i-Rix Review: Dragon Age II

This was originally posted on my GiantBomb.com profile. You can find that HERE.

Sequels will never be judged on their own merits. It's an almost sad fate that all are resigned to. When the original game is bad, middling, or only good, that leaves plenty of room for its successor to impress and improve. However, when the predecessor is a game that is so revered and praised as Dragon Age: Origins, where does that leave its sequel?

On its own merits, Dragon Age II is a great game with a darkly pessimistic narrative, smart tweaks to the formula in favor of accessibility, and tons of content for RPG buffs to sink their teeth into. It isn't (and shouldn't be) its differentiation from Origins that DAII should be condemned for. No, what makes DAII a great game, but disappointingly so, is the inherent lack of polish and immersion-shattering shortcuts throughout. They're surmountable, but they're things that shouldn't have to be surmounted.

STORY

Dragon Age II follows the rise of power of one Hawke. A refugee from Lothering on the continent of Ferelden, Hawke and his family flee the Blight for the city of Kirkwall in the Free Marches. Starting off in the slums, Hawke must rise out of the muck and corruption of the city in the prevailing years following the Warden's triumph from Origins. The player will form a rag-tag posse of his or her fellow down-trodden, and elevate them through a misguided trip to the Deep Roads, a foreign invasion, and a city-wide civil war.

On the whole, Dragon Age II plays with the idea that nobody is "perfect" more than its predecessor ever did. Every single one of your party members could be said to be nothing less than a scumbag, but it's that feeling that drives the narrative. Hawke is a desperate person driven to desperate measures, and throughout the various choices in the plot of DAII's central plot threads and secondary story lines, the player will find out just what they're willing to compromise in order to reach their desired ends. It isn't the sweeping call to arms that Origins was, and it even takes place primarily in a single city, but it's a far more personal story that plays on the more "real" elements in Dragon Age lore.

CONTENT

Being the single player RPG that it is, the campaign (and inevitable DLC release) is all you're getting with Dragon Age II. As such, I can only explain the content of DAII as it compares to another Bioware game, Mass Effect 2. If one takes the straight line approach, Dragon Age II takes an almost disturbingly short time to finish. However, if played that way, you're not really getting the narrative tapestry of the game. There are oodles upon oodles of side-quests and companion activities in the game, and they all play into your relationship with your party and the city itself. As such, depending on what you do and do not, you're going to get content that's either open or closed to you. Regardless, my personal playthrough which involved tons of side-questing and exploration of relationships led to a play time of just under 40 hours. That puts the content available in DAII at just about the standard for your average RPG.

GAMEPLAY

Having tons of content makes little different if you don't have a good time playing the game. Personally, as a console player, I hated playing Dragon Age: Origins. As a game, it's tough to "hate" playing it and still have a positive feel about the whole thing. That was because the experience and immersion quality was overwhelming in that game, and I'd say it is even more-so with Dragon Age II. This is partly because your character actually has a voice now, so rather than be a mute marionette for the story to happen around, you're actively taking part in it. This also goes for the fact that, spending the entire time in a single city, you become attached and integrated into its identity.

But that is also one of DAII's biggest problems. Where Bioware could have used this fact to design a city that was genuinely interesting and fun to romp around in, Kirkwall is fairly bland. You'll become acquainted with the same city centers that, by the time hour 10 rolls around, you're going to know Kirkwall like the back of your hand. That doesn't exactly scream ADVENTURE!

It also doesn't help that when your questing leads you out of the city, you'll encounter one of the more egregious errors Bioware commits here. Instead of constructing wholly unique locales, Dragon Age II relies almost exclusively on recycled dungeons, mansions, and warehouses. One has to simply inquire as to why this is. The game takes place in a single city with limited environments, was it truly a difficult task for the developers to come up with unique areas for the player to explore? It's true that the game is far less about an adventure than it is about presenting a more character-driven experience, but that doesn't excuse sending the player into the same environments being sold as being distinct from one another.

And although DAII does take a step backwards in that sense, I feel like it takes a greater step forward in terms of actual controls and gameplay. Again, I'm a console player, and Origins was primarily a PC gamer's game. With II, the gameplay is faster and more forgiving. Depth still exists in character building and setting up tactics, but things like character-position in battle and other micro-managing aspects are far less important. Personally, I found these additions make the game far more fun to play, but also one that doesn't have quite the satisfying or rewarding experience for strategy buffs. It's also worth noting that the player only has control over the armor that Hawke wears in-game, making a more stream-lined experience (again, like in Mass Effect 2), but one that doesn't necessarily have a positive or negative effect on the game.

PRESENTATION

Dragon Age II is a far better looking game than its predecessor, and yet it doesn't breach the ceiling of mediocrity. Although player models look and animate much better, everything still contains a very generic, blocky, and un-detailed look to it. The newly designed aesthetics give the game a better identity, but there is enough of the generic holdings on from the previous game that it's never wholly interesting to look at. Also, in the 360 version, there are some RIDICULOUS graphical glitches that permeate about 60% of the game's cutscenes. When models are shrinking and twitching during serious happenings, even if for a few seconds, it really jars one out of the experience.

Luckily, Bioware once again nails it on the sound front. A sweeping orchestral soundtrack backlights some fantastic voice-acting. Each character really feels human (or... Dwarven, Elven, or Qunari as the case may be), and it really helps with the feelings of attachment or resentment you'll feel for each. Hawke him or herself also is backed by a solid voice-actor, although they can occasionally skew a bit too far into the campy direction.

FINAL VERDICT

I don't think that sticking closer to Origins would have made Dragon Age II a better game, far from it. I think the distinctions and departures from the original are what make it a great game, and one that can stand on its own two feet. However, what I can fault DAII for are its genuine feeling of unpolished incompleteness. That doesn't mean it cannot be enjoyed, but when a game wishes you to drive double digit hours into its world, the experience best feel wholly immersive. You can, and I believe, should immerse yourself in Dragon Age II, but you may need to turn a blind eye to some of the uglier elements of the package.

Because of that, Dragon Age II slays a difficult 3 and 1/2 stars out of 5.