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Game Review: Dragon Age: Origins

Josh Salem — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:46:24 +0000

Like blood? No… I mean, do you REALLY like blood?

If you answered yes, and also have a fancy for dragons, fantasy, compelling story, in depth character evolution, complete voice acting, and a really really long story that I believe Bioware’s Edmonton office has created the perfect game for you.

Dragon Age: Origins developed by Bioware (the same fine folks who brought us Mass Effect) have taken the next evolutionary step in interactive story telling in both intensity, depth, and fantasy. Moving back to their Baulder’s Gate style roots and away from the sci-fi they recently gained fame for, Dragon Age: Origins has you starting out in one of six origin stories (as a noble human, peasant human, wood elf, city elf, noble dwarf, or casteless dwarf) but have you essentially fighting to save all races and creeds against the Archdemon and the Blight. However the story begins, it provides insight and a background to where you came from, how you became a Grey Warden (a group of soldiers whom can sense evil and are tasked with defeating the Blight) and sends you off on your merry adventure where you meet dozens of characters who with a little finesse can become invaluable allies in your battle (letting you control up to four characters at one time) or… with a little fast clicking can have you killing them on the spot (trust me, I’ve killed at least two potential allies so far).

He's right behind me... Isn't he?

The game is all about choices, much like other Bioware favourites, but for this one, they go deep in morality it goes beyond just deciding if you want to be greedy, evil, good, or psychotic. For example, a simple choice in the game is whether you want to call down a massively strong dragon to fight against you or just sneak by… easy enough. How about choosing a side between two equally capable and equally evil dwarfs to take the throne as dwarf king? How do you know you’re making the right choice, how will the story evolve if you make one decision over another? So far the hardest choice I made in Origins beyond deciding how to level up my characters was to kill a young innocent boy harbouring a demon inside him, or find a way to exorcise the demon and save the boy… unfortunately for the boy, I have been on a tight deadline to write this review… so he died. Speaking of tight deadlines, since getting my grubby little paws on this title I’ve pretty much done nothing but play, and with well over 24 hours under my belt, I still feel like I’m barely scratching the surface of this massive game, which touts over 80 hours of gameplay.

Aside from decision making, gameplay within Origins can be utilized in two different ways. Players have the option of setting a basic set of guidelines their AI companions can follow much like the Gambit system in Final Fantasy 12. As your characters get stronger, more rules can be set for them (such as if an ally has 50% less health, use health potion on them), while the player controls the main character from an over the shoulder view in a more action type manner. Alternatively, players can change the view to a top down approach (like Baulder’s Gate), pause the game at any time and assign actions to all characters, unpause and watch the mayhem. Combinations of spells as well as elements also provide a deeper sense of customization (throw grease on a bad guy, then cast a fire spell and see what happens).

Graphically, Dragon Age: Origins uses a new engine called Eclipse, and while I’m not sure exactly what it does better than other engines, I do know this… it makes Origins pretty. With plenty of characters on the screen at once, all doing god knows what in the form of attacks, spells, and other abilities, I was amazed that the detail and effects that would be shown on screen without a lick of slowdown. As well, I was intrigued by the blood system. There is A LOT of blood in this game, and often after a battle, that blood will be left on you and your party until either your wardog cleans it up, or after a good rest. The character and location designs are all extremely unique from the DarkSpawn, to demons, to the dragons themselves; they’re all just as varied and detailed as the forests, cities, and caverns you visit along the way. The only instance where I felt a little cheated was in the Dwarven city that looked a heck of a lot like the Dwarven city in World of Warcraft.

I think my favourite thing about Dragon Age: Origins has to be the voice acting. With tons of dialogue between characters, and multiple decisions about what to respond with I was amazed with the amount of voice acting to be found in this game. Aside from your main character (most of the time) every peice of dialogue in the game is voice acted. Consider for a moment how long this game is, over 80 hours long, and with very busy cities and many people to talk to, the amount of voice acting is at such a high number that I cannot even wager a guess to how much hours of speech are included in the game. Music, slicing, and grunts are all included and play well within the game, however I find that the musical change right before battle takes away from the surprise element of it.

