Bioware released its latest RPG, Dragon Age: Origins, recently, and I now feel that I have played it enough to express my opinion.

Dragon Age: Origins is one of the best RPG's I have ever played, to put it simply.

But to put it less simply, here is a not half-assed (full-assed?) review.

Gameplay------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gameplay in DA:O is your standard Bioware pause-and play tactical battle. You have the choice of playing it in a third person view, as in Knights of the Old Republic, or in a birds-eye view, like in Baldur's gate. Any player of either previously mentioned game will be right at home. It works as well as ever, with only a few annoyances such as camera colliding with high standing buildings, or characters getting stuck on enemies in battle.

A high point would be having only one character left, and somehow managing to survive a horde of angry baddies by my lonesome self.

A low point would be the sometimes obnoxious difficulty bringing the game to a complete standstill.

Graphics--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The graphics are certainly less-than-stellar. Which is to not say that they are bad, but that they are not amazing. The scenes were I was actually impressed by the graphics were few and far between, and there are some parts where they just seem ugly and unnatural. There are some graphical errors that can rip you out of the immersion, but luckily they do not occur often.

The graphical high-points are probably when talking to one of your companions next to a campfire. The faces look great, and the fire glistens off them nicely to make a great atmospheric picture to look at when talking to them.

A low-point would be getting the camera stuck on the opposite side of a wall and being bombarded by nasty polygons.

Story-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bioware is known for its story, and it lives up to what is expected wonderfully, and goes past that. You will start off in one of six origin stories, and will then quickly get to the main quest. The way NPC's treat you will change depend on your story, and it does feel that your decisions actually matter. It also manages to make the origin story feel like a long past event, which makes the references back to it almost nostalgic. The game also will have characters that you will like. The characters feel real and and react realistically.

High points are difficult not to find in this game.

A low point would be the occasional "Kill X of Y quest."

Sound------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is little to say about sound. Nothing is terribly annoying, nor catchy. The voice acting is good and rarely sounds bad.

A highpoint is Sandal's dialogue. I love that guy.

A lowpoint is the occasional slow talking shopkeeper that I have to listen to everytime I want to buy some health items.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In conclusion, Dragon Age: Origins is a supreme RPG that I reccomend to any fan of the genre. It's Role-playing at its best. Not to mention the great amount of gameplay that comes with it. I have played for twenty hours this point and, according to the game, have only discovered a quarter of the areas. The game also gives a large amount of replay value with achievements, different endings, sidequests, and the previously mentioned origin stories.

Now for the scoring. Of course, the different categories will change importance from game to game. So story and gameplay will be of higher importance than graphics.

Story: 39/40

Gameplay: 37/40

Graphics: 8/10

Sound: 8/10

+4 for that warm fuzzy feeling I get inside while playing it.

Overall: 96%

Get the damn game already.