The Elite Trading Circle and Thanks for the 200 Point Bonus

Mike Rohde Says So, this is what I want to do: I want to go to Goozex.com, click My Preferences, and then click a button that says, “I want to make trades only with people who actually mail their games on time and also don’t claim a game I sent is broke when it ain’t.” Or more succinctly, that button could be labeled, “I don’t want to trade with douche bags.” Or, if you want to put a positive spin on it, the button could say, “I want to create my own personal elite trading group that consists of non-douche bags.” (I'm being critical of Goozex members because I care, I really, really care. If I didn't care, I wouldn't be so critical.)

Yes, I am asking for a Goozex Feature Request that allows you to select criteria that determines who you trade with. I’ve been an upstanding Goozex citizen for quite some time now and I believe I’ve earned the right to not trade with douche bags. There, I said it.

How would Goozex go about doing this? It’s simple really. Just have the ability to filter out anyone who has given or has received negative feedback in the past six months. The button you click for that filter could read, “Only trade with cool people.”

Or how about this? What about a feature that allows you to create your own elite trading circle? The feature would allow you to create user defined lists of those people you prefer to trade with. And they in turn would select you as someone they prefer to trade with. So, if I bought Left 4 Dead 2, and then a week later decided the game blows monkey balls I could put it up for trade. One of my elite friends, who doesn’t realize Left 4 Dead 2 blows monkey balls wants it real quick. Boom-O! I can send it to my elite friend within a day or two and in turn he’ll provide positive feedback. He gets a game quick and I don’t have to worry about a douche bag working the system by saying they got a bum game. Sounds good, huh? The only problem is that eventually you’d have to go outside your circle to get new games; or you’d have to keep inviting new people into your circle to enhance the library of games within your circle. Sure, this idea has some flaws and drawbacks, but it beats out having someone accept your request for Tiger Woods 09 and then not send a confirmation until a week later…

This all might sound very negative and my apologies to the fine folks at Goozex if it does. But my brother recently got the shaft by two different gamers who promised to send Batman, who never did send the game, and I am still waiting on Tiger Woods to show up (there are 5 days left before I can vent out with negative feedback). So, there is some relevancy behind my Feature Request of wanting to only trade with cool people. Maybe perhaps we need a button to click that reads, “No douche bags allowed.”

Now for some praise.
I am very much in favor of this 200 point bonus system that is in effect if you trade a game within a month of its release. I am guessing this is spurring gamers to trade games sooner than they might normally do. I recently received a confirmation for Assassin’s Creed II. This is a very recent release and I’m already getting it. I’m very happy about that and I have a feeling that this 200 point bonus has something to do with it. However, it’s not doing much for me getting Borderlands, cause I’ve been stuck at a Long Wait for a long, long time. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

All in all though, Goozex is doing the best they can. It’s not their fault some gamers are douche bags. Not everyone can be as cool as the people I would put in my elite trading circle.

Brink demo video now available

We've covered Brink before on The Goozex Report. First, in this preview of Brink from the show floor of PAX 2009, then, in an interview with Splash Damage Creative Director, Richard Ham.

Well, if you still haven't heard of it, Brink is a first-person shooter from Splash Damage and Bethesda Softworks which is coming to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Set in the not-too-distant future, a floating, man-made city holds the key to man's survival until it's plunged into a bloody civil war.

Now, thanks to this video from G4TV.com, everyone can see what we saw at shows like E3 and PAX.

PS3 Games - E3 2010 - Brink

As the CEO and Game Director of Splash Damage, Paul Wedgwood, walks us through a small area, you can get a good look at the SMART movement system and see how this takes ideas present in a game like Mirror's Edge and builds them into a proper shooter. However, the movement system is only the least most interesting thing about Brink as it promises to blend single and multiplayer together into one, seamless experience. You can either play as a faction of Ark inhabitants on the inside, holding down the fort, or fighting your way in, completing mission objectives with your friends via the Internet against living opponents who will determine how the game turns out. It's an ambitious project and, hopefully, will be fully ready by Fall 2010.