Equal rights.

In terms of lasting appeal, while Origins has no multiplayer, the game itself is ridiculously long, and addictive! In a time where I have Borderlands, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, and Left 4 Dead 2 sitting on my shelf; I find myself playing this title more than all four of those combined. That being said even if you do complete the story and all side quests, Bioware has guaranteed over 2 years of post launch content. They even tout that they will be providing more post-launch content than all other Bioware titles combined.

So overall, do I think Dragon Age: Origins is worth it? You bet I do! Especially now with gaming sales coming every which way, chances are you may be able to find this title for $40 in the very near future.

Gameplay: 4.5/5

Graphics: 4.5/5

Sound: 5.0/5

Replay: 4.0/5

Mass Effect 2 Collectors’ Edition

sarge-ak47 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:32:05 +0000

The collectors set

The most anticipated scifi game will finally be released January 26 2010 in North America. As is the standard these days, a collectors edition has already been announced.
The Mass Effect 2 Collectors’ Edition comes in a tin case, a beautiful 48 page hardcover “Art of Mass Effect 2″ book, Mass Effect Redemption comic book, and a bonus DVD with the making of videos.
Adding to the mix are going to be exclusive armor and weapons that cannot be purchased anywhere else.
This remarkable set will retail for $69.99 on the Xbox 360 and $59.99 for the PC.
If you ask me this is one sweet deal.

Contest: Win a Copy of Spore Hero for the Nintendo Wii!

Josh Salem — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:13:21 +0000

That’s right andPOP gaming fans. Courtesy of EA and Maxis, we want to give one of our loyal readers the chance to win a copy of Spore Hero for the Nintendo Wii Console.

Create a creature with over 250 parts, and become a hero! Fight to save a planet and use your Wii remote to unleash awesome attacks.

Just fill out the form below and we will contact the winning contestant. Contest ends Dec. 2nd 2009.

This contest has ended.

Check out www.sporehero.com for more information.

Dragon Age to give Thirty Seconds To Mars fans sneak peek

Josh Salem — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:49:30 +0000

Bioware’s Dragon Age: Origins will give Thirty Seconds To Mars fans a sneak preview of the title song to their upcoming album ‘This Is War’.

The new album (which drops December 8th, 2009) also entitled, ‘This Is War’ will be the flagship song on the Dragon Age: Origins sound track.

After the break fans of both Origins and Thirty Seconds to mars can check out the trailer showcasing ‘This is War’ co-produced by leading front-man Jared Leto.

Mass Effect 2 Launch Date Announced, Pre-order Bonuses Too!

Josh Salem — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:49:42 +0000

Yes, that’s right folk. The wait to know when you can re-join Commander Shepard and his crew has finally been announced, and that date? January 26th in North America and January 29th in Europe.

But wait, that’s not all, with this announcement comes bonus goodies to those that pre-order the title. If pre-ordered in North America at GameStop you get a special code to download the Terminus Armor which is designed for use in extreme planetary conditions, increasing run speed and personal shields as well as augmenting weapons with an additional magazine of ammo. As well, those people who act early get the M-90 Blackstorm Heavy Weapon which generates a high-powered localized gravity well, accelerating particles to near-infinite mass.

Those who pre-order at other retailers in North America will get the Inferno Armor, which is used by officers to monitor the battlefield conditions by recognizing elevated heart rates, and regulates sub-systems with extreme efficiency to allow for greater response times. These bonuses will translate into greater negotiation skills for Shepard and increase run speed and augmented damage from combat powers.

“Our fans are in for a genuine thrill in the New Year with Mass Effect 2 – the
second installment in the trilogy will be of amazingly high quality,” said Dr. Ray
Muzyka, co-founder, BioWare and Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group of EA.
“BioWare’s fans worldwide have been eagerly awaiting this epic sequel, and we
couldn’t be more excited to reward them for pre-ordering by delivering some awesome
bonus content!”

