BioWare is one of those companies whose games I buy sight unseen.  I don’t need to know what it’s about, just the fact that it’s a BioWare game is enough for me.  It’s a bit sad then, that Dragon Age has made me question that policy, just a little bit.  Don’t get me wrong, Dragon Age is a good game and I’m enjoying myself a great deal, but I’ve come to expect more from BioWare.

Dragon Age is a strange game to play, because it represents BioWare trying something new, but also BioWare adhering rigidly to the formula they’ve worked from for the last ten years.  The world that Bioware has created for the game is significantly darker than anything it’s done before; it’s a world of betrayal, prejudice, war and copious arterial spray.  Sadly, it all comes off as a little drab, with none of the splendour that characterises the fantasy genre and while it’s new ground for BioWare, it’s not new ground for games, as the Witcher beat them to it by a couple of years, and did it with more conviction too.

Oh yeah, Orzimmar is Ironforge.  Don’t think I didn’t notice, BioWare.

But while the world that BioWare has created is a departure for the company, the story that it created is not.  You are a fighter/mage/rogue, more capable than your youth would suggest, recruited to join the Grey Wardens and stand against the evil Darkspawn hordes.  Replace Grey Wardens with Jedi or Spectres, and Darkspawn – itself a singularly unimaginative name – with Sith or Geth, and the formula becomes obvious:  unusually capable hero + elite organisation + objectively evil army = BioWare game.  It’s the same story with the characters you meet; they’re all well written and well acted, but I’m sure I’ve met them somewhere before.

By the way BioWare, I liked Farscape too, but casting Claudia Black to play Aeryn Sun again is maybe taking it a bit far.

I can forgive the slightly formulaic nature of the story however, because while It’s not new story, it is one that I like.  What really lets Dragon Age down and actually makes it frustrating to play is the lacklustre combat.  There are many things I expect from a BioWare game, and tedious micro-management in combat is not of them.  As much as I like Alistair, in combat he is a moron, and forcing me to spend skill points, that I would much rather spend on herbalism or trap making or anything else, so that I can enact anything beyond the most rudimentary tactics is not compelling game design.

Also, regularly throwing up fights where we are outnumbered three to one, and then telling us to not let ourselves get surrounded is a little galling.

What’s really confusing is why BioWare has stuck this unimpressive tactics game on an otherwise decent RPG.  The only thing I can think of is that it is trying to replicate the gameplay of Baldur’s Gate, in which case, it’s memories of the game differ significantly from my own.  The Baldur’s Gate that I remember – which is actually BGII if I’m honest – was a game where the AI was smart enough to take care of itself for the most part, and only very occasionally, usually in a ‘boss fight’, did I have to control each character individually.  In Dragon Age I seem to be constantly pausing and directing, which is a first for me in a BioWare game, and not something I especially care for.

As I said, I’m enjoying Dragon Age a great deal, but I’m enjoying it despite of BioWare’s best efforts, not because of it.