Finally got Dragon Age up and running on my system at home. Can’t play this thing at The Bunker as I keep getting interrupted. Here’s what I think so far (I’m only 10% of the way through):

1)      The game started on a slow note. I was initially peeved at having limited choices with regards to choice of race and class but later realized it’s much deeper than it looks at first.

2)      The engine looks a little dated, surprising seeing as how it’s been launched so much later after Mass Effect.

3)      The mouse scroll to change between old school isometric and third person view works well. I do wish that you could pull back the camera a tad bit more in isometric though.

4)      Nice take on lore here. Elves as a slave race? Wow. And humans are absolute pricks (No surprises there).

5)      Voice acting is spot on. Bioware does know how to inject personality into everyone you meet, even non essential characters.

6)      Hmm… the videos could have used some more work; the central character never speaks in cut scenes. And even NPC facial animations seem a little off. This seems like a step back after Mass Effect’s cinematics. No biggie however.

7)      There is some heavy Lord of the Rings influences in the game (Don’t worry, it’s all good).

8)      The world seems alive. There’s a lot of history here and tomes full of lore. Well done devs!

9)      Combat is no cake walk. Diablo fans should start worrying. Hack and slash tactics will get you killed every time. It’s more akin to chess. All the pieces need to be placed right. Positioning is everything here. It’s tempting to call the battles hard but that would not be accurate. It’s challenging sure but not difficult if you know what you are doing. Baldur’s Gate fans will feel right at home. Backstabs FTW!

10)   Party members seem interesting enough. It’s becoming clear that keeping all of them happy is not going to be easy. Excellent.

All in all Bioware seems to have delivered another winner. The full review might take a while as I can already see this is going to be a long game. There have already been some interesting plot twists and I find myself getting sucked into the world completely.

For Ferelden!

I just went through the L4D2 demo a couple of times this morning. Felt like visiting an old friend. An old friend that’s had some cosmetic surgery and genetic modding done. From the precious little Valve has released in the demo, it seems there’s enough new stuff here to keep most of us happy.

One thing I noticed right off the bat was how much more gory the sequel will be. Limbs fly off; holes show up in zombie bellies, more than few keep coming at you even after losing a limb or two. There’s blood everywhere. Nice! The weapons handle pretty much the same way and seem to have more “oomph” although why there’s a silenced SMG in there is anyone’s guess. The real fun begins when you pick up a melee weapon. I had tons of fun going ape with a machete. Take that stupid undead! I must stress here that ammo did seem to be in short supply. This could, however, just be because I was making no attempt to control my bursts of fire (I was having too much fun).

Being limited in carrying capacity does force you to take more tactical decisions. No longer are your choices limited to either pipe bombs or molotovs. Now, it’s more like choosing between frying pan or magnum, pills or adrenaline, med kit or defibrillator (revive dead team mates FTW!),  pipe bombs or hmm… what’s this? Toxic goo?!?! Oh yes please.

Of the new special infected, I found the “Jockey” to be most interesting. I foresee this one becoming my favorite in versus mode. The “Charger”, however, seemed very under whelming in that it had very little health (in normal difficulty). The new additions are certainly going to open up a world of possibilities in versus mode.

The demo did not feature any incendiary ammo, grenade launchers or fire proof zombies that will make it in the final game. The thing I missed the most was the chainsaw. Aaaw! Leaving that out of this little treat was just unfair.

Judging by the demo, L4D veterans will likely breeze through the campaigns in their sleep. Versus mode, however, is going to need some serious team tactics. Closet camping is going to be tantamount to suicide.

On the whole though, the game promises to be a lot of fun for newbies and vets alike. Now, excuse me while I go sharpen my machete in preparation for launch day.

(This is a link to a game play video of a console version if you don’t want to bother with downloading the demo.)