PC Game Review: Dragon Age II

The Dragon rises again


PC Game Review: Dragon Age II (M18)


Also available for Xbox 360 and PS3


Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

by Trevor Tan
04:46 AM Apr 06, 2011

IF YOU liked Bioware's excellent fantasy role-playing game (RPG) Dragon Age: Origins (DAO), you will agree that its sequel, Dragon Age II (DA2) is to die for.

You start by customising the protagonist by choosing a name and gender. Hawke (our choice) flees his hometown of Lothering in the country of Ferelden (where DAO is set) to avoid the demonic Darkspawns. He ends up as a refugee in the neighbouring city-state of Kirkwall.

The story is predictable, but the journey is full of twists and turns with plenty of difficult decisions and moral choices that places the life of your companions firmly in your grasp.

Not all of the companions are actually vital to the story but they will follow you for a purpose. Talk to them often and you can flirt your way into a romance or get wind of a new quest.

Apart from the main and companion quests, there are side quests that range from rescuing someone's brother from Darkspawns to investigating mysteries of sorts.

And when it is Hawke's turn to speak, you can choose to repartee in a cheeky, aggressive or kind temper via the dialogue wheel borrowed from Bioware's sci-fi RPG Mass Effect.

The voice actors did a fabulous job in giving each character their personalities. In addition, the facial expressions of the characters are life-like: You almost feel a tinge of guilt when a companion looks disappointed after a decision of yours differs from her beliefs.

While the voice acting, orchestra soundtrack and audio effects are superb; the quality of the graphics is a mixed bag. The environments, from the city to the coast, look splendid and grandiose, but the textures on the characters and their clothing leave much to be desired.

There is a high-resolution texture pack that you can download separately but you will need a DirectX 11-capable graphics card to see the results.

Unlike in DAO where you have a whole country to explore in Ferelden, in DA2 you are stuck in Kirkwall and the nearby Wounded Coast. You also won't get as many random encounters, but there are still plenty of enemies to fight.

The combat mode is pretty much similar to DAO's - you have control over anyone in your party and you can assign combat behaviours in all the characters. However, you can change the weapons of your troop but not their armour.

A feature of the game lets you pause and issue orders during combat. This means you can send your rogue to backstab and stun your enemy before sending your warrior for the kill, as your mage heals the entire party at the same time.

The pace of combat in DA2 feels faster with spells and skills refreshing much quicker than in DAO. Animation during combat looks fantastic but can be a bloody mess at times.

My biggest quirk with DA2 is the camera angle which can get awkward and obstruct your view during combat. Even though you can rotate and zoom out to a certain extent, you can't switch to a tactical view as in DAO.

Overall, the gameplay is still addictive as you strive to finish the quests and fight your way to unravel the stories. Before you know it, it is 4am in the morning. Even if you rush through this game, you will have at least 30 hours of playtime.

Trevor Tan



VERDICT

While not as groundbreaking and breathtaking as its predecessor, Dragon Age II is still an extraordinary role-playing game with its addictive gameplay, multitude of quests, heart wrenching moral choices and engaging story.

Source: www.todayonline.com