Dragon Age: Origins

"Truly epic single-player RPG with a compelling story.  Cynamite.com
"For as great as Knights of the Old Republic was in the day, Dragon Age: Origins simply trumps it.  Nathaniel Stevens, DigitalChumps.com

IGN.com 8 of 10
The traditional formula of creating a character, becoming a hero and saving the day is nothing new to BioWare. After all, this is the company that introduced classic role-playing game experiences to gamers everywhere with titles including Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. For Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare fleshed out its customary design by including radically different characters with unique backgrounds for gamers to experience. The result is that Dragon Age dwarfs other role-playing games in size and scale, and weaves in mature themes amidst a backdrop of chaos and destruction...The plot of Dragon Age is extremely rich with details that unfold over dozens of hours of play. All of this is documented in your in-game codex, which tracks conversations, plot points and other elements of your journey. The general backstory revolves around the Darkspawn threat to the land of Ferelden. Darkspawn are a race of creatures born from magic users who attempted to become gods, but were cursed for their efforts. Led by the powerful Arch-demon, the beasts emerge from underground lairs every few hundred years in a swarming plague known as the Blight...Incredibly deep and expansive, Dragon Age: Origins is one of those titles that can easily swallow up dozens of hours of play and keep you coming back for more. The fact that BioWare chose to include downloadable content, including a new character and side quest, on launch day proves that they have an extensive plan for supporting the game. Couple that with the fact that each character can be developed in radically different ways, and you have an adventure that earns its own place among BioWare's expansive RPG collection. While the visuals are a bit underwhelming and the difficulty is a bit easier on the consoles, this is still a great title. This is the kind of adventure that fantasy RPG fans have been hoping that BioWare would deliver ? a game with a ton of re-playability and an incredibly vivid world that is the start of an impressive franchise. - Jeff Haynes