Dragon Age: Origins: Reviewed (PC)

RPG’s have had a bit of a ressurgance over the last few years.  Gone are the Dungeon and Dragon labels for so called geeks sitting at their PC’s for 24 hours at a time. World Of Warcraft delivered a popularity rarely seen in gaming where all were one under the same roof with a not an ounce of mickey taking in sight.  RPG’s come and go but when you hear about Bioware entering the arena with another game you will always sit up and take note.

Dragon Age: Origins takes you back to the old school type of RPG.  Classic character building, deep and engrossing storylines and a one touch mouse selection system that makes for ease of use, even if you are not a classic PC gamer.  Touted as a follow on to the incredible Baldour’s Gate, Dragon Age: Origins delivers something that a lot of current RPG’s for some reason cannot.  The ability to stick you to your seat for well over 100 hours of gameplay with a depth of gameplay that is simply second to none.

From the moment you hit ‘New Game’, the commitment to storytelling is clear. First, a lengthy cinematic introduces you to the world of Ferelden, in which an army of orcs and undead dubbed The Blight runs rampant across the lands, and an elite band of warriors known as Grey Wardens rally its disparate races to unite in battle.

Next up is character creation, which depending on your selections of race, class and background will lead to one of six Origin Stories. I went with Human, Rogue, and Noble, beginning my game as Kelden Cousland, younger son of the leader of Ferelden province Higheaver. There are also Dwarf and Elf races, plus Mage and Warrior classes, usually with a choice of privileged or underprivileged backgrounds. These affect your starting location, the skills you have available, and the way characters address you throughout the game, so potential replay value is through the proverbial roof.

How many times you want to play through Dragon Age will depend on two key things; how much you enjoy in-game dialogue, and how well you click with the battle system.

Be under no illusions; Dragon Age is a very wordy game. Whether you’re reading about the history of Ferelden, its characters, or item descriptions in the menu, taking on incidental quests to quell an NPCs woes, getting to know your party or conversing with key story characters, you’ll spend a lot of your time reading and listening to speech.

Dragon Age is very accomplished in its party interaction. Taking the mantle laid down by Mass Effect, Origins not only lets you converse with your followers to discover their backstories, but also rates their approval or disapproval to your responses and actions – including giving them gifts to curry favour. Get close enough to someone and you may even be in line for some sex, such as it is; stilted, censored, and good for but a childish giggle. Piss someone off enough though and they might leave your party for good. And since they won’t all see eye to eye, keeping everyone happy (and horny) is pretty much impossible in just one run through.

If you are to play Dragon Age through more than once, it’ll be because you enjoy the combat. On PC, that won’t be hard; Dragon Age is clearly designed with keyboard and mouse in mind. The top-down perspective allows for ample tactical movement, pausing with the space bar, activating ranged attacks and spells, and directing your melee fighters into flanking positions. It’s very much the spiritual follow-up to Baldur’s Gate that RPG nuts wanted; incredibly challenging, but brilliant with it.

What Dragon Age does have going for it is its Tolkien-style world, its strong storytelling slant and a list of playable archetypes that influence narrative and gameplay with equal diversity. Admittedly, its looks are functional and its art style unspectacular, but BioWare’s brilliant use of audio in both screenplay and ambience truly bring Ferelden to life. More importantly, there’s always that sense that this is your story, shaped by your actions, with a series of minor, malleable events building to the major, satisfying forks in the plot’s long road.

Don’t go into Dragon Age expecting a medieval Mass Effect. Buy it instead expecting Lord of the Rings crossed with KoTOR and you’ll likely love every minute of its spellbinding 70+ hours.