Review - Dragon Age: Origins

I had heard a lot of buzz about the game. It received great reviews on different gaming websites and I wanted to try it. I decided on the PC version, since that seemed to be the one that most people were raving about... plus, I generally prefer a good PC game over any console game, especially when it's not online. The price was a little steep, but I decided to go for it anyways. Boy am I glad I did. I am still blown away. I can't wait to get back to it.

First off, the amount of customization available to you is staggering. You get to design your own character, much like in The Sims, choosing everything from race, to the exact shape of his or her nose, to tatoos, hair style & color, and sound of their voice. I chose a human mage, so I also was able to delve right into the magic. I got to choose the first spells and skills of my character, which was fun just browsing the list to see which spells would be coolest to use right away. During gameplay, you get to decide how your character respond to others in the game (either playing nice or being a butthole) and the characters respond accordingly by giving you gifts or telling you to take a hike. And playing nice isn't always the way to score big. You can rip off the innocent and get great rewards, or you can help a peasant in need and get a negative reaction from a not-so-kind-hearted companion. My first big decision wasn't even a clear-cut "good vs. bad" one. I was actually very torn over whether to help a friend or basically rat them out to the authorities. I thought I made a good decision, but then it all turned on me and I thought "crap! I have to start over and choose the other path." But I decided to stick to it and who knows what future gameplay will bring. There doesn't seem to be any right way of doing things, which makes it all the more exciting.

One thing that annoys me about many PC games is the big difference in graphic quality between cut scenes and actual gameplay. The game comes to a screeching halt as gameplay is suddenly halted in order to show you a video. Even when the video looks awesome, it's jarring and a takes your computer some effort to launch. But in Dragon Age, those problems don't exist. The characters in the video all look the same as they do in the gameplay... And even the character that you created is in the video! The movement is just as fluid in gameplay as it is in cut scenes... and the great music, voices, and other sounds are also carried over to gameplay. Basically, the cut scene has become gameplay. It's awesome!

The storyline is so engrossing. The whole world has a rich history, and each character has a background to delve into. You get frequent updates on history, character background, culture, etc., but you don't have to read about it if you don't want to. You have a codex that is updated, and you can go into it at anytime to read up on the world around you. Sometimes, you see clues to the best way to fight a monster, or maybe a note telling you where to find treasure. So it's worth checking out. And it definitely makes the story all the more interesting. There are similarities to Tolkien, but I'm not complaining. It's a familiar "good vs. evil" campaign, and I got goosebumps during the first big battle, which reminded me a bit of Helmsdeep in Lord of the Rings.

Battles are also lots of fun, and can be very challenging. Everything is in real-time and you control an entire party, so things can get intense. The ability to play all of the characters in your party, each with different strengths and weaknesses, adds a great amount of strategy to the game. If one or two party members fall in battle, and you have at least one surviving member, the fallen get right back up after the enemies are gone. The characters who fell come back with injuries though, which gives you incentive to keep them all alive during a battle. Also, enemies don't wait for you to attack. They just come at you, and it definitely can make you jump when you're walking through the forest and suddenly a giant spider drops out of nowhere.

I could go on about this game. It's just so great. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the old fantasy RPG's of the past, but want today's graphics with a freedom of choice and customization.