Review: Dragon Age: Origins

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360

Developer: BioWare

Publisher: EA

# of Players: 1

Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: A

Has BioWare ever made a bad game? I'm inclined to shout a defiant "No" towards the heavens, as I've enjoyed everything they've ever done, warts and all. Hell, I may be somewhat biased here, but at least I'm definitely right (that's a little in-joke, by the way). Anyway, in terms of their RPG output, the company has a superb track record with everything from the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale games to Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire and even Sonic Chronicles: the Dark Brotherhood. Of course, their two current console projects, the upcoming Mass Effect 2 and the recently released Dragon Age: Origins will be the games on RPG fans' lips and minds for quite some time thanks to the developer's ability to craft completely different sub-genres while consistently bringing gamers superb storytelling and deep, challenging gameplay.

The game works almost perfectly as it delivers a completely new IP onto the scene with plenty of dramatic flourish, dynamic combat and a deeply engrossing storyline that absolutely begs for a sequel. No matter which of the six story lines you delve into the game just soars. Once you're hooked you in for one tale, you just HAVE to replay it as another character (or have two or more save files going) just so you can experiment with every dialog response, every choice until you've exhausted your options and see just how characters major and minor react. Your chosen hero or heroine is customizable, standard fare for any decent RPG these days. Once that's done (or you pick a pre-made avatar), you'll guide your hero or heroine through their lengthy quest chock full of events that make each play through unique.

With well over 60 hours of gameplay here for each character plus some great additional download content available right from the game's launch (and more on the way), hardcore RPG fans won't be coming up for air for quite some time. New players may feel a bit swarmed by what's here, but the very handy tutorials and wealth of other reading material will get them up to speed and coming back for more in short order. There's actually so much stuff to read (and all of it important or informative) that you'll absolutely want to play this on an HD setup. Running DA:O on a standard definition TV will have you breaking out the reading glasses AND a pair of binoculars.

In the game, your character is selected to become a Grey Warden (a legendary group of skilled warriors chosen from all walks of life) as a massive horde of demons known as Darkspawn reappears and resumes their terrorizing ways throughout the kingdom of Ferelden. How and why each character is chosen as a Warden makes up the introductory section and after a bit of exploration and exposition, the game world opens up. As you set out with a few new companions to put an end to the Darkspawn blight and the Archdemon leading them, you'll run into quite a few folks that can use a bit of heroic help. Your other party members may include a sultry forest witch, an elf assassin, a stoic warrior type, a drunken elf and others, but depending on how you interact with some of these characters, you can choose to drop them from your party forever or never get them to join at all.

As ou meet up and recruit characters, you'll find yourself growing attached to some and possibly ignoring others. This is a bad idea, as everyone is useful to some extent and there's nothing worse than jumping into battle with a few guys or gals you ignored because you didn't like their starting skills. Not only can some members only equip certain magical gear, having certain party members in certain areas can unlock new quests, dialog options or even a special skill or two. Let's just say if you're a dog's best friend, poke around for certain trees that will give your pet a nice advantage in combat.

If you've played Mass Effect, you'll notice similarities in how BioWare's brilliant storytelling such as the branching conversation paths and the possibilities of romantic couplings with certain party members under the proper circumstances. Finding and giving gifts to your teammates unlocks new skills and more of their stories, which also leads to new quests most of the time. There's no “pure” good or evil path here and other than how your party and a few other characters react to your decisions, you won't feel as if you've done something “wrong” if you decide to play the game as a pure saint or a total bastard. The extremely well-written script offers up some great dialog and as you travel throughout the nicely-sized game world, some of the conversations your companions have with you and each other are priceless, informative and often hilarious.

Combat can be tackled as real-time hacking and spellcasting, but you can also pause the action and input commands for each party member, much like in BioWare's other RPGs. Things can get really hectic in some large scale battles and it would have been nice to have the ability for some sort of multiplayer mode where up to four players could dive in together on one screen. On the other hand, the game has a few areas (particularly during the last epic battles) where a multiplayer mode would be a bit impossible to manage. There's a great series of fights where you'll get to "command" units and fight side by side with them against waves of Darkspawn and I'd imagine how tough that would be to pull off with four live players and dozens of other AI units fighting it out. You'd be hearing stories of real people rolling on the floor in living rooms all around the world.

