Game Details:

PC Recommended:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz Processor or equivalent

CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 Triple core 2.8 GHz or equivalent

RAM: 2GB (4 GB Vista and Windows 7)

Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater

Video: NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater

DirectX 11 Video: ATI 5850 or greater

DirectX 11 Video: NVIDIA 460 or greater

PC Minimum:

OS: Windows XP with SP3, Windows Vista with SP2, or Windows 7

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo (or equivalent) running at 1.8 GHz or greater

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 (or equivalent) running at 1.8 GHz or greater

RAM: 1 GB (1.5 GB Vista and Windows 7)

Video: ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB

Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256 MB cards

Disc Drive: DVD ROM drive required

Hard Drive: 7 GB

Sound: Direct X 9.0c Compatible Sound Card Windows Experience Index: 4.5

The first Dragon Age game was decent, but it needed more of a storyline. I am glad to say this game has a good storyline, a few game play improvements, and better characters. What things it did good though are small compared to the other issues that plague the game. I expected this game to be mediocre when I started playing this game, and it that didn't change as I completed it.

The story was much better than the first game, but lacked a proper ending. I did enjoy the story as far as it went, but I found it let far too many unanswered questions and made the game feel incomplete. I understand they are trying to leave it open for another game, but we can have a solid ending and still have an opening for a sequel. The entire game as it is all about how your character got his/her title, but just when things get good and interesting, the game ends. The fact that you basically know what your character will become at the beginning of the game is also a letdown. Sure you don't know what your character did to get to this point, but it is like reading the last few pages of a novel, then starting at the beginning of the book. I prefer to play my game without knowing how it ends. The embellishment areas of the story were a good touch, and were much more fun than the rest of the game..

The graphics were slightly better than the original, but still nothing to brag about. The interface was clean looking, but had some issues with the tool tips staying open during cut scenes if you were pointing to one of the quick bar options just before. Some of the models for the characters were unpolished as you could see pieces missing or the clothing didn't fit properly so there were blank spaces.

The music wasn't anything special as well; no memorable songs or catchy tunes and just seemed to be there like the ambient sounds. The speech for your character and the companions is much more polished than the first game, but some NPCs still seemed poorly done. Some also seem to be recorded so quiet that it is almost impossible to hear what they were saying with music and environmental sounds still going on, but it didn't happen very often.

The main areas of the game were very well done and polished, although running through the same areas over and over again got repetitive really fast. Most of the secondary side quest areas are just repeats of the same map, often with areas blocked off, but without updating the mini map. If you rely on the map to make sure you visited everywhere, forget about it as it is useless most of the time. The game would of been a lot better with functioning maps, areas that weren't always reused and with more areas to explore.

The combat is much more polished than any of Bioware's previous Fantasy RPGs, but that doesn't say much. I can't believe that much of the game still goes back to the click to fight game mechanic used in almost all of their RPGs; Mass Effect being one of the exceptions. I was a bit disappointed with how much time was spent in pause during combat as the only option to quickly attack anything was the "Target closest and attack" button. That was helpful in small skirmishes on the streets of Kirkwall, but anything where you needed to take down certain enemies before they killed the rest of your party, pausing, then clicking the enemies you wanted them to attack, then resuming, was the best method. Not being able to zoom out as much as you could in DA:Origins really hurt on some battles when strategizing was key, but thankfully there were only a handful of battles that could have used it.

The skills were, for the most part, very responsive in battle and most were able to be used in quick succession. Some of the spells, most notably Heal, seemed to either take a long time to be used, or suddenly the character using it will get distracted and just forget the command you gave them. The tree's themselves were better than they were in Origins, but it is still frustrating to have to pick 4 skills you don't want, just to unlock the one you are looking for. It would of been not too bad, except for the fact that many are level locked so you can't advance in one tree as much as you want earlier on in the game. This is not too bad for melee characters, but for archers or mages, it seemed like they were almost useless until the end of first act.

The AI in this game, both for allies and enemies, it barely passable. Your allies will fire off spells and attack enemies in a random manor and but they seem to use skills only when they would be useful. Unfortunately they had tenancies to run over detected traps, stand in the middle of an area that is doing constant damage to them, and stand stupidly in your way when blocking a door. Enemies, depending on your difficulty level, can have almost no intelligence other than attack something that is not them, to take out the most valuable character in your party faster than you can pause and heal them. Certain regular enemies (archers and spell casters) are far too powerful in some areas and can tear through your party before your melee characters can reach them at times, even on easy.

One of the most best areas of the game is the character interaction. Gone is the numbered options for conversation, instead you have a dialogue wheel similar to Mass Effect, but improved on so you can now tell what you are getting yourself into. Also your character will have different lines in the middle of cut scenes based on the dialogue choices you made in the previous conversations. Your companions are very well developed and have a huge range of conversations they will have with your character and other members of your party. DA:Origins had this as well, but it has been improved on a lot and doesn't seem to repeat anymore once they have nothing new to say. I found though that once you figured out which group worked best with your main character, the other characters were never used except for their own quests.

Even though the game had a good story and characters, it was plagued by a poor character AI, unbalanced combat, graphical issues and an ending that seems more like an end of a preface, I can't really recommend this game. If you loved the first Dragon Age, you might want to give it a try. Fans of RPGs will find it tolerable, but anyone new the genre will be turned off by many of the game play choices and unforgiving bosses. It seems that Bioware has forgotten how to make memorable Fantasy RPGs as I haven't seen anything special since the Baldur's Gate series. They should probably just stick with Science Fiction games until they figure out how to make a great Fantasy game again.