Dragon Age: Origins

As the spiritual successor to BioWare’s Bal­dur’s Gate™, one of the most successful role-playing games in the industry, Dragon Age: Origins represents BioWare’s return to its roots, delivering a fusion of the best elements of existing fantasy works with stunning visuals, emotionally-driven narrative, heart-pounding combat, powerful magic abilities and credible digital actors. The spirit of classic RPGs comes of age, as Dragon Age: Origins features a dark and mature story and gameplay. Review by IGN “…Incredibly deep and expansive, Dragon Age: Origins is one of those titles that can easily swallow up dozens of hours of play and keep you coming back for more. The fact that BioWare chose to include downloadable content, including a new character and side quest, on launch day proves that they have an extensive plan for supporting the game. Couple that with the fact that each character can be developed in radically different ways, and you have an adventure that earns its own place among BioWare's expansive RPG collection. This is the kind of adventure that fantasy RPG fans have been hoping that BioWare would deliver – a game with a ton of re-playability and an incredibly vivid world that is the start of an impressive franchise.” 9/10 IGN RATINGS FOR DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS (PC) 9.0 Presentation A rich and vivid world, loads of mature themes and story expand the tale of Ferelden in front of your eyes. Inconsistent themes and the gift feature weakens believability though. 8.5 Graphics While technically solid with minimal pop-in and texture issues, Dragon Age still lacks some of the visual panache that you'd expect from a game of this caliber. 8.5 Sound Voice acting can be hit or miss, and some effects can go on for too long, but the music and the majority of sound effects are excellent. 9.0 Gameplay An epic tale with everything from betrayal and revenge to heroism and valor, Dragon Age is an excellent experience from your chosen origin to the rolling of credits. Deep and full of customization, i 9.5 Lasting Appeal Set aside a large amount of time for this one – beating the game will frequently make you want to pick up and play again to see just how a decision or a conversation would be different. 9.0 OVERALL Amazing (out of 10) Features: A Stunning World to Explore: BioWare’s deepest universe to date with over 80 hours of gameplay and more than double the size and scope of Mass Effect Travel throughout dozens of environments and fully immerse yourself in a shattered world that is on the brink of utter annihilation An epic story that is completely shaped and reactive to your play style Complex Moral Choices: There are no easy choices Tailor your Dragon Age: Origins experience from the very beginning by choose from six different Origin Stories Decide how to handle complex issues like murder, genocide, betrayal, and the possession/sa­crificing of children without the security of a good/bad slider to tell you what to do Full Character Customization: Sculpt your hero in your own image or fantasy Elaborate character creator allows you to create your own hero unique from anyone else Shape your character’s per­sonality and morality based on the choices you make throughout the game Engage in Bone-Crushing, Visceral Combat: Battle against massive and terrifying creatures Unleash legendary powers and choose from over 100 different magical spells and skills Experience the adrenaline rush of brutal combat, beheading your foes or casting spells that make enemies explode from within System Requirements: Windows XP Minimum Specifications: OS: Windows XP with SP3 CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.4Ghz or greater / AMD X2 (or equivalent) running at 1.8Ghz or greater RAM: 1GB or more Video: ATI Radeon X850 128MB or greater / NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128MB or greater DVD ROM (Physical copy) 20 GB HD space Windows Vista Minimum Specifications: OS: Windows Vista with SP1 CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.6Ghz or greater / AMD X2 (or equivalent) running at 2.2GHZ or greater RAM: 1.5 GB or more Video: ATI Radeon X1550 256MB or greater / NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB or greater DVD ROM (Physical copy) 20 GB HD space Recommended Specifications: CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP) Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater / NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater DVD ROM (Physical copy) 20 GB HD space