Dragon Age: Origins Reviews

As you probably guessed from this particular newsbit's title, it's time for another mid-week round-up of Dragon Age: Origins reviews.

The Armchair Empire gives it a 9.5/10:
In the end what I was left with after my first play-through was the longest lasting RPG experience I've had in years, and possibly the most emotionally involving computer RPG I've ever played. Someone who is not as into story and role-playing in their RPGs as I am may not feel the same way, but I can't walk away from this game (or this review) without mentioning that Dragon Age: Origins has made its way into my favourite three RPGs of all time, sitting by Knights of the Old Republic, and Fallout 2. I'm not sure how to pay it a higher compliment than that.

GameVisions gives it a perfect 100%:
If nothing else stands as testament to how well this game revives the magic of the truly deep games of the past, this review should stand as that proof. I'm well accustomed to jumping from game to game, analyzing them critically, and moving on to the next. It's fairly routine. I enjoy such games, surely, many are even great, but it's been a long, long time since a game as entirely captivated me. If you're looking at the timeline of reviews here, you'll find a distinct lack of reviews in the past few weeks. The reason? This title has been absolutely enthralling. It has sucked me in and begged me against my better judgment to just keep playing a little more, much to the detriment of getting this review published, as well as creating a backup of others sitting on my desk. I quite literally must pry myself away from this game and move on to others, despite my desire to just keep pressing forth! When one game is so engrossing that it not only seriously delays other reviews, but also delays its own review...that's as high praise as can be had!

New Game Network gives it an 86/100:
Dragon Age: Origins is a great start for the series from BioWare. The game smoothly fits the setting and characters expected in the genre while brining their own originality and outlook on things. The gameplay is rock solid for the most part, though its tough difficulty curve, combat balancing issues and useless friendly AI may bring much frustration to all but the more dedicated fans of RPGs. The world of the game is vast and I know that this review has barely scratched the surface of everything that you can do and see. Dragon Age is a good game that should be played for the story, characters and combat and should be on your holiday wish list this year if you have any interest at all in old-school Role Playing Games.

And Game Debate gives it a perfect 10/10:
Combat offers the best of both worlds for RPG enthusiasts of all kinds. Battles play out in real time but with a slap of the spacebar you can pause the action and give direct orders to any or all of your party members. Depending on the way you play, you may find yourself watching cooldown timers and health bars more than you watch your avatar hack lumps out of orczombies but if you do keep an eye on the bigger picture you'll often be treated to fantastic little flourishes of combat animation as your characters strike killing blows. Killing my first ogre and seeing that wonderful creature-specific death blow animation goes down as one of those great gaming moments that will be etched into my memory forever more.