A Day of Thanks

Erik Kubik Says To some, Thanksgiving is about the turkey and the pie. To others, Thanksgiving is all about football and gathering with the family. Thanksgiving is the time of year to give thanks to whoever or whatever. Besides stuffing my face with turkey and pie I think it’s time to reflect back on the year’s releases and happenings and to give thanks to the Video Game industry.

There are several things I am thankful for this year. Item number one is last spring’s Resident Evil 5. I have been waiting for a sequel to Resident Evil 4 for over 4 long years. In regards to Resident Evil 5, Capcom and the evolution of the series, the games have moved further and further away from head scratching puzzle solving games toward a more action-oriented feel. The in-depth story, the mission variety, the upgrades and the return of several favorite characters made the game a great addition to the franchise. The added co-op and multiplayer elements were icing on the cake to hardcore fans like myself. Who knows what Resident evil 6 will bring?

Secondly, Microsoft’s continued support of broken 360s. Although I no longer own an Xbox 360, I have to say for a company to man up and to continue to pay for the mistake they made is something gamers can be thankful for. Now if they would only admit the failure rate of their consoles is closer to 70% vs. their quoted 15%, I am sure everyone would sleep much better at night. Nevertheless, gamers can still get their e74 or RROD consoled fixed for free.

The third thing I am thankful for this year are the console price drops. Microsoft dropped the price on the 120 GB Elite to $299. And then Sony presents the PS3 slim with 120 GB Hard drive for $299. Nintendo finally dropped the price on the Wii down to $199. Out of the three, it seems the price drop benefitted the 360 and the PS3 the most; especially the ps3. The new edition of the console saw some record sales numbers. The price cut means more people can afford to go out and buy the consoles and therefore buy more games and ultimately keep developers in business.

In a non-gaming sense, I am thankful for the support of my family and friends in all that I do. I am thankful everyday that I have a wonderful wife that supports me and my hobbies. I am especially thankful for Goozex which has given me the opportunity to play tons of games for cheap. Where else can one receive new games and movies for next to nothing?

Last but not least, a big thank you to my fellow writers and friends at The Goozex Report who share my love of video games and Goozex. But the biggest thanks goes out to Mike Rohde for putting together the site and the crew, putting up with me, and letting me continue to write about video games for The Goozex Report.

Chris Nitz Says
Personal Front:
I am thankful to be newly married. I could not have asked for a more loving, understanding, and supportive wife. She has been by my side as I finally follow some life-long dreams. I couldn't have asked for such great support. I still believe I am one lucky SOB.

I am thankful to still be employed. No matter how much I might not like dealing with printers and phones on a daily basis, I am lucky to still be pulling a paycheck. The company I work at was on the verge of bankruptcy and has pulled back from the land of the red. There were times I had no idea if I would get to work and find the gates to be locked.

Gaming Front:
I am thankful that my 360 has not red ringed yet! I am thankful that I have been granted two awesome writing opportunities for two awesome gaming sites. Mike Rohde, thank you for allowing me to be part of the great people at The Goozex Report. Thanks to the guys at Games Are Evil for allowing me to be part of their site as well. I have gotten to play through a lot of awesome games and share my experience with a lot of people. I never imagined I would be on this path in my life.

This Thanksgiving, rock some awesome games over whatever your favorite Thanksgiving treat might be! I know I'll be playing some Dragon Age and Disgaea 2 while stuffing myself with Pumpkin Pie!

Dale Culp Says It would be pretty easy for me to be cynical and say that I don't have a lot to be thankful for this year. The last few years, in particular, have been somewhat of an uphill battle. Most recently, I got the bad news that I was going to be laid off for a while. I won't lie, I was happy. They'd done me a favor. They forced me to go out and seek employment a little closer to my passion rather than to continue in a job that was going nowhere. I'm thankful for the wake-up call.

