Dragon Age Origins (XBOX 360)

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Genre	Role Playing Game
Platform	XBOX 360
Release Date	05/11/2009
Rated

Dragon Age Origins (XBOX 360) Product Information

From the makers of Mass Effect™, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™, and Baldur's Gate™ comes Dragon Age: Origins, an epic tale of violence, lust, and betrayal. The survival of humanity rests in the hands of those chosen by fate. You are a Grey Warden, one of the last of an ancient order of guardians who have defended the lands throughout the centuries. Betrayed by a trusted general in a critical battle, you must hunt down the traitor and bring him to justice. As you fight your way towards the final confrontation with an evil nemesis, you will face monstrous foes and engage in epic quests to unite the disparate peoples of a world at war. A romance with a seductive shapeshifter may hold the key to victory, or she may be a dangerous diversion from the heart of your mission. To be a leader, you must make ruthless decisions and be willing to sacrifice your friends and loved ones for the greater good of mankind.

Features:

• Bone-crushing, visceral combat: Battle against massive and terrifying creatures.
• Full character customization: Sculpt your hero in your own image or fantasy.
• Complex moral choices: There are no easy choices.
• A stunning world to explore: This is BioWare's deepest universe to date with over 80 hours of gameplay and more than double the size and scope of Mass Effect.

Dragon Age Origins (XBOX 360) Review

Set in the land of Ferelden, its residents under threat from the Darkspawn invasion from the south, your short-term mission is to join (or be coerced into) the ranks of The Grey Wardens; basically the 'Interpol' of Ferelden, tasked with defending the regions of the land from this ancient threat. That's the short hand; a few hours of play (or a couple of percent of the overall story) are spent in this prologue – and you'll be grateful for the gradual learning curve. Even absolute RPG veterans will find the new combat system somewhat daunting at first.

Your adventure has one of six different openings and can play out in a surprising number of ways. Your background determines the initial setting, your social status and the reaction certain characters will give you by default. An RPG of this nature lives or dies by its subtlety in this respect however, and while the dialogue options definitely divide Lawful Good and Chaotic Evil, there's no cut-and-dry alignment tracking. Instead, what might appear to be the 'good' lines of dialogue will sometimes lead you in directions you had no intention of moving towards.

Your actions also have as much impact on how your party members view you to make you double-think which quests you undertake and how that might affect the end-game. If you're pursuing the love of the dark-eyed shape-shifting mage, Morrigan, it's best not to come across as a goody-two-shoes. Of course, choosing not to help Timmy the little orphan might well alienate your other party members – and thus, your actions begin to have tangible consequences.

Of course, the above points may be moot in light of the greater offering: that is, naturally, the rich gameplay and storytelling that Bioware has established over the course of its releases. It's a delight to give into a fantasy setting with such a dense back story, even if the gameplay still rarely breaks away from conventions established a decade ago. Whether you'll really want to play through the game six times to experience all the branching paths is another matter entirely – but it doesn't matter if you don't; chances are, your decisions and their impacts on the world will be just different enough to create an experience that's uniquely yours.

Supposing you've been waiting, as we have, for Baldur's Gate III to appear from the ether – is Dragon Age: Origins the next best thing? You bet. To be certain, it's fun, the gameplay is tried and true and the tale has enough twists and intrigue to keep you levelling your way towards the conclusion dozens of hours later.

But given that it's a wholly similar experience to its lineage, Dragon Age: Origins is still arguably inferior to 2000's Bioware masterpiece. Why? Perhaps it's the idea that 2D design at its best utterly squashes middle-of-the-road 3D environments that have already been superseded by competitors. Perhaps it's the all-too-frequent lashings of 'Lord of the Rings' that overshadows the more delicate tales – like the plight of the downtrodden Elves or the careful interplay of your party characters as you walk along the bland countryside. Or perhaps it's that unshakeable feeling that, after ten years, maybe High Fantasy needs to take a few more risks, lest it be forgotten like the realms it inhabits.

Full review IGN