Dragon Age: Origins First Impressions

After I've played through two origins (city elf mage and dwarf noble warrior to level 8) on the PC and Xbox 360 I can say:

• The PC version looks and plays a lot better - there is just no replacement for free camera, mouse controls and action bar with 10+ buttons.
• The game starts off slowly, so slow that you actually think it's pretty crappy. Persevere! ;)
• Combat is hard - random encounters will wipe your party out for no apparent reason. Save and save OFTEN!
• Console versions don't have party damage on at the normal level of difficulty, this leads to lack of positional combat. But then again, it makes the game playable on the consoles. The interface is "nit-picky" enough without friendly fire.

All in all, after a couple of nights' play, I'd have to say it's an OK game. Not an Oblivion killer, and definitely not anything as good as Bioware's older classics like Baldur's Gate 2 or KOTOR.

8 /10...