Even though I have yet to break even and I don't know how the bills are going to be paid, I'm thankful. I'm thankful because, as cliche as it may sound, I really do live in a country where opportunities exist if you're willing to go out and get them. I'm thankful for the strong network of support I've built over the years, and I'm thankful that I was able to do that by merit, not mere words. I'm thankful for the opportunities I've been given and the rewards they've reaped. My friends, my colleagues at The Goozex Report - I couldn't have asked for more. I'm thankful to know these people exist.

I'm thankful that I can pretend to be a warrior on a virtual battlefield without ever risking my actual life. I'm thankful because I'm not out there, that I don't have to be. I'm thankful because they've made this life of convenience and pleasure possible, even though they enjoy very little of it. I'm thankful because I know how quickly it can all go away. I'm thankful because, even though I don't believe in a God, I understand the sentiment in the words, "There but for the grace of God go I." I'm thankful because I can do and say these things about who I am and what I believe freely, without fear, even though I know of many who cannot, and I'm thankful for the people who are fighting for them, as well, so that some day they can afford to play video games and exercise their freedom of speech.

In the end, I find that I actually have a lot to be thankful for. I'm thankful for that, as well.

Troy Benedict Says There is a lot that I am thankful for in 2009. First off, I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for my lovely wife, who has supported me and believed in me (and put up with all of the quirks with my gaming hobby). Secondly, I am thankful for my family. I have three beautiful children, and am especially thankful for my youngest who was born in September. I am also thankful that we were finally able to purchase our first family home back in July, and am looking forward to making the changes and improvements WE want to make to it (including a future upgrade to our family/entertainment room!)!

In the video game department, I am thankful for the opportunity to write for a publication like The Goozex Report, as well as being asked to review a couple of titles during my tenure. Many thanks to Mike Rohde for allowing me to write for his site, as well as the good friends I’ve made because of it! Also, during this economically troubled time, I’ve been able to save a lot of money, and still get some really awesome games through Goozex trading. Each trade only cost me a few dollars ($1 per trade credit and cost of shipping). I know this sounds like a commercial, but it’s an excellent service, and to me, Goozex really offers the best value for used games.

I have had a tremendously awesome time playing games like Disgaea for the DS and Disgaea 2 on the PSP, both of which were scored through Goozex trade. It is very rare that I can dedicate a lot of time with any one game, but both of those have had me investing countless hours into them. I understand that they’re not games for everybody, as they tend to be a bit too quirky, but the sheer depth has had be hooked for a long time!

This Thanksgiving, we’ll be out of town at my folks’ place and I’ll be doing something that I haven’t done in a long time – taking a break from the games well, at least from the consoles – to spend time with my wife and kids, my parents, and my brother and his family.

But I still have my PSP and my copy of Disgaea 2 to keep me busy, when I need some time to get away.

Mike Rohde Says This is a special Thanksgiving, as it is the first real Thanksgiving post The Goozex Report has published. In many ways, reading everyone’s entries confirms something that I already knew: this is truly the best team of writers anyone could hope for. Not only do I consider you guys talent, but I also consider you my virtual friends; if you were my neighbor, you’d be my real life friend as well. It’s been an absolute pleasure getting to know everyone through their writing, their tweeting, and from Xbox Live.

In addition to the writers here at The Goozex Report, I am thankful for the opportunities to virtually meet folks from other sites, such as Games Are Evil, The Portable Gamer, and Gaming Angels. The people behind the scenes of those gaming sites are the best and I truly appreciate the collaboration work we have done over the past year.

It goes without saying that I am especially thankful for the fine folks at Goozex. Without them, The Goozex Report would not exist, and in turn I would not have met so many great people. Plus, the Goozex service has allowed me to play thousands of dollars worth of games at a very little cost. These are games I would normally not have played, and so I am grateful to have the opportunity to use Goozex.

