This Review is for the PC Version Of Dragon Age 2:

I'm just going to get it out of the way Dragon Age 2 is not as good as Dragon Age: Origins, however it is a good game in it's own right. Dragon Age 2 is set in the fantasy world of Thedas focusing on the city of Kirkwall, unlike its predecessor which was set in the country of Ferelden. While being confined to Kirkwall and it's surrounding areas Dragon Age 2 doesn't feel like a small game compared to the Origins, Bioware has crafted a story that spans a decade which makes the game feel big as time passes by and the story marches on to it's awesome but cliffhanger ending.

In Dragon Age 2 Bioware set out a plan to improve upon Origins and to be bold, in parts they succeeded but their plan of boldness took out or edited some elements of the original game that we're already good to begin with. The game starts as you pick a human hero or heroine and what class you want to be, choices stay the same as the previous game letting you choose from Mage, Warrior and Rogue and the game throws you into a framed narrative as Varric a Dwarven storyteller is forced to recount the true events of what happened to Hawke the Champion of Kirkwall i.e. you by Cassandra a chantry seeker. The lack of picking your own race maybe a little disappointing but the benefit is that now your character is fully voiced with a Mass Effect style dialogue tree which helps create more of an emotional connection not only to your character but to others you interact with. The game is split into three acts which will see you playing Hawke's tale as he/she rises up from a poor Ferelden refugee to become a major player in the city of Kirkwall. The framed narrative which I really enjoyed in the end did nothing well in the first act of the game, it was hard to know what was going on with the plot, and doesn't make you care at all to what you're suppose to be doing, in the end act one becomes a major quest fetch and becomes a sort of mindless task of going from one spot do a quest, go to another spot do another quest and then hand in that earlier quest. At times in the first act I didn't think that this framed narrative was going to work at all, I wasn't enjoying the game too much as the first act lacked focus, but it was in these times of doubt that Dragon Age 2 began to shine, whipping back to present day Varric and Cassandra just to hear a little teaser of what is about to transpire always peaked my interest and rejuvenated me to carry on with the game. As the game moves on into Act 2 and 3 things steadily improve constantly adding focus so that when you come back to the present, those scenes continually add momentum to the story so that when you reach the end the story is a satisfying one filled with choices that are not necessarily split between black and white, not often can a game pull off a cliffhanger ending which doesn't make me frustrated but Dragon Age 2 pulls it off with flying colours delivering a story with weight, including some great cameos and creating a scenario that all Dragon Age fans will be looking forward to.

The real stars of Dragon Age 2 are the companions you encounter throughout your journey, it has become a shining part of Bioware RPGs to have followers who feel real and actual make you feel emotion towards them whether it be hate or love, although there's no one who's going to hold a candle to the bromance my elf and Alistair had in the original(although Anders did try but I really think he just wanted to have sex with me), I still found characters who will become some of my favourite companions in the Dragon Age series and some who I will hate forever(yeah I'm talking about you Fenris! Bloody emo elf). The ranging emotions and believability of these characters is helped thanks to the terrific voice acting this game has, Bioware nails this down with even minor characters having good voice actors making the world feel alive and engaging. One of my favourite aspects of the game was seeing how my companions reacted with each other, party back chat is one of the games strengths but just seeing that through cut scenes of companions actively talking to one another and hearing it in their back chat had a mesmerizing effect on me. Again Dragon Age 2 offers romance possible for any sexual orientation, these are taken care of very well with how you approach each romance seeming appropriate to the character who you are romancing but the sex is awkward like in most video games. My only complaints for companions is that during my first play-through as a rogue I felt that I was always forced to have two of the same companions with me, as Anders is the only true healer in your fold and Aveline is the only proper tank which made me spend most of the game bring them two around and giving the third place in the group to any of the others. This was a real shame as the back party chatter was so good and how it worked with different groups of people with me it would have been nice to have opened up more possible pathways for companions to level up in so that I could of mixed a matched a bit more. Also you can no longer equip companions with armor of your choosing instead all you can do is fork over some gold to buy upgrades to their armor which is a shame as the amount of loot you get you end up selling the majority of it.

One of the biggest changes to the series is the combat has been overhauled, gone is the slow combat of origins and awakening instead replaced by a fast paced but still tactical system. Without a doubt parts of the system are a welcome to the franchise as the combat is fun and was joy to participate in, however the removal of the tactical view had me screaming at points because of the frantic nature of the combat damage is dealt quicker and things transpire in battle a lot faster making some of the bigger battles a pain to deal with, especially when I'm looking to make use of cross class combos and position my group in tactical positions in one go instead of now having to hop to each single one and place them myself. Tactics are still in place so you have your companions react in combat the way you want them too, I used this feature more this time around than in origins due to the fast paced combat. A big shame is that there isn't too many new enemy types to you'll spend most of the game fighting the same enemy types you faced off against in origins and the few new enemy types you come across only make a brief stint here and there in the game, however bosses even though few in number were very fun to fight against and provide a World of Warcraft dungeon style boss for you to fight against. Skill trees have been overhauled and while there has been a clear sign of trimming they don't feel at all dumbed down and still let you play various different ways and still have fun in doing so.

The graphics have also had a facelift to give the Dragon Age series it's own style and while the engine doesn't make you scream from the top of your lungs at how pretty it is the game still looks a lot better and more defined, with quanari and elves getting a makeover to make them seem different than just humans with pointy ears. However the design and look of dungeons can't be credited as Bioware seem to have taken a step back to the original Mass Effect with having only a handful of dungeons and recycling them constantly all the way through the game and just have certain corridors blocked off to try and fake the player into believing this is a different area when in fact it isn't.

Dragon Age 2 isn't going to give you that same feeling the original did however you shouldn't let that stop you from picking up this game. Whilst Bioware still needs to find a good balance and improve upon dungeon design Dragon Age 2 is a game you will want to play just for the terrific combat and the excellent story and with the promise of post release DLC there is more than enough of reason to keep playing this one