"Dragon Age" - VIDEOGAME REVIEW

DRAGON AGE Review

These days it seems like RPGs are not as good as they should be. Either the story is cliche or characters are annoying. Dragon Age: Origins is the latest RPG from Bioware, who have made some of the best roleplaying games of all time, such as KOTOR, Mass Effect, Jade Empire and Baldur's Gate. It's a fantasy RPG that is basically a more mature/adult version of Lord Of The Rings.

It might have the best story I've seen in a video game! Usually it is in a good novel or foreign film where you find a story this amazing, not a video game. One word describes this game - EPIC. As the game unfolds you cannot help but say the words "epic" and "amazing" to yourself over and over again. You also get alot of choices in this game (ie: whether to kill someone or help them out), doing good or bad things not only effects your character in the game, but the world and story as well.

Bioware really has crafted an amazing game with so much depth that it's scary. You can just run through the main questline if you want, or you can do tons of side quests in each city, which really adds to the game. As you level up, you get to pick new moves and such for your characters. You not only control your main character but you control three others too. When you go into combat you can pause the game and set-up your moves, or you can just jump in and fight in real time. The combat is not just hack and slash fighting, it's a combination of realtime and turn based action.

This is Bioware's best game since Baldur's Gate and KOTOR, and in my opinion the best RPG in the last five years or so. It's very rare that a game like this pulls me like this, I literally felt like a young kid while playing. It is very well crafted and has a high fun factor. If you want a big adventure this winter that can last you anywhere from 30 to 70 hours, then please do yourself a favour and pick this up.

Not only the game of the year so far in 2009, but the best RPG this generation for videogames, simply an amazing game that everyone should try out.


SCORE = 9.5/10
Developer = Bioware Publisher = EA