I also want to give thanks to my brother, for if it weren’t for him, I probably would never have bought an Xbox 360. Plus, it was him that once said, “Wouldn’t it be great if there were a way we could trade games with other people without having to spend so much money all the time?” That question prompted me to get on Google and figure out what was available. I checked a few sites out, seriously considered GameFly, and then ultimately choose Goozex. Yes, I have to admit that in the first few months of using Goozex I considered dropping the service and trying GameFly. But I have to say, in hindsight, that doing so would have been a foolish move. I truly believe Goozex is probably the best choice I’ve made in a long, long time.

Of course, THE best choice I’ve ever made in my life was to marry my wife, who supported and inspired the creation of The Goozex Report; she thought it would be something fun and creative for me to do. That was in August of 2008. We never guessed that the blog would grow to what it is today: a vibrant collaboration effort with passionate and dedicated gamers. And I can honestly say, this is only the beginning, which leads me to one more thing I am thankful for…

And that is you, the reader of The Goozex Report. In the past year, The Goozex Report has been read by 74,144 people who have viewed 84,341 pages. This blog continues to exist not only because of the special team of people behind it, but because YOU continue to read it. If you didn’t read this site, we wouldn’t be publishing this site. So, Thank You, dear reader and may you enjoy this very special Thanksgiving.

Assassin's Creed 2: PS3/360 Review

Chris Nitz Says I enjoyed the first Assassin's Creed. Even with all of its flaws, I had fun running around and seeing what the game had to offer. I have been following Assassin's Creed 2 since it was first announced, and after playing the game, I can say that I am not disappointed.

The game is packed with a great story. There are the usual plot twists and turns. There are times when the story is extremely engaging and you want to see what happens next; but there are also times when the story drags on and on. Outside of the plot twists, Ezio trusts just about anyone he meets, so long as that person has the same goals as Ezio. While this is nice and all, it does take away a bit from the character development.

One major improvement over the original, is that the game almost never shifts out of the Animus. This is great as it keeps the game flowing and the action moving. The downside is that there is little interaction with third-party people. Interaction with these third parties is all done as if they were some sort of godly voice talking to Desmond. However, the pros of not coming out of the Animus definitely outweigh the cons.

One of the heaviest touted upgrades is the fighting system. Ubisoft promised a lot more ways to take out the bad guys: and they delivered! Ezio now has the ability to disarm his assailants. There are double assassinations, throwing knives, and even a pistol. Disarming a guard and using his own pike to impale him is just as entertaining as it sounds. Ezio can pull axes, swords, and pikes away from the attacking guard and use it in a counter kill. When this counter attack occurs in one smooth action, it leads to a highly enjoyable fight. Even with all the disarming fun, I found that I stuck to my hidden blades most of the time though. They were fast in countering, and are the only way to kill some of the guards. I often found myself looking for a high point to take out two guards at once with the double assassination technique. It just goes to show you, there is a killing technique for every fan!

There are now groups of people that can be hired to help Ezio as well. Prostitutes, thieves, and fighters are all at Ezio's disposal...for a price. Prostitutes will dance, thieves will steal gold, and fighters will start a fight with the guards. These groups are very useful in accessing a guarded codex page or a blocked-off treasure chest. The hired help keep the notoriety at bay, more on this in a bit, and allow Ezio to sneak on by with no problems. I actually found this addition to be useful in the game.

One of the biggest disappointments is how the guards fight. Some of the fights can include up to 15 - 20 guards at a time. The problem is that they all stand around taking turns trying to kill Ezio. This makes it easy to disarm, or counter kill, a guard. It would have been nice to have some difficulty setting that would have made the guards a bit more of a challenge.

