Don’t listen to the murmurings of late that Dragon Age: Origins is some kind of innovatory departure from traditional fantasy. That’s just the game’s marketing machine attempting to expose a new audience to the product through metaphorically shaking off its associations with Dungeons & Dragons anorak-wearing stereotypes. It has no basis in reality. Because the truth of it is that fantasy doesn’t really come any more traditional than this.

There are elves who sport dangly earrings, ornate bows, twin knives on their backs and croon piously over the ills of the blighted forest. There are dwarves who drink too much, style their hirsute faces in a mass of platted ginger macramé and live in cavernous subterranean cities where they pine after precious rock and gem. There are humans of different factions, each neck-deep in political skulduggery – blood-heirs and wicked usurpers abound. And in all but name, there are Orcs galore – here called Darkspawn – and living trees who, naturally, take… a… very… long time… to… say… anything… hooom, hooooom! If this all sounds remarkably like The Lord Of The Rings, then you’d be right. It’s exactly like it. The game even goes as far as to thematically steal key scenes from Peter Jackson’s trilogy of blockbusters, albeit to admittedly spectacular dramatic effect.

But staying very much in the safe zone when it comes to exploring a fantasy setting is no bad thing in the hands of BioWare. Ratchet the clock back a couple of years and the developer’s last original IP, Mass Effect, pretty much did for Star Wars what Origins is now doing for The Lord Of The Rings. That is to say; taking the best bits from an arguably tired genre, stuffing it with just enough meme to wield a comforting level of familiarity, then channelling new zeal back into its broken cadaver.

BioWare primarily achieves this via character. Those with whom you meet, befriend or manufacture enmity – despite the game’s boilerplate visuals – are more interesting and lifelike than any we’ve come across this generation (if that comes across as an insult to other RPG developers, then it’s because that’s exactly how it’s meant – it’s about time someone gave them a kick up the bum). As well as being, broadly speaking, well-acted, they are unpredictable, reactionary, emotional and bar none bring their own agenda, which will sometimes gel with your own, sometimes not. And it’s your ability to manage the goals of those around you that will see you weave your way deeper into Origins’ malleable storyline.

Friends and enemies are by no means set in stone. From the very outset your choice of race and character class will define your back story – one which is played out uniquely in the first couple of hours and whose afterimage echo’s throughout what remains – not least because those who decide to join your quest will differ from player to player. But what is truly remarkable is that these interchangeable followers not only gel neatly into the game’s main plot, but are also fluid in their feelings about both you, and each other. At various points you’ll have to decide whether you wish to capitulate in assisting them to meet their own goals – be those good, evil, or entirely unclear.

… continued