Outside of the complex story and NPCs, players will have a host of character growth opportunities as well as a tactical combat mechanic to manage. Not dissimilar to what was found in BioWare's D&D-based games, players will have a wealth of talents and ever-increasing abilities to level up as they progress their characters through the game. What's more, class specialization will eventually kick in that will lead to advanced talents and spells.

Combat is one of the most intriguing aspects of Dragon Age: Origins. Players will be treated to a party-based, real-time, tactical system reminiscent of Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Mainstays of those series, such as pause-and-play command issuing, make the multitude of encounters highly strategic in nature. The biggest difference in the combat mechanic is that, graphically, the world is fully rendered in current-gen 3D. So, players will be able to command the battlefield with the greatest of ease by zooming in and out and changing the camera angles. By plotting out their strategy with pause-and-play functionality, players will be treated to a nice mix of real-time hack-'n-slash and turn-based combat.

The only question marks surrounding the title have to be with the story and the fact that BioWare is delivering an original IP. For starters, the generic name Dragon Age doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the narrative. Also, the title is already being compared to the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights series by the developer itself. As such, the world of Dragon Age will have big shoes to fill, especially considering those other two games were based on the renowned Forgotten Realms, which is home to some of fantasy's greatest characters and is perhaps one of the best fleshed out worlds along with Tolkien's Middle-earth. However, Mass Effect proved that BioWare is more than capable of telling a compelling story on its own. Hopefully, the world of Dragon Age: Origin will be every bit as good as the one crafted for BioWare's space opera.

Dragon Age: Origins is an ambitious original IP from one of the best developers around. Because of this, don't expect the game to grace store shelves anytime soon. In fact, the PC version, scheduled to launch first, has a tentative release of Q4 2009. Considering the scope of the title, we wouldn't be surprised if both PC and console versions were pushed deep into 2010. Once the game does release, however, official DLC and expansions are planned to support it. Moreover, an expansive set of community-driven content will be forthcoming, as BioWare will include a deep toolset for players to create their own content. If BioWare is able to accomplish the majority of the lofty goals it has set for itself, look for this dark fantasy to knock your RPG socks off when it reaches full retail release.

By Jonathan Marx
CCC Editor / News Director