There is a new notoriety system in Assassin's Creed 2. If you kill a guard and remain undetected, this yields no change in how people view you. Kill a guard and someone sees you, then your notoriety will increase. Get into a big scuffle with the guards and that notoriety will increase a lot. Keeping your notoriety low is key to keeping the guards off your back. When Ezio is anonymous, he can stand by a guard without fear of being chased down. If Ezio is notorious with the guards, his mere presence will have the guards chasing him down. The fastest way to become anonymous with the guards is to pay the heralds off. This will take your notoriety down to zero. If paying off heralds is not your thing, you can also rip down wanted posters that are scattered around the town; doing so will reduce your notoriety by 25%.

In Assassin's Creed 1, there were beggars that got horribly irritating. Every corner had one. Assassin's Creed 2 trades the beggars for musicians. They are not at every corner, but are in the larger gathering places. You won't be hounded every five minutes, but they are still annoying. Killing them seems to keep them out of the way.

Along with musicians, there are pick pockets and annoying criers. If a pick pocket gets close enough to Ezio, they will take a chunk of his change and make a mad run off. Chasing them down will lead to one of two options: kill them and get the money back; or chase them down and tackle them to get the stolen money with a bit of interest. It's nice to have options, but I found killing them to be the fastest way to get my money back.

The criers will yell for the guards to arrest Ezio. They will yell out, “Aassassin!,” and then start fleeing. If Ezio is anonymous, this is not really an issue. If that notoriety meter is at 50% or more, prepare for guards to start causing some problems. The same options as the pick pockets apply here. Chase the crier down and kill them, or hit them over the head and teach them a lesson.

Italy is huge. In fact, it is so big a horse just isn't cutting it here. There are now fast travel stations around all the cities. Make use of these, as traveling through the mountains on horseback is a 10-minute ordeal. The only pitfall is that there is no way to fast-travel within a city. To get quickly across Venice, one must travel to a different town, and then travel to where they want in Venice. It may sound like a long way about it, but it is faster than running through town.

There are a bit more mission types this time around. Still, there ends up being a lot of escort here, protect this, and eaves drop there. Some missions are even multi-part missions. For example, Ezio might have to take care of some guards before his new friends will help him with an assassination attempt. It still feels a bit lean on main mission types though. Following a target and eaves dropping is only fun for so long.

There is a lot to use for customizing how Ezio survives in this cruel world. Ezio has the ability to buy new weapons, armor, and miscellaneous tricks. Some of the armor looks fantastic in its detail. There are new swords and knives to buy for your arsenal as well. The game employs a sweet new device to help get out of sticky situations...smoke-bombs. There are doctors that sell health potions along with poisons. All this helps in keeping the game going and giving the player something to do. It was a nice touch.

Those of you who played the first Assassin's Creed will remember the imprecise controls. While running and jumping from rooftop-to-rooftop is highly enjoyable, the controls still lack in precision this time as well. There are times when precision is key to finishing a timed section, only to find the precision took a break. I fought long and hard with the controls in assassin tombs and rooftop races. It got frustrating at times. The controls are solid for open running, but when a jump calls for landing on the top of a log, it fails.

One of the most annoying parts of the CG scenes are the impromptu quicktime sequences. Having to press a button just to do a hug and nothing else feels really tacked on. Not catching these quicktime events does not have an adverse effect on the game, but their mere presence is just tacky. I don't really know what or why they exist in this game.

This game looks amazing. People are wandering around town doing business, the moon shimmers off the water, you can get vertigo at the highest points in the game, and the building details are amazing. I played this game while my wife watched. I heard a lot of "I've been there," and, "Oh wow, they have that being built." And, "I want to go back to..." The detail is that amazing. Scaling to the top of a tower still has an awe-inspiring view of the whole city.

The clothing is also very detailed. Ezio's robes will show all the embroidery on them, while metal armor will have detail work that is just stunning. I stopped a few times just to admire the outfits. When Ezio gets out of water, his clothes glisten and water droplets fall from the dangling bits of material. Jumping into a cart full of straw will have Ezio running around with hay flying off. This detail carries onto the weapons as well. I will say this is a huge improvement over the first Assassin's Creed.

