Dragon Age Awakening Review
Posted on 21. Mar, 2010 by Rock'nRolf in PC RPG Reviews
The draconic head of the Darkspawn is dead, the world is saved and there are warm, fuzzy feelings aplenty. But did everyone live happily ever after? Of course not. If so, how would BioWare be able to roll out new gigantic expansions. Shortly after the events in Dragon Age: Origins you head off for the northeastern part of Ferelden, to a keep previously associated with the Howe’s. The Gray Wardens have seized a fortress and this is the starting point for the coming adventures.
Before the expansion starts, you can choose whether you want to import your old hero or create a new one from Orlais – if so, the game assumes that there was no Gray Warden left in the country f Ferelden. Creating a new character is probably not an option for most players, but in case you didn’t build a great one in Origins it could be an alternative worth considering. Otherwise – just like in Mass Effect 2 – all of your decisions and relationships from the first part will carry over, as well as your equipment.
As the new leader of the Gray Wardens, your new responsibilities include settling disputes; decide how resources should be allocated, and judge in criminal proceedings among other things. There is no way to make everyone happy, but you can still choose between playing the villain or the hero in lots of situations.
New Features and Characters
The expansion has a lot in common with the original story. You get several new quests right away, one of which is the main quest, but you can choose in what order you want to do them and skip some if you want to. You have a sizeable to-do list in Awakening, and some of the side quests are pretty short and to the point, which ups the overall tempo of the game.
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As this is a real expansion, it means new abilities (including an extra specialization slot) and a new colorful cast of characters, although some of your old friends will also show up of course. It looks like BioWare has put some extra effort into the visuals – all of the basic mechanics of the game engine are still there, but the environments and items have been given extra details.
Unless you had already reached higher, you start at level 18. There’s a host of new abilities once you reach level 20 and above, which adds a lot of new options for character customization. However, since your characters are now so strong, the game feels somewhat easier than the first part of Dragon Age: Origins. It’s not as likely that you get your butt kicked by surprise. New passive abilities enhance your health or mana, and new potions let warriors and thieves increase their stamina even further.
Summary
Dragon Age: Origins Awakening is a worthy expansion for one of the best RPG experiences right now, and it’s definitely worth the money. It adds a major new campaign that further develops the game world and expands and improves on an already brilliant RPG. Considering all the cheap downloadable content that is so popular these days, it’s worth pointing out that this is an old-school expansion, which genuinely adds another dimension to the game and at least two dozen hours of new gaming.
(9/10)
Box Matthews
Mar 21st, 2010
It’s sad that no game still measures up to Baldur’s Gate II. DA:O comes close though. It’s a lot better than NWN
Ryan
Mar 21st, 2010
What’s wrong with NWN?
Tile
Mar 28th, 2010
MMmm, people keep saying that this game rivals NWN pretty good and that’s one of my favourite RPGs of all time.
I’ll have to get around to playing this. Great review Rolf.
Rock'nRolf
Mar 30th, 2010
@Tile,
Thanks! and yes, this is definitely on par with NWN. Only sometimes I wish it was another Forgotten Realms game