Drop with Commander Shepard this January!

EA Comics: Army of Two, Dragon Age Set to Pwn Pages, Panels, and Pixels

Brett.Caron — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:34:02 +0000

Yes, comics and video games are not strange bedfellows, but EA is taking the next step and releasing (through IDW Publishing) comics revolving around their popular Army of Two franchise, as well as the Bioware RPG inspired Dragon Age. These comics will be available for purchase as hard copy, as well as digital versions for the iPhone, iPod Touch and “other emerging digital platforms”.

Interesting, to be sure. But what is perhaps the coolest thing about this announcement is that Orson Scott Card, author of the eternally awesome Ender’s Game will be involved with the Dragon Age comic. Booyah!

Game Review: NHL 10

Josh Salem — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:55:27 +0000

There are two things I have never done. 1) I have never gotten so into a sporting event that I yelled for (or at) a team or player. 2) I have never gotten so into a video game that I jumped up, yelled at the screen, and swore. NHL 10 for the Xbox 360 made me do both, and I have to admit, I liked it.

I’ve never been an emotional gamer, and I’ve never been that much into sports (then again, as a Canadian, I feel there’s a default certain level of national pride we all share with hockey), but when playing as the Toronto Maple leafs and winning 2-1 on game seven against Ottawa for the Stanley Cup and with less than 1 minute left in the third period you can’t help but get a little into it when Ottawa scores the tying goal with seconds left on the clock. Yes, I jumped up, yes my voice got loud and shrill, and yes I did say some things that would make a sailor blush. I think this was the most rewarding aspect of NHL 10, that after 17 past NHL titles, EA still has what it takes to make a casual hockey fan into a raving sports fanatic, and I didn’t see it coming.

Basically what’s new from last year to this beyond some new features such as playing the boards, first person fighting, and last ditch attempts at shots is the focus of the game, which now has a much stronger scope on the intensity and fierceness of playoffs and winning the Stanley cup.

For those new to video games, NHL 10 is a hockey simulator (more so than a game as each year passes) in which you are presented with a myriad of gaming options beyond just playing a game of hockey (oh Blades of Steel, how I miss you). How many game modes you ask? well there’s: Battle for the Cup Now Mode in which you are sent straight to the finals of the playoffs, Playoff Mode where you can take part in any type of post-season play from any of the leagues available (NHL, OHL and more), Season Mode in which you choose a league type customize your season preferences and decide if you want to take part in a fantasy draft with all new full roster control mode. We are also given one of my favourite features, Be A Pro Mode in which you create your own character and control only that player as he is drafted, trained and even sent back to the minors based on your personal performance. I found this mode to be extremely interesting as it seemed to be the most realistic, heck, if you get a penalty you have to sit in the box and watch from the side as you feel shame (Slapshots reference anyone?). Performance Tracker Mode shows off your hockey cards (bonuses and achievements… kind of), stats, and milestones related to your profile career. Tournament mode allows for 8 or 16 teams in a world tournament to see what country is the best, and apparently the Montreal Canadiens Centennial team is the one to beat. Create a Play mode allows you too… well, create a play, Practice mode gives you a minimal tutorial (sure it shows you how to play, but no matter how much I practice, I still suck at the game). Online play mode allows for multiple online variations of the game including league play, My NHL 10 mode allows you to create your own custom player, manage rosters, deal with media via the media hub, and more. My Pro mode allows you to go into the hockey shop and buy new equipment, track your performance, and edit attributes. Finally my favourite mode in the game, Be a GM Mode.

Rock'em Sock'em Hockey!