With all the cool water dripping and hay flying touches that were put onto this game, color was somehow missed. The whole game has a brown color to it. I realize the first one was the same way, but there was hope that the sequel would have changed that. Italy is beautiful, and the renaissance should have been full of colors. Somehow the game misses that point.

For all the great things the game does with scenery and costumes, the close-ups are just poor. Most characters look plain, flat, or just ugly when up close in a CG scene. It is a bit baffling how the game can show so much detail in the open world, yet a small CG scene can look so poor. I hope by the third game, if there is one, Ubisoft puts some attention to this aspect.

The animations are also top notch. The climbing looks good, the fighting is smooth, and the normal walking around looks fantastic. It is a shame with all the animations the game gets right, sprinting is not one of them. I dunno if Ezio is carrying a load in his pants or what, but this is the one animation that could have used some work.

Ezio is a pimp with a Villa. The Villa starts out as a run-down town, but after some upgrades, it becomes a bustling center of free money for Ezio. Again, Ubisoft included nice small touches here as well. As the Villa grows and brings in money, more of the buildings look repaired, and flowers and trees start to grow throughout the Villa. It is just another small detail that helps to make the world feel as though it is growing and living as the game progresses.

The ability to upgrade the Villa helps it to grow. Investing all your money into the Villa at the start will get more money than necessary down the road. There are discounts to be had from the tailor, blacksmith, and doctor with each upgrade. Upgrading the Villa will rear the unbalanced economy though. Once the Villa is fully upgraded, money rolls in every hour. This does away with the need to loot guards or find treasure chests. Many times, I spent all of my money buying every weapon available at the blacksmith. Then, to get more money, I ran around for an hour getting glyphs and feathers; all I had to do next was visit my money chest to find 40,000 gold in it.

The game packs in a lot to do. Gathering quests did make a return. Feathers are the object of desire this time around. Assassination contracts also make their way back to the game. Ezio can play mailman by running courier missions. Rooftop racing is also here. Add in treasure chests to hunt down and glyphs to find and there is fun for everyone. These are all secondary to the main plot, but completion addicts will find a ton to do here.

With all the feather and chest hunting to do, there is yet another piece to collect. This collection comes in the form of secret glyphs hidden throughout the cities. Using eagle vision on these glyphs will bring on some puzzle solving goodness. Puzzles include deciphering a numerical code, putting a circular puzzle together, and finding small pictures within a bigger picture. There are 20 glyphs in all, and the puzzles accompanying them vary in complexity. Solving these glyphs will bring on a secondary story line.

There are assassin tombs scattered throughout the major cities in the game. These tombs are a series of challenges that test your jumping and navigation skills. Some tombs will have you chasing down a guard that ends with a small fight. All of them contain some sort of navigation test. It is well worth your time to do these tombs, as the end result is pretty awesome.

Assassin's Creed 2 was enjoyable despite its downfalls. The story was engaging, the side stories were worth the effort to get them, and the surprises added to an enjoyable play through. Those of you who did not enjoy the first game, just step away. There is nothing here that is going to change your opinion. Fans of the first game have no excuse not to play this game. There is a lot more to do this time around. Now, I have some feathers to go hunt down.

Dragon Age: Origins | Review

Troy Benedict Says When I think of a "true" role-playing game experience, I think about the big daddy of all role-playing games: Dungeons & Dragons. It was a simple idea with a complex execution. With a pencil-and-paper game like D&D, your imagination was really the only limitation in the game.

It's no surprise that BioWare's new RPG, Dragon Age: Origins, feels like one of the most flushed-out and detailed RPG experiences on modern video game consoles. They've had a couple of tremendously popular PC-based RPGs using the Dungeons & Dragons licenses (Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights), and their storylines are so rich with details and character development that even secondary and tertiary characters, from their vast catalog of game releases, are still loved and talked about today.

