Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon Age: Origins is an outstanding game on all levels, one of the best in recent years perhaps. If there was one thing that wasn't quite so good, it was that some of the outdoor background art were a little flat-looking. Other than that, the graphics were not bad at all despite the numerous criticism it has gotten on Amazon. The characters look well-modelled at least, the colours are atmospheric and help make the world and adventure believable and the voices do sync well with the lip movements. The music has moments where it is rousing and others where it's eloquent, overall it's well written and synchronises with everything with never a jarring note. The story is rich in detail and characterisation, totally immersive in its blend of fantasy, adventure and action and you are genuinely transported into the world the characters inhabit. The game play is varied and not overly-simplistic or overly-complex(even if at times Alistair was perhaps too easy to kill, but really that's part of the fun). What was also impressive was the balance of game play and story, they added so much to one another and there wasn't a time where there was too much or little of one. The writing and the voice acting stood out the most. The writing is incredibly intelligent and thought-provoking with some well-judged light-hearted humour for contrast, doing wonderfully in giving the characters distinctive personalities and emotional impact. The character interaction is strong and never stiff. And the voice work adds so much to those qualities, everybody is wonderful and nobody bad but in particular Kate Mulgrew is quietly firm and authoritative and Tim Curry has that subtle smarmy malevolence spot-on. All in all, an outstanding game. 10/10 Bethany Cox