I got a nice (but brief) guided tour of Dragon Age Origins,
Bioware’s spiritual successor to the Baldur’s Gate saga. Freed from the
confines of the D&D license, Dragon Age Origins is able to strike out on
its own world and story while still capturing the feel of one of my favorite
series of all time.
From my brief tour, Dragon Age doesn’t seem to bring too
many new offerings to the RPG table, but everything I did see felt wonderfully
familiar and soundly crafted. With the PC version, players have the option of
playing in a pseudo-action RPG or zooming out for the old-school , pause-and-command
style of the old Baldur’s Gate line. Players will assume control of both their hero
and a (possibly) merry band of adventurers (including a PC-controlled war dog,
complete with his own level-ups and abilities!), and arrows and magic will
quickly be flying. The graphics looked solid and the controls fit like
glove. I didn’t get to peek at too much of
the story, but from what I saw each character type gets a slightly different
story experience, adding to the replayability factor. I did get to romp around the first few
minutes of the game, with my character’s castle being invaded and assassins
pouring in every door. The combat was smooth and full of crunchy RPG goodness,
and quite a bit bloodier than I remember from Baldur’s Gate. Or perhaps the
graphics are just that much better nowadays. Regardless, I had a blast during
my time, and quite a line was forming behind me while I was hogging the
controls.
Dragon Age will be released for both the PC and Xbox 360,
followed a few weeks later by the PS3. I was told that the story will be the
same for all platforms, but the PC has the added benefit of the mouse-and-keyboard
controls that just feel right for this sort of game. The PC and Xbox 360
versions were available at the booth, and both looked and sounded great. I’m seriously looking
forward to the release of this one.