As a disclaimer at the beginning of this review, the copy of Dragon Age: Origins for this review was for the Xbox 360 version and was provided by Goozex. The main quest was not completed at the time of this review, but I have logged enough time with the game, and feel comfortable sharing my praises and criticisms with Dragon Age: Origins.

The game begins, like most RPGs, with you selecting and creating a character of your choosing. However, Dragon Age: Origins really shines brightly in its execution once you begin the game with that character. There is no other experience quite like it! Most RPGs, follow the same storyline from beginning to end, where you play the hero who is destined to save the world, but the storyline really isn't impacted by the race and class of your chosen hero. Most of the time, choosing a wizard character type over a warrior meant very little in the overall storyline of the game. However, in Dragon Age: Origins, each race and class of character has a very unique opening to the game. Each origin story generally takes between 90 minutes and 3 hours to complete. I've even been told that certain characters in the game will react differently and offer different dialogue trees depending on the type of character you're using.

I began the game with a human warrior, and after playing with that character for more than a dozen hours, I decided to create an elf wizard. It was then that I realized that the two intro stories that I experienced couldn't have be more different. Apparently, there are about 5 or 6 different origin stories depending on the race and class of your hero character, which makes replaying this already long game even more interesting and exciting. Not to mention, Achievement/Trophy junkies will be rewarded for completing the variety of different origin stories.

There is no hand-holding in Dragon Age: Origins, which can be both rewarding and intimidating at the same time. Additionally, the game's story is long, with people reporting that focusing on the main quest took between 50-70 hours to complete.

My biggest recommendation to those who are playing Dragon Age: Origins? Always save your game!

Save and save often! The tides of battle can quickly turn against you at the blink of an eye depending on if the enemy characters can take out one of your support characters, and vice versa. There is a certain element of strategy that is involved in each battle that can dramatically affect the outcome. For example, while mage characters generally aren't strong in battle, they can cast spells that will immobilize your character, or heal up the strong warrior-types that are slashing away at your party. I generally try to take the mages out at every opportunity, and I try to make sure that my healers and spell-casters are at a safe distance and are constantly supporting my team.

Another intimating part of the game is establishing and setting up the computer-controlled tactics for each character. The battles play out in real-time, with you issuing different commands for the character with a simple button press. I generally focus on full-control of my hero character, and let the computer control the actions of my party. In order to tell the computer what to do, you have a certain number of query like commands that let you decide what a character can do. For example, you can tell a character to use a certain spell on the first enemy they see, or focus their attacks on a character whose hit point fall below a certain overall percentage, or even heal a team mate whose life falls below 50% or 25%. While there are preset tactical actions that a character can take, the most effective way to guarantee that they'll use certain abilities and attacks is to instruct set up the commands manually. The computer does a decent job of managing your party members, but it's not a bad idea to go through and tweak each member's tactics to your liking every few levels, to ensure that they're taking advantage of new abilities and spells, especially if you find yourself dying over and over during the same encounter.

Morality seems to be a big deal in more modern RPG-style games. Games like Fable II and Fallout 3 let you decide how you want to decide if you want to take the evil way or the good way. Dragon Age: Origins' way of approaching morality decisions is more interesting and realistic. There really is no "good" or "bad" way of playing through the game, it's all a matter of perception. What is good to one party member, might be bad or rude to another. You do build up relationships with the characters in your party, and certain actions that you perform can change how those characters will react to you. The old adage of "You can't please everybody all the time" is so true in Dragon Age Origins. Each character in your party's personality affects how they feel after you make an important choice in the game. There are even some choices in the game, that you can make that will turn a party member against you!

While on the subject of the party's personality, one neat little feature of Dragon Age is that at any time two of your members will begin chatting amongst themselves. Sometimes the conversation turns into an argument, or gives a deeper look into a character's history or their political point of view, for example. It all seems to depend on which party members you accompanying you at the time. The conversations are witty, too, and always bring a smile to my face.

