Review: Dragon Age: Origins Awakening

by Michael Camacho [ Monday, 22nd of March 2010 - 03:50 PM ]

It has only been four months since Dragon Age: Origins was released by Bioware, and already they have released one DLC (Return to Orzammar) and now we have the first full expansion pack, known as Awakening. For those who have completed the main game, this is your chance to take your character(s) and continue their story and development.

Bioware does a good job with continuity story wise - as some decisions you made in the first one carry over to the expansion. You will even come across quite a few members of your group from the original game, but only one is available as a playable character in Awakening. Your character will keep all stats and abilities from the first game, but not all of your items will follow your character to the new game. I found this out the hard way when I was stuck punching enemies as the game began.

You begin this game by arriving at Vigil's Keep to take command of the Grey Wardens, only to find that Darkspawn have attacked. You quickly jump into action to defeat the Darkspawn and save the Keep. Once you defend Vigil's Keep from the Darkspawn, you begin your new campaign to find out why the Darkspawn have not retreated and are now showing individual intelligence.

As you go through the story, you have the option to recruit other characters to your party. This is all optional, as you can deny them, and in some cases, flat out kill the character. Unlike the original, and actually very similar to Mass Effect 2, all your actions effect the outcome of the game. Yes your decisions are still key to the outcome as in all Bioware games, but the people you recruit, how you handle their personal quests, and how you upgrade your army, the Keep, and weapons are key to your success in the end. At the end of the game, you are forced to make a decision that is almost as tough of a choice as the ones you make towards the end of Mass Effect 2.

A new addition are court sessions amongst nobles and commoners in your land. After each major section of the story, you can go back to the keep and engage in these sessions. You get to decide how to handle punishments for crimes, disputes amongst different parties, and more. I really enjoyed having this kind of influence over the story and the people you rule over. It really helps to engage you as a player even more into the story and character you are developing.

Combat and leveling are still the same as the original, so you won't find any surprises in this department. Bioware has added new Specializations to each class to improve upon the abilities already available to each character. The level cap has been raised, as I reached level 31 by the time I finished the game. There is also no real change or upgrade to the boss battles. I did find it rather disappointing that every boss is very similar to everything you defeated in the original game.

While the majority of the expansion pack is an excellent piece of work by Bioware, there are a lot of glaring omissions and faults to be found in the game. The glitches and mistakes are many and at times can have negative affects. At one point, I had gone up to the upper level of the city walls, only to be engaged in battle with enemies below. I could neither target them from above, nor could I gain access to the ground level, as the doors were not selectable. This caused me to reload a previous save and lose about an hour of playtime. Another time, I entered an area and the mini-map was non existent. It was completely black with a gray triangle showing which direction I was facing. I also encountered graphical glitches in which one character briefly looked like she had spikes coming out of her hands during a cut scene.

While the story is a great continuation, the new characters aren't always as good or as developed as the original. While a few of the characters really stand out, a couple feel dry and bland and lack the great personality commonly found in Origins. Another issue is the lack of romance in this expansion; this was something that was really pushed in Origins. This problem isn't exclusive to romancing party members, but the fact that depending on who you romanced in Origins, you may not even see them in this expansion. Depending on who that was, you may only end up with only some mention of it in text at the end of the game.

All in all, despite the flaws and lack of polish that Awakening suffers from, the game is a solid continuation of the story for fans of Dragon Age: Origins. Depending on how you decide to play out the storyline, this game will range between 20 and 30 hours of gameplay. None of the listed faults will completely hinder your enjoyment of Dragon Age: Origins Awakening, and the amount of content available for the price is well worth the investment.

Michael purchased Dragon Age: Origins Awakening for the XBox 360 and received no considerations from Electronic Arts or Bioware.