Now, as you can see, there are ALOT of ways to play NHL 10, and as my favourite is the new Be a GM Mode I guess you can decipher that I’m just not that good at the actual hockey playing. I can hold my own (in rookie mode), but for the life of me I rarely ever score goals. In comparison to other sports GM modes however, I found NHL 10’s to be lacking, aside from making trades with your Blackberries (the higher your rank, the more Blackberries you get to use) and drafting there really isn’t much more else involved, you can increase your employee stats but from what I found in the 5 years of being a GM, it doesn’t really make a difference. The good news though, is that if I become the GM of the Maple Leafs, they will win the Stanley Cup in 2014!

We’re not here to read all about the different modes and what I thought of them though, we’re here for hockey! so lets talk about how it actually plays out. The default controls are intuitive, left stick controls your skates, right controls your stick for easy deking and aiming shots. If it gets a little complicated there are many other control schemes to choose from, my alternative favourite being NHL ‘94 mode with the only buttons being B to shoot (or check) and A to pass (or switch players), simple. Now otherwise the only other control schemes I think worth talking about in this review would be the wall play and fighting. Wall play if you have the puck and are near the wall push Y and you brace yourself against the wall so that you may kick the puck to a teammate. Alternatively if you are near someone doing just that, you can force a player onto the walls and steal the puck from them. Now fighting is by far my favourite part of actually playing the hockey game, first person fighting, after the whistle action, instigation, it’s all improved in such a way that you can fight almost whenever you want. When fighting you’re brought into first person mode: left stick moves your body, right stick aims your fists of fury; as well you can tug on your opponent’s jersey, perform upper cuts and if you want to chicken out, you can pull both shoulder buttons and turtle.

Graphically NHL 10 is superior to NHL ‘09, but then again, isn’t that always the case? Smooth animations, motion captured skaters, reflections and now especially crowd interactions (banging on the windows, swinging team colours around during playoffs and whatnot). This is EA Sports, the annual NHL title, it’s got to be the best of the best, the most polished out there and as such it has a lot to live up to. I’m here to tell you that it does live up to it’s expectations, amazing realistic graphics and not a single glitch to be found.

Dragon Force just screams hockey anthem, doesn't it?

Music is another story. While NHL 10 has a number of big songs from the likes of Green Day, CKY, and Dragon Force; and they’re all great songs, I found they didn’t really mesh with the game. Especially when playing in non-hockey modes like Be a GM the heavy strong songs just keep playing over and over and while I enjoy the tunes, songs that pump you up for a game, kind of confuse you when negotiating a trade. Grunts and whistles are standard fair but what I feel most players are interested in would be the voice commentary? Is it annoying? Does it repeat often? Luckily the answer to both is no. As Gary Thorne and Bill Clement come back from NHL ‘09, NHL 10 has similar banter from great voices in hockey and there are enough specific commentary calls to keep players interested in what they have to say time and time again.

Overall if your a fan of hockey games, you probably already own NHL 10, however, if you’re like me and haven’t really gotten into a hockey title since NHL ‘99, this year is as good as any to dive back in due to the many options in terms of difficulty and control. However, I have to warn you, there is quite a steep learning curve for those new to the title, trust me, I’ve been playing for a while now and I still suck (yes, I guess it could be that I just overall suck but… let’s not go there). With a plethora of options, game modes, and online play (I was just invited to an online team for online league play) this title will keep you busy for a long long time… or at least until NHL 11 comes out. Hopefully then the GM mode will expand to something more in depth, more in line with other GM modes like Madden and other GM specific titles.

Gameplay: 5/5

Graphics: 5/5

Sound: 4/5

Replay Value: 5/5

P.S. I’ve never given a game Editor’s Choice before, congrats EA Sports!

Skate 3 slated for May 2010

sarge-ak47 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:56:14 +0000

Well it came out of nowhere but alas there is a new iteration to EA’s Skate franchise and it’s coming sometime in May of next year.

Now I know what your thinking, will Skate 3 utilize a similar peripheral like Tony Hawks Ride?? I honestly doubt it. However what does intrigue me is this focus on TEAM BASED Skateboarding. Basically in this new title youre focus has shifted to team based gameplay and a co-op skating experience unlike any. other
Exciting bits include creating a team comprised of your online buddies and big group competitions.
And with early pre-orders you get your chance to secure a special skatepark – the Black Box distribution Skatepark.

