Dragon Age: Origins is an excellent step forward, however it fails to be a bold leap forward for western role-playing games. Bioware over the years has nearly perfected storytelling, as well as offering solid game-play. Dragon Age: Origins is hailed as the spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate series, one of my all time favorite series. It's become evident over the years that Bioware does best when given a framework, especially with games like Knights of the Old Republic.

Dragon Age: Origins starts off with an effective cut-scene describing the story. The kingdom of Feledren is in danger from a blight, creatures called Darkspawn threaten to destroy everything unless the Archdemon is destroyed. As a Grey Warden your the only hope Feledren has. The beginning of Dragon Age's narrative is strong, but begins to stall midway through the game. The ending especially leaves something to be desired, cut-scenes rather than text would have been a much better addition. Dragon Age: Origins saving grace from a narrative standpoint, is the fantastic character development from your companions. Each companion has an interesting back-story and none of them particularly like your character in the beginning. Each companion reacts to the the decisions you make, some can result in your companions turning on you. It's a tight rope always in danger of snapping. Dragon Age: Origins is filled with rich background that effectively immerses the player in the world. Many reviewers are quick to point out that Dragon Age is traditional fantasy. To put it simply, it's not.

Dragon Age: Origins is not a good looking game, it has mediocre character models, poor environmental textures and overall it fails to meet the grade. For those particularly picky about graphics, you may find it difficult to enjoy the experience. Their not terrible, just completely mediocre. The audio in Dragon Age: Origins is a completely different story. The game has excellent sound effects, music, and exceptional voice acting. Notable voice actors include, Tim Curry, Claudia Black, Kate Mulgrew, Tim Russ and Steve Valentine. The only downside to the audio is that the player controlled character doesn't speak. This was a disappointing decision, especially since I was a huge fan of Mass Effect. It generally adds to the games immersion, something Bioware excels at.

Dragon Age: Origins combat is real time, however the player can choose to pause the game by selecting a combat wheel. This combat wheel allows the player to heal, cast spells, abilities, or even switch companions. On higher difficulties the combat wheel is essential to staying alive. Each character class is a blast to play with, especially the mage. The mage is stacked with spells and abilities, and like every class has the option to learn a sub-class. The warrior and thief have less skills, which is a slight disappointment. The combat at some points can become stale however, slick finishing animations help make the combat a bit more flashy. It would have been nice to see more of them.

Overall, Dragon Age: Origins is another great title from Bioware. The origin stories for each race are well thought out, the narrative is solid, and character development is outstanding. The game suffers from frequent frame rate drops and some other technical issues. Audio cutting out, freezes, and ground hog's day in Dragon Age(the game rewinding), are among the most notable issues. The game runs around 40-60 hours for each play-through, with exceptional replay value. New copies also carry vouchers for downloadable content. If you are on the fence about Dragon Age: Origins and enjoy western role-playing experiences, I suggest giving it a try.