Your hero is a silent protagonist and will never speak a line of dialogue during a conversation. I found this to be very confusing, because part of the character creation is the ability to choose a voice styling for them. This was also rather shocking after playing BioWare's Mass Effect, where the dialogue between your character and others made the whole cinematic approach to the conversation that much more interesting and appealing. I've never liked they way that games handle the silent protagonist. I've often felt it was a very lazy way of approaching the character design of the main character, and sort of puts in a very blatant disconnect between me and this avatar. It was just such a stark contrast to the exceptionally well-produced conversation system in Mass Effect. With the voice work of such a high caliber everywhere else in Dragon Age, it seemed sinful to not include a spoken response from your character.

The graphics, while decent, are also nowhere near the level of quality of Mass Effect. There are some really noticeable lower resolution textures, and characters will sometimes have an oddly plasticy-looking quality to their faces. I'm not sure if this was a difference between the futuristic stylings of Mass Effect, and the more earthy-natural look of Dragon Age's world, but it was a noticeable visual disappointment, especially considering that the screenshots and video clips of Mass Effect 2. The two games' release dates are only a few months apart.

Like I mentioned before, the game is hard. Sometimes frustratingly hard, especially if you don't save often. The real-time action of the game can often mislead your tactical decisions, making you think that rushing into the battle ready to button-mash the enemy to death will result in a victory. More than often, some strategy is involved in getting the upper hand. Also, I often found a lack of opportunities to quickly level up your character, but perhaps this was the result of playing the game for review and trying to work my way through this epic as quickly as I could.

Load times seem to be a bit long with the Xbox 360 version I played, which made restarting certain situations feel like ages. I'm not sure if this applies to the PlayStation 3 version or the PC version. I suppose copying the game to the Xbox 360 hard drive may have shaved off a few seconds here or there, but I can't imagine even doing this would have made much of an impact. Expect to have some patience with the load screen, especially if you die a lot.

As in most item-collecting games, the inventory system of Dragon Age had its strength and weaknesses, and unfortunately I found myself managing my items and constantly throwing away lesser important items to make room for possibly better ones.

There are a certain number of items and weapons that your party can carry at any one time, and for me that number was 70. During my time with the game, I was never able to increase the available slots from 70 to anything greater than that, nor was I ever able to find an item chest/warehouse at a party camp, for example, to store items that I wanted to hold onto, but didn't want to equip or use at the time. Games like Diablo II and Fallout 3 had extra storage options with which to store those miscellaneous items. Perhaps this inventory limit had nothing to do with increasing my hero's strength, but I was never able to find any additional storage or increase my already limiting party inventory, and I found that to be quite frustrating.

While a lot of the game involves some sort of skirmish, there are parts of the game where battles can be avoided by taking the right path during a conversation. There was a part of the main quest that I wasn't able to physically overcome - either my strategies were completely awful, or my characters just weren't strong enough. I must have attempted this scenario at least 20 times and no matter how I changed my approach, I could not defeat this group of characters. In order to win, I essentially lied to them during the conversation before the battle. I agreed to do something for this group of unsavory types that members of my party seriously disagreed with. This allowed me to pass to a new area where I not only betrayed the enemy in the end by not doing what they asked, but was I also able to physically defeat them because their numbers weren't as concentrated as before. Sometimes a quick wit and a little thinking can go a long way to avoiding those battles that can't seem to be won through physical feats!

Dragon Age does have its flaws, it's the detailed story, richly-developed characters, and the interesting dialog tree paths that make the game tremendously awesome. It is one of those games that you'll constantly be thinking about even when not playing it.

For anybody who loves action-RPG games, especially the more Western style ones like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Fable II, and Fallout 3, I really suggest checking out Dragon Age: Origins. It might not be the prettiest game, but for the richness in story line and the sheer amount of quests and characters you'll encounter, as well as the completely original and unique origin storylines, it's hard to find a deal like this for $60.