Dragon Age First Impression

With games like the Baldur's Gate series, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic under its belt, BioWare stands as one of the most, if not the most, experienced developers of role-playing games in the world. Just prior to E3, the company announced that it is currently working on a new high-fantasy-themed computer role-playing game called Dragon Age, which will feature an original setting rather than be based on the Dungeons & Dragons license or other existing property. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, we had the privilege to take a look at a concept demonstration of the game, which gave us a feel for the new setting as well as an idea of what the gameplay itself would be like. What we got was just a taste of the game, but we can't wait to see more.

Dragon Age is being built using a new 3D graphics engine, which lends the game a look that's reminiscent of Knights of the Old Republic but with much more detail both in the characters and in the environments. BioWare is keeping quiet about the specifics of its new gameworld, but it basically looks reminiscent of other high-fantasy settings. There are no obvious, jarring twists that we saw, though some of the interpretations of conventional creatures, like ogres, trolls, and the undead, are certainly being depicted in a distinctive manner in this game, judging by the concept art that we saw.

The first gameplay sequence we saw featured a massive, Lord of the Rings-style battle zone as the setting. Two characters, a surly barbarian who was dual-wielding swords and a female magic user, were the focus of the action here, and they were guided across a castle's parapets as war raged below. This was all rather impressive from a visual standpoint. We got to see another interior environment, a ruined temple illuminated by shafts of light seeping through the walls, and this looked very good as well. Environments will not be as flat as in BioWare's previous games. Still another sequence featured the characters making their way along a winding path down a hillside.

With Dragon Age, BioWare is seeking to combine the dramatic, fully 3D look of a game like Knights of the Old Republic with the more-sophisticated, party-based combat of its classic Baldur's Gate games. Basically, while you're running around and exploring, the game will default to a third-person perspective similar to KOTOR, but when combat occurs, gameplay will shift to an isometric, tactical view similar to Baldur's Gate. Players will likely still have a free range of motion with the camera at all times, however. In combat, they'll be able to pause at any time while managing the fight tactically, or they can zoom in for a KOTOR-style third-person perspective, directing any of the party members, while allowing the optionally artificially intelligent party members to hold their own.

Like KOTOR, Dragon Age will feature full speech, which is great. Unlike KOTOR, though, Dragon Age's characters will do a lot more emoting. The level of detail in the characters' faces allows them to serve as "virtual actors," to use BioWare's term for it. There are some other nice graphical touches, such as how foreground objects in the environment automatically become transparent in the event that they might be obstructing your view of your characters.

BioWare has apparently spent a long time fleshing out the gameworld, which has a 5,000-year history and many different political, feuding factions. We were told that the game's story will be serious in tone and will involve a lot of political intrigue, conspiracy, and so on. And, of course, like in BioWare's other choose-your-own-adventure-style games, players will be able to conduct themselves in a variety of different ways during the course of Dragon Age.

BioWare is currently shopping for a publisher for Dragon Age, so the game's release date has yet to be determined. We're not terribly concerned about whether this game is going to line up in some publisher's lap, though. BioWare is billing Dragon Age as "the next fantasy RPG revolution," which is a bold claim. However, we suspect it's quite possibly a valid one. We'll be very much looking forward to bringing you more information on this game.