Dragon Age II

Personally, I found Dragon Age to be very overrated on the Xbox 360. The graphics were very dull, and the combat seemed a bit fiddly and frustrating and is most likely far better on the PC version. The changes made to this sequel have a mixed effect. Combat wise, the game plays more of a hack and slash, rather than the real-time strategy approach of the previous game. It is less cumbersome and more accessible, but as a result it becomes less challenging. Graphically, the game looks good and much more vibrant. The game mainly takes place in the city of Kirkwall and there are only a few small areas outside; so the world is much smaller and contains less variety which results in visiting the same places over and over. Even when you do come to buildings and caves, they are usually recycled from the same couple of locations which seems very lazy from the developers and make the game feel unfinished. The equipment system has changed and now you can only equip armour to Hawke, companions can only be upgraded by buying at certain shops then applying runes to them. Other changes bring the game more in-line with the Mass Effect series. You can inspect items and encounter new enemies to add entries in your codex, which gives extra background information on the games world. The social system is also like Mass Effect. Your character engages in many conversations and you can decide between good, neutral and evil responses which sometimes have a large consequence and others lead to the same result. Also like Mass Effect, you are given the fixed surname; Hawke and are forced to play as a human, but are provided with the choice of gender. The class options are as numerous as Mass Effect and the choice is between Rogue, Mage or Warrior. Personally, I prefer the move to be similar to Mass Effect because it gives the main character a high degree of personality so you feel more immersed in the world. However, the story is very minor and doesn't really add to the Dragon Age world. This is good for newcomers because you don't need any prior knowledge to play, but is a disappointment for Dragon Age fans. Initially set at the same time as Dragon Age 1, Dragon Age 2 tells the story of Hawke and his/her party, who flee from the darkspawn and seek refuge amongst Kirkwall. After settling there, Hawke then raises enough cash to go on an expedition into the Deep Roads with a group of Dwarves and they come across many riches which closes Act 1. In Act 2, the Viscount asks Hawke to try resolve the conflict with the Qunari who refuse to leave Kirkwall despite being discontent with the residents. An anti-Qunari group try to provoke war which does eventually break out and the resulting war sees Hawke being declared the Champion. Act 3 tells the story of the Templar Meredith ruling with oppression, and unfair treatment with the mages which results in another war and Hawke must choose a side to support which concludes the game. There are many sidequests to complement the main story which takes the play time to at least 18 hours. A problem worth noting is that the game performs extremely sluggish but can be resolved by installing to the hard drive. Overall, Dragon Age 2 is a decent game but in places feels a bit unfinished. The foundations of a great RPG are here, with plenty of side quests and brilliant dialog and voice acting, but the story and locations mean that the game doesn't reach its full potential.

Hmmm. If you played the original Dragon Age and want more, play this; if not then play the original as it's loads better.

The original Dragon Age was a complete epic; excellent storyline, characters, voice acting, loads of different areas and varied quests. The fighting for me was a weak point but the rest made up for it.

This, to be honest, seems like more of a cash in sequel than anything else.

Initially I was pleased; they seemed to have really addressed any downsides of Dragon Age 1; they'd really improved the fighting and it ALMOST felt like an action RPG now, the inventory system was simplified but not overly so and the storyline seemed interesting.

I was pretty addicted to this game throughout; the shortish quests, fast travel, enjoyable gameplay and approachability ensured that...BUT it sometimes felt like a bit of a chore that I 'had' to do as opposed to really wanted to.

It's all set in a city which has several areas. Quests move between all the areas and several more locations are provided by the 'night' versions of the areas. But of course they're actually the same, just with different things happening.

And that is the main problem with this game; complete lack of areas and places. There's a couple of pretty boring out of city areas but you hardly ever go to them and they're pretty weak. The areas that there are are doubled up as night and day versions. Then there's a few quest specific small areas like caves/houses/dungeons that disappear after you've done the quest, but they're all really short, boring and all the same (see below).

There's just not enough there. This is compounded further by the fact that a lot of the maps for 'different' caves/houses/dungeons are completely identical! Every house you're in is basically the same map, every cave is the same map...sometimes they set the route in different directions or block bits off but it's really cheap and lazy.

In addition to that, it actually feels like you play the same game 3 times. You do 'act 1', then in 'act 2' and 'act 3' you have exactly the same areas to explore again, then again. That's really lazy.

Games like the Witcher series have the same sort of approach to exploration where you can only walk on preset paths/maps in a series of areas (unlike Skyrim where it's one massive area and you can go where you like) and move through the game in a linear fashion, but in the Witcher every area is different, every house is different and every 'act' moves to a completely different place with different set of areas. Dragon Age is just really lazy. The same (rather limited) set of areas 3 times? Really? And it makes you explore them all again as if they're new! I know staying in the same place suits the storyline but dare I suggest that the storyline was concocted as a way to make an RPG with the least areas possible?

Also, there's very little depth to the storyline; it feels equally lazy. There's fairly epic parts to it and a general theme running through of one faction vs the other, but it doesn't often make much sense and you often end up fighting people from the faction you were trying to protect with seemingly no consequences. All negotiations/conversations always end in everybody getting killed, with again seemingly no consequence. You fight and kill a load of Templars in the city that the Templars are in charge of with no consequences. There's this weird storyline about a demonic mirror that makes no sense. Again, it results in everybody getting killed. There's lots of storylines that really aren't explained very well, have inexplicable parts and often it all just seems a bit random.

There are parts to the storyline that work though, and the voice acting and characters are a high point. It is worth playing through and certainly act 1 is very enjoyable. But, after that, by act 2 you start to smell something and by act three you realise that they'd made a fairly large RPG out of VERY few areas and maps and that the storyline has really been patched together to make it all fit OKish.

It is good in the sense that I enjoyed playing through it, but it's also often boring, disappointing and a bit of a lazy cash in. No point in playing it unless you've already played Dragon Age 1; if you have, play that first.

not as good as origin, although the only thing that is there to make you think its from the same line is the characters that pop up now and again and some references to the warden, the fighting style has been improved massively and i found the fighting more fun than 'origin', the beginning of the game almost made me think the game was rubbish and almost decided not to play it, but it does improve massively, and by the end of the game i decided to place this as one of my favourite RPG.

story line dull the first one was a lot better try before buying 2 see if you like it !

'the Champion' It's more like 'the babysitter'.All you do is help people in a city...thats it. Story is lame Gameplay is lame the same Areas are used over and over and over.

i will say this as calmly as i can. Dont buy/Rent this game.

The original was Epic and with a sequal your supposed to go forward but in this game it seems to take 100 steps back.

Theres no tactics what so ever the story is crap the art work for the city is moronic.

The only good part of this game is when you turn it off The bad part is you realise you just wasted your time.

The people who made this seem to have not put any effort into the game at all.

Sum-up. 'Graphics 5/10 Gameplay 3/10 Fun 1/10'