Are you also in wait for Diablo 3? Try this meanwhile, and you should forget about Blizzard´s neverending wait...
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OK, lets start my mini review.
First id like to pay some attention to the story.
In Spellfor.. uhm.. Dragon age - Origins you start by makeing a charractor, in my case i choose an Elf with Rouge as speciallity. (more to this under gameplay.)
All the old pact/agreements between the diffrent race as ELf's, Dwarfwens and humans are loong gone and each one stand for their own, as Bligth (think of undead mixed with Orc´s) threaten the whole existence of mankind you get the task to be a Grey Warden, the Grey wardens are a small closed group of warriors that are sworn to serve the king and figth the evil at any cost. Once you are drafted you´ll end up figthing in the last great war against the Bligth, you with the Grey wardens and the king along with his allie Logan will stand and defeat the evil one and for all, but you fail and all hope are lost, all kings men and all the grey wardens are being owerwhelmd by the bligth as Logan run with all his men and left you for a sertian death.
This is where the story really start, you somehow survive with your friend Allister and become the last Grey wardens, you wake up in the woods saved by the witch of the wilds, she quickly send you out to unite dwarfs, elfs and humans against the threatning Blight. This may not become easy as you are called out as the betraitor from Logan.
Almoust evryone you meat under your journey lead the story ahead. With evry awnser you get you can choose to ask or awnser diffrent, this will take the story in diffrent angles and unwrap a whole diffrent scenario, choose your words well while speaking to anyone you meet because they migth pick up swords and figth you or they´ll end up as members in your traveling party.
Along with the intresting story you got hundreds of sidequest and sometimes it´s hard to sort the important ones out.
Ah, i´ve just taken some small and important bits out, theres more to the games evolving story than what i can write in this mini review.
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Ok, so let´s get on with the gameplay.
You start the game customicising your main carractor, there are some diffrent calasses and race to choose from.
You can play this game as in first prerson or a 3´rd angle, you´ll end up only playing in third angle because you can much better see what happens and you are more likly to success with playing the whole party in figths wile looking at the playfield from above. In your party you can have controll of a maximum of four charractors, along the game you´ll run into more than four but they all folow in your jouerny but you can choose who are to join in and figth.
All members you can in detail choose their abbiletys and what they wear, as in most roleplaying games there are a level or XP system, you earn XP for killing enemies and ending quests this give you a higher level and unlock diffrent abbiletys. One great thing is that if one of your crew falls on the battlefield they come to life when all danger are ellimanated, you simply just get on with the figth untill you have killed all enemies and walk to where your partymember have fallen. The class speciallities can be used by quick buttons, it may get a bit messy with four diffrent players on the field but if you use _space_ the whole game pause and you can build up diffrent attaks from all of your players/partymembers.
I find the tactics system a bit hard to learn, and unlike the GS review i find it a bit to much to get an easy grip on, im sure it´s the most advanced friendly AI tactics ever seen in any game but it´s a bit to hard to learn without a manual to know what all difrent (its +100 buttons) buttons really do or don´t do.
There are almost an owerwhelming diffrent ways to make your party, either via diffrent members, diffrent artifacs, diffrent powers, diffrent relationships with the members of your party, this list can be made just how long you want. Simply, the ways you can personalice the group is endless.
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Vissuals and sound.
The graphics is not top of the line for a game out in late Q3/2009 but the good artwork and nice enviroment wheigh it up, there are a !few! odd vissual glitches in apperance and such of a few carractors but no major things to take notice from.
Running this game is no problem for even a lowend PC, my quadcore and HD4850 have no truble at all with the highest possible ingame settings running 8xAA at a very good framerate.
Voice acting is great for most and for this type of game it´s quite rare to find that.
Music are just as you should expect, trumpets and horns and violins alond with powerfull drums, it builds up a nice fealing and changes as danger are lurking into more intence.
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This is a game to get your hands on, the amout of time you can spend without letting go is amazing, allthru there are much alike to the Spellforce sh.wars in terms of storytelling this game stands on it´s own.
Any fan of diablo and such games should get this game!