Now, where was I? Right - As you're limited to four active members in your party, deciding whom to select is part of the fun. In some areas, having certain party members around allows access to locked chests or doors. If you consider yourself a treasure hunter supreme, I'd recommend playing as a Rogue if you want easy access to a great deal of chests in the game's beginning stages, but if you want to be a Warrior of Mage, go for it. Just don't expect those chests to magically open themselves. The fact that you can't go back to certain areas is a bit annoying, but once you start seeing all the cool gear that shows up at your camp shop and in other places in the game, you really won't miss those earlier chests.

The game's world map initially seems massive, but compared to other recent RPGs, there are actually only a few locations to explore along with a number of combat-focused areas you'll only get to visit once. To spice things up, you'll be able to take on guild quests as well as run into the occasional random over world map battle. Some of these mid to late game side quests can actually be more brutal than a few of the bosses in the main storyline. The dungeons and majority of other areas you move about in are pretty expansive, nicely designed and packed to the gills with everything from undead, giant spiders and later on more than a few dragons of different sizes.

In terms of difficulty, new players can stick to the easier modes, but hardcore RPG fans will want to crank the challenge up so fights don't fly by in a few button presses. If a character falls in battle, they're only lost for the duration of that fight and revived afterward. Of course, getting all your party members knocked out is an automatic Game Over and a trip to a previous save. Bumping up the difficulty is more rewarding in terms of experience gained, but the game has a number of very brutal bosses that can wipe the floor with an unprepared party on the easiest setting. If you love playing the "tank", you'd best have some great mages and ranged weapon users in your team, as status effects and the occasional powerful knockdown are commonplace when things get up close and personal.

Presentation here is mostly stellar on both consoles, with the PS3 getting the slight advantage. The visuals are pretty solid, with some grand in-game engine movies, beautifully detailed characters and plenty of lovely environments. Unfortunately, you'll also see some graphics glitches (mild clipping issues plus textures and the occasional background popping in) and hear the occasional sound drop during extended dialog sequences. However, the technical issues don't destroy the illusion of the richly detailed world BioWare has crafted. Still, picky purists will whine a bit about things not being “perfect” all the way through. The game nabs a Mature rating for a ton of blood, a bit of mild (but still not for the kiddies) sexuality and some rough language. I'd say some of the dialog and plot surprises are where the real M-rated content lie.

As for the game being "shocking" in its depictions of characters having desires for one another, all this fuss over sexual content in video games has been so overblown (well, unless you've got a copy of Pocket Pool for the PSP) that when you finally do get to the naughty bits here, you may be disappointed. Then again, if you need a video game to get your kicks that way, you really need to get outside more. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the sound effects, music and voice acting are all stellar, pulling you into the game world for a near-perfect aural experience. Those pesky sound drops that take place are a bit of a letdown, but never a game-killing blow at all. There's so much spoken dialog in the game that you get used to hearing everyone speak all the time and when the conversation abruptly cuts out, it's jarring.

Despite the sound flaws and occasional graphics hitches, the overall experience is consistently grand and yes, epic. I ask again, Has BioWare ever made a bad game? After about a dozen years of personal experience playing hit after hit, I certainly can't think of one. With Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare continues its long-running streak of solid, high quality epic role-playing experiences with yet another deep and incredibly addictive time eating monster gaming experience that's going to please genre fans new and old alike. Like any great story, the game is always highly compelling and rarely misses a thematic beat throughout. There's so much content packed onto the disc that it's almost overwhelming, but you'll find yourself staying up “just one more hour...” each time you step into the rich world the dev team has created.

If you're a huge fan of Western-style RPGs (hell, ANY type of RPG) and want something that's going to be expanded upon in DLC as well as sequels down the road, definitely make this one a purchase. The Grey Wardens, whose local chapter just so happens to be your nearby game shop or other retailer that sells Dragon Age: Origins are waiting patiently. Or maybe not so patiently... those Darkspawn certainly aren't going to kill themselves, that's for sure...