Through a complex and challenging series of events, you must lead the legendary Wardens to resolve the civil war uniting the nations and build an army to purge the evil from the face of the Earth once again.
Yes this has happened again and now your plight is more desperate than ever before.
Said to have been inspired by George R.R. Martin's Games of Throne, the look and feel may remind you of Tolkein - players can't help but notice how the enemy of your small group of warriors are towering masses of twisted limbs and misshapen forms that you must defeat.
Called the Darkspawn, generally resembling Orcs in appearance, there are other nightmares spawned from a realm called the Fade for you to fight.
Your task is to stop the plague of horrors from crossing the Fade and decimating all the known world.
Creature types vary from werewolves and ogres to spiders, bears, angry trees and dragons.
Then you must prepare your party to battle your way slowly through masses of possessed minions to reach your ultimate goal of destroying the ArchDemon - a dragon so powerful it commands legions of undead and grotesque abominations of flesh, enfused with dirty blood magic. Tactics and strategy are king in this single player RPG epic, live pausing is essential.
The combat system is especially innovative. You develop your characters from a humble Human, Elf or Dwarf (which break down into classes like warriors, rogues, and mages), gain their special abilities and then take part in huge battles.
There are no shortage of waterfalls of blood as you deal magical, ranged, nature and melee damage to the enemy.
Growing your magic power unlocks arcane magics and spirit spells as you get stronger, and means a more dramatic effect when you cast fire, ice, snow and spirit effects on the enemy.
An impressive tactics system is employed (situation to action) and if set perfectly the game can play out combat routines by itself. AI control of your party members is rewarding with the correct tactics and strategy.
On the PC, I love the way you can pause combat, survey the battle carnage and change individual tactics and equipment before re-launching into the action.
A key to the game's success is how variable the gameplay is. One battle will not play out the same as the last, and as the difficulty increases the monster level improves based on your group's skill levels.
Each player can have specific customised armour and weapons with many buffs available for the mage classes. Yes, a very satisfying array of customisation to satisfy even the most fussy RPG gamer out there.
Your plot choices determine the fates of the characters and once you have made a decision, for better or worse, it's one you have to live with.
Sometimes, your strategic assessment and resulting tactical choice can lead to the character falling unconscious in battle.
Moral choices you make also influence your relationship with each character in your party and their fighting abilities also improve. The significant information in codecs hidden throughout the game makes the decision making process easier, depending on the circumstances under which you cultured your main character. Sometimes the outcome of a quest is one of surprise and the game just never quite seems predictable - which is a nice trait.
With the visuals turned up this engine shows off plenty of eye-candy and I can only hope console owners (360 and PS3) are enjoying the same experience.
Beautiful, absorbing and intelligent - a game Bioware has once again nailed.
MadGamer's rating: 10 / 10