NHL 10 Midnight Launch at Yonge & Dundas Future Shop

Josh Salem — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:14:05 +0000

Where do Toronto Film Fest buffs, WWE RAW fanatics, free concert goers, and Maple Leaf hopefuls converge at 11:59PM on a Monday? Why Future Shop at Yonge and Dundas in down town Toronto for the midnight release of EA Sports’ NHL 10, hosted by Xbox Canada of course!

AndPOP was in tow to witness the launch of what may very well be this year’s best hockey title. In a town that loves their hockey hundreds lined up early, a pick-up street hockey game was going on across the street, and anticipation was high for the clock to strike midnight.

Fans lining up outside Future Shop. Sorry about the poor picture quality.

At the event which took place both in Toronto as well as Vancouver Hockey stars were present to offer photo ops and autographs to fans waiting (Trevor Linden in Vancouver and Wendel Clark & Ian White in Toronto). As well, the Xbox Canada crew gave out t-shirts, lanyards, and one lucky hockey fan even walked away with an Xbox 360 Elite unit! Game stations were available for all to try out the newest NHL title and in my little time spent watching this station, I saw hockey fans, TIFF fans, concert goers, and Wrestling fans go at it complete with smack talk on the side of Yonge street.

NHL 10 producer, Sean Ramjagsingh was available for questions, and to ensure everyone would love the thrill of hockey of course.

While there, I got a chance to speak with the producer of NHL 10 Sean Ramjagsingh who filled me in on a couple of the new features in this year’s title. “This year we really tried to capture the emotion and intensity of NHL hockey, the importance of solid tough guys and really make them important, just like in real life. ” (Yes, I took that as the fighting and hitting are getting major boosts this year around) Sean also discussed the new features such as first person fighting (what I am most excited for), post whistle play, interactive and intense crowds, and the new board play feature, “you can pin guys against the board defensively or offensively, dump the puck in and be really strong against the boards, team mates will come in and support you. really changing the gameplay” says Sean, as well, with over 150 goalie animations, the revamping of the goalie specifically will really give gamers new intensity levels to deal with, especially playing online in leagues and tournaments.

Adam, the first purchaser of NHL 10 in Toronto. While you read this and wait for stores to open on the 15th, he will already be dekeing, fighting, and scoring hat tricks.

As the line proceeded into Future Shop at midnight, eager fans (as well as some passer byers) faces lit up as they stood on the escalator to be met at the top with employees welcoming and handing fans copies of the title. I was able to speak and get a photo with Adam, the first purchaser of NHL 10 to walk out of Future Shop with the game in hand and while I didn’t want to keep him from playing the game he eagerly waited for, I couldn’t help but feel the same sense of urgency to rush home and pop this bad boy into my Xbox 360. After seeing people play the game, and speaking with Mr. Ramjagsingh, I rushed home, but like any responsible reporter, work first play second. Once this writeup is over, I’m heading straight to the Xbox for some NHL 10 goodness. Well, would you look at that? writeup is over! HOCKEY TIME! (stay tuned for a full review in the near future).

NHL ‘10 Crashes the Party Sept. 14 Across Canada

Brett.Caron — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:07:51 +0000

Are you excited for EA Sports NHL 10? If you’re Canadian, probably. The #1 selling console game in Canada has it’s launch parties in Toronto and Vancouver Monday, September 14. The Toronto party will be at the Yonge and Dundas Future Shop with Wendel Clark and Ian White (of Maple Leafs fame) from 9pm to 11:45pm, and in Vancouver’s Granville and Robson Future Shop with Trevor Linden of the Canucks. The Future Shop locations will be open until 1am, so check it out if you’re not too busy… and on a Monday night, what’s your excuse?

Cheers!