Review: Dragon Age: Origins


Platform: PlayStation 3/Xbox 360

Developer: BioWare

Publisher: EA

# of Players: 1

Rating: M (Mature)


Official Site

Score: A

Has BioWare ever made a bad game? I’m inclined to shout a defiant “No” towards the heavens, as I’ve enjoyed everything they’ve ever done, warts and all. Hell, I may be somewhat biased here, but at least I’m definitely right (that’s a little in-joke, by the way). Anyway, in terms of their RPG output, the company has a superb track record with everything from the Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights games to Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire and even oddities such as Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Of course, their two current console projects, the upcoming Mass Effect 2 and the recently released Dragon Age: Origins will be the games on RPG fans’ lips and minds for quite some time thanks to the developer’s ability to craft completely different sub-genres while consistently bringing gamers superb storytelling and deep, challenging gameplay.

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Review: Torchlight

Platform: PC

Developer: Runic Games

Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment/Encore

# of Players: 1

Rating:

Official Site

Score: A-

The joke’s on me, folks. When I first heard about Torchlight late last year, I somehow managed to get it confused with Twilight AND Torchwood and it immediately got ignored. Sorry, but I’m not a 13-year old girl with a vampire death wish on one hand and while I do like Torchwood a lot, a licensed game based on the series made me shudder a bit for all the wrong reasons. Anyway (and, yes. a BIG duh to the me), I happened to pop open a recent press release about the game a few months back and was pleasantly shocked and surprised that not only wasn’t this a licensed game, it was in my favorite genre AND it was looking quite like a spectacular sleeper, to boot.

So, how did it all turn out? Read on and see…

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