At this point I Once you The game will give you a great many opportunities to recruit several characters into your party, but even characters you don't treat particularly well can be plied with gifts, so you'll have to do something pretty drastic to make them leave.

Religion, race, relatives, and relationships are the universal four R's that motivate people and nations to war. Each of those R's acts as live ammunition in every discussion, action, and choice you make in Dragon Age: Origins, a truly epic fantasy adventure.

+ Tolkien-esque scale and stature; + Interface lets you manage all disparate parts easily

- Plenty of art-element reruns; some too-similar characters; and awkward dialogue; ?

Baldur's Gate was a touchstone game in computer RPGs and its spiritual successor, Dragon Age: Origins has the rocks to be another. You are a Grey Warden, warriors tasked with fighting off the Darkspawn and The Blight, a catastrophic event in which an Old God is corrupted and leads the Darkspawn as...

...You've been waiting for a new Baldur's Gate ; ...You want a familiar fantasy feel with some new twists on the formula; ...It's more about the experience and less about the technical aspects surrounding a game

...Frame rate issues and some distracting textures hurt your eyes; ...You're annoyed by the idea of NPCs shilling downloadable content ..

Dragon Age is a brilliant, if slightly predictable, addition to BioWare's stable of RPG classics. It suffers from a few problems with plotting and world building but ultimately triumphs, offering a classic RPG experience that can hold its head high with any of BioWare's previous games.

Very deep class system; Fun tactical combat; Huge amount of content to explore

Clichéd main plotline; Very difficult; Long load times; Inventory issues

What makes a good story? How do you get people to like the characters, creatures and the virtual world before them? It's no easy task to answer those questions, much less create a game where every RPG fan can feel right at home.

Emphasis on old-school RPG mechanics (which is good); excellent voice acting; characters skillfully woven into a riveting storyline; filled to the brim with engaging and well-structured quests; sub-plots; challenging enemies and boss fights.

A few minor bugs here and there; can be a tad difficult at times; questionable art direction

Canadian developer BioWare has built its reputation on making great story-based games. This enviable reputation began on consoles back in 2003 with Knights of the Old Republic, and continued through the release of 2007's Mass Effect, a game which confirmed BioWare's status as the gold standard in...

Roleplaying Game This Dragon's not for turning. Bioware have already hit RPG gold with one of my favourite games this gen, Mass Effect, and with the sequel due out in a matter of months they've seen fit to give us Dragon Age: Origins.

As gamers, we are always looking for the best possible deal when it comes to how we spend our hard earned cash. We deserve a product that is not only enjoyable but worth every penny we pay for it.

Now when comments like "The spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate" are thrown around in the land of Role Playing Games someone is either taking the piss or has some mighty big Cojones and better be willing to back themselves.

Grab your sword and staff, cause it's time to kill some dragons!

Detailed, exciting storyline; Rich world filled with lore; Stellar voice acting and witty dialog; Fascinating characters; Visceral combat with enough spells to set your pants on fire; Hours of additional quests

Some minor glitches on console versions; Dated graphics and bland palette