Dragon Age: Origins

Firstly, I have no doubt that the PC version is the system of choice for this game. It can get busy and I wish the PS3 had the option to zoom out.

That being said, the PS3 version is still very, very good.

I'd read that the graphics were poor and the interface was a mess. I personally feel the graphics are fine. Not the best and not as monstrous as people had led me to believe. The interface (initially) took took a little getting used to. After an hour of so (and considering the complexity of Dragon Age) I was navigating around the menus with ease.

As for the game itself, it's a nice mix of many 'old school' RPG's that makes anyone with a history of this type of game feel at home. I will confess that it doesn't push the bar massively higher, but it is the most fun I've had on my PS3 for a long, long time.

I'm still on my first play through and I'm looking forward to starting my second. Not once have I been bored or wished it would finish.

I will point… more »

Firstly, I have no doubt that the PC version is the system of choice for this game. It can get busy and I wish the PS3 had the option to zoom out.

That being said, the PS3 version is still very, very good.

I'd read that the graphics were poor and the interface was a mess. I personally feel the graphics are fine. Not the best and not as monstrous as people had led me to believe. The interface (initially) took took a little getting used to. After an hour of so (and considering the complexity of Dragon Age) I was navigating around the menus with ease.

As for the game itself, it's a nice mix of many 'old school' RPG's that makes anyone with a history of this type of game feel at home. I will confess that it doesn't push the bar massively higher, but it is the most fun I've had on my PS3 for a long, long time.

I'm still on my first play through and I'm looking forward to starting my second. Not once have I been bored or wished it would finish.

I will point out that there is a lot of reading/dialogue. Some people will tire of the background story relating to the next quest chain. Because it's so well acted and the decisions you make have such an impact on what happens next, it feels real.

This is not MW2, GOW3 or any other action based game. It's a big RPG with a big heart. It will keep you going for many, many weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing Dragon Age and I'm glad I didn't listen to the haters.

I bought this game when it was full price and have to say it is the best RPG I've played to date. At the sale price Play.com are selling this game at they are virtually giving it away.

Whilst this game doesn't employ a completely open world system such as games like Oblivion, the world you explore via a map system is fairly large indeed & the animation, voice acting & music is very good. The difficulty setting at normal is quite challenging and if this is too difficult there is an easier option and also 2 more difficult settings.

As with many RPGs you can select to play as a male/female rogue, warrior or mage and can select one of 6 different classes, each with thier own differing starting story which offers good replay value.

What sets this game apart from other RPGs is the character voice acting and interaction system. Your actions and the way you converse with your allies throughout the game can affect their feelings towards you making them respect/like you which… more »

I bought this game when it was full price and have to say it is the best RPG I've played to date. At the sale price Play.com are selling this game at they are virtually giving it away.

Whilst this game doesn't employ a completely open world system such as games like Oblivion, the world you explore via a map system is fairly large indeed & the animation, voice acting & music is very good. The difficulty setting at normal is quite challenging and if this is too difficult there is an easier option and also 2 more difficult settings.

As with many RPGs you can select to play as a male/female rogue, warrior or mage and can select one of 6 different classes, each with thier own differing starting story which offers good replay value.

What sets this game apart from other RPGs is the character voice acting and interaction system. Your actions and the way you converse with your allies throughout the game can affect their feelings towards you making them respect/like you which increases their skills or can lead them to dislike you or even betray you. You also have the option of buying and giving items to your allies to increase their approval rating. Their is even the option of romance with certain characters.

There are quite a lot of side quests to complete in addition to the main story so in total you can rack up at least 80 hours of playtime as one character alone. Additionally their is a number of downloadable content which you can purchase from Playstation Store available to increase gameplay, the most recent being the Dragon Age Awakening.

A word of advice, if you haven't got your PS3 linked to the internet I would recomend it, as the recent PS3 firmware patch 3.30 did cause major freezing issues with this particular game which can be fixed by game update 1.02. I haven't had any problems with latest firmware update 3.40.

If your still reading this review I can't sing enough praise for this game and would recomend it to any RPG fans.

Bioware has a long and well deserved reputation for producing excellent story-driver RPGs, and Dragon Age: Origins is no exception.

Set in the continent of Ferelden on the world of Thedas, an army of evil creatures called Darkspawn is invading, led by a powerful Archdemon, and only the legendary Grey Wardens, knights devoted to destroying the Darkspawn, can fully eradicate this Blight.

This is where you come in. As a newly recruited Grey Warden (chosen from one of three Races and three Professions) you travel to the fortress of Ostagar, where in a titanic battle most of the Grey Wardens are slain along with Fereldens King. With the help of a fellow Grey Warden known as Alastair, it is up to the two of you to gather an army, slay the Archdemon and stop the Blight.

