA will be able to compare here.

However, my second favorite thing about Skyrim is the exploration, and this is where I'm hoping KoA can compare. Until now, it's just hype and little more. But I'm hopeful.

Also, I love the "fairy-tale" style setting - though I don't necessarily prefer it. I just appreciate that games are made with that kind of tone, so we're not drowned in endless "gritty" stuff all the time.

IGN I remember your all hype before DA2, and reviews after 1day playthrough scored 9.5 but in mind 11/10 and then comments after several months how wrong some decisions were… so… b**** please xD

KoA won't be a G1 or G2 (my favorite sort of CRPG), but I'm looking forward to KoA for what it will have to offer. That said, this 'Review in Progress,' while providing some info about the game, is a definate 'puff piece.' If this came directly from the developers, people would be in a rage over the extraordinary hype pouring from it, the likes usually limited to people like Molyneux.

Definitely a biased person behind it. That said, he could just be a passionate and naive fan. They're a dime a dozen over on the official forums.

But passionate and naive fans are not supposed to review games for major game websites. Definitely a biased person who may or may not be a fan, but more importantly, is supported by IGN. And this mean there's more than innocent passion at work here. Perhaps some encouragement by the publisher, considering EA is publishing this game?

You have absolutely zero evidence of this.

Pointless speculation.

Every single person in the world is biased in one way or the other. At this stage of gaming journalism - to expect objective reviews in mainstream media is beyond naive.

Sad, but that's how it is.

All I can suggest is to completely IGNore it. Like I do :)

And that's why I said 'perhaps'. :)

He is a little eager, that's for sure.

One thing that is becoming kind of weird is it feels many of you want this to fail, like it isn't great to have new rpg's and different takes. Always bringing up who publishes it, ahh well can't please you all.

Perhaps you're a serial killer :)

You got me, I am a serial killer. :D

I am entitled to speculation based on observation. When I feel something is fishy, then I am entitled to suspicion. That's my (or shall I say, our) birthright.
That's why we exist today, because if our forefathers didn't come up with their pointless speculations, you and I wouldn't exist today.

I'd be glad to be enlightened if I'm wrong. I must warn you though, as a self esteemed serial killer, I have always chosen the wisest targets.

I'm not trying to remove your right to speculation.

I'm just recognising what you have to base it on :)

Well I'm not one of them. I'm looking forward to this game. The demo was a lot of fun.

At the same time I can differentiate the game itself from the 'review in progress.' It reads more like something you'd find on a fan forum than what you might expect from a publisher.

I'm not a big fan of online-only game review sites so I'm certainly predispostioned to be biased from the get go.