The Contraband

Issue date: 2/1/10 Section: Entertainment

RPG extraordinaire Bioware has recently released Dragon Age Origins the spiritual successor to the popular Baldur's Gate series for the Xbox360, PS3, and the PC. Bioware describes the game as an "Epic of tale of violence, lust, and betrayal." Following the familiar but never stale formula for a Bioware rpg the game promises to bring quality game play with a sword and sorcery storyline, but with all the hype that has been surrounding Bioware's games recently it's hard to know whether the promising company will actually deliver or like so many others fall short of expectations.

The story is a dark heroic fantasy that fits right into the standard medieval story while still managing to feel original. Taking place in the realm of Ferelden gamers play a new recruit of the mythical warriors called the Grey Wardens who take up the mantle of saving the world from the demonic underground race known as the Darkspawn. While the game may seem like a rip off of Lord of the Rings the vastly catalogued back story and some rather unusual choices in lore make it apparent that the developers put a lot of time and effort into providing an engrossing story. While sticking to the sword and sorcery formula Dragon Age manages to make some certain changes such as elves being second class citizens instead of ancient caretakers of the world or mages living life in a gilded cage as the constant threat of forbidden blood magic and demonic possession forces them to live under the watchful eye of the Templars. Players will be able to choose their gender, race, class, and origin story. As the game suggests players will choose one of six unique origin stories that revolve around the chosen race (elf, human, and dwarf) and social background (noble, commoner, magi, ect).

Each of these origin stories are completely unique whether your are playing a downtrodden city elf whose had enough of abuse by humans or a dwarven noble caught up in never-ending political turmoil as the kings favored successor. From there the origin story gets you familiarized with the world and quickly descends into chaos as you are recruited into the Grey Wardens by the mysterious Duncan. From there you take part in the grizzly initiation ceremony and join the King as he hopes to destroy the darkspawn in a single glorious battle. Unfortunately disaster strikes and you find yourself among the last of the Grey Wardens left with the mission to unite the armies of Ferelden so that you can defeat the darkspawn and their Archdemon leader. Unfortunately the darkspawn is not the only problem in Ferelden as each group you hope to enlist is experiencing a crisis whether it is the elves running into a werewolf problem or the Circle of Magi are locked away trying to overcome the demons that have taken over their tower. So true to Bioware form the player is required to help each faction before they can commit troops to the final battle. Unlike previous Bioware games like Mass Effect or Knights of the Old Republic being a Grey Warden is not some glorious calling that leads to riches, fame, and happiness. Instead being a Grey Warden is filled with sacrifice, war, and suffering as you fight the Darkspawn at all costs.

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