You may select a group of up to four members for your party, from a collection of various characters you meet and recruit along the way, and you will need at least a Rogue in your group at all times, to… more »

Bioware has a long and well deserved reputation for producing excellent story-driver RPGs, and Dragon Age: Origins is no exception.

Set in the continent of Ferelden on the world of Thedas, an army of evil creatures called Darkspawn is invading, led by a powerful Archdemon, and only the legendary Grey Wardens, knights devoted to destroying the Darkspawn, can fully eradicate this Blight.

This is where you come in. As a newly recruited Grey Warden (chosen from one of three Races and three Professions) you travel to the fortress of Ostagar, where in a titanic battle most of the Grey Wardens are slain along with Fereldens King. With the help of a fellow Grey Warden known as Alastair, it is up to the two of you to gather an army, slay the Archdemon and stop the Blight.

You may select a group of up to four members for your party, from a collection of various characters you meet and recruit along the way, and you will need at least a Rogue in your group at all times, to deal with any locked doors or chests you may encounter, of which there are plenty.

Combat is fast, exciting and bloody. You may give orders to one or more characters on the battlefield, as and when you wish, or assign actions to each in various circumstances - instructing a Mage to case a Fireball at any nearby enemy archers, for instance. In battle the X button is used for a simple attack, with the other three buttons being reserved for special attacks you assign after learning them.

The game is very speech-heavy, particularly in the early stages, but you may skip through dialogue and cut scenes you have seen before. The story is beautifully crafted, with plenty of banter passing between party members as you travel. Each character is fully realised, with their own history, attitudes and prejudices, and which characters are within your party in certain circumstances may open up new questing opportunities, which is a great aid to replayability.

There is a large map with numerous locations to explore, which are revealed when you accept certain quests, and these are numerous. The main quest is ever present, but the scores of side quests gain much needed experience and gold, and help to flesh out Ferelden and its characters.

Dragon Age: Origins is an old-school RPG with months of play involved, a large collection of Trophies, an ever expanding assortment of Downloadable Content and enough player immersion to see you complete it a good two or three times. Three completions is enough to gain every possible Trophy the game has to offer, but it is a pleasure to replay with a different type and class of character, and to see how different party members influence key plot lines. Another sure-fire winner from Bioware.

Having just completed this game now (clocking in over 100+ hours to do so) I was left still wanting more from this fantastic title.

Bioware's first venture on to the PS3 has been a very welcomed one. While there isn't a shortage of RPG's based in the fantasy realm none really made me feel engrossed in it until now.

The characters you work along with are a real mixed bag of people, ranging from a power driven witch to a religious believing lady who loves violence. As you can see you will get a real mixed bag of people to saddle up with.

The gameplay is great and very tactical, however the console version of this game comes up short as you are only limited to 6 shortcuts to spells which really slowed and made the fighting rather tedious in some places. If you wished to use a different spell or perk you would have to resort to pausing the game and then selecting it from a a round table. If you have played Mass Effect on the Xbox 360 then it's very similar… more »

Having just completed this game now (clocking in over 100+ hours to do so) I was left still wanting more from this fantastic title.

Bioware's first venture on to the PS3 has been a very welcomed one. While there isn't a shortage of RPG's based in the fantasy realm none really made me feel engrossed in it until now.

The characters you work along with are a real mixed bag of people, ranging from a power driven witch to a religious believing lady who loves violence. As you can see you will get a real mixed bag of people to saddle up with.

The gameplay is great and very tactical, however the console version of this game comes up short as you are only limited to 6 shortcuts to spells which really slowed and made the fighting rather tedious in some places. If you wished to use a different spell or perk you would have to resort to pausing the game and then selecting it from a a round table. If you have played Mass Effect on the Xbox 360 then it's very similar here.

Another thing to pull this game down from being a 5 star is the mass amouts of loading. You will need to wait around 2-3 minutes to login to play the game a further minute to load up your save file and then if you walk in to a hut or a different zone another loading screen will welcome you. It never really bothered me to begin with but after a while you cant help but sigh when that loading screen pops up again.

The majoirty of the missions were very well laid out and a lot of exploration was needed to cover them, the main storyline quests were a particular highlight where in some places had me really torn on what outcome I would of liked.

Overall this game crams in a tonne of gameplay for you to enjoy but sadly this game was built for the PC in mind which is why I cannot give this game the top marks as you have to always resort to messing about in menus for some spells which really yanks you out of the flow of gameplay.

However, this game is a top notch RPG and with plenty of DLC now and in the future you can bet there will be even more action and adventure in the fields of Ferelden!