Bioware

Bioware was hard to miss for a few reasons: first they had a massive booth that was set up to look like a tavern and second they were showing off Dragon Age Origins. You can bet your last gold piece that I wasn’t missing this demo, after four years of speculation I had to see what was cooking.

Your player character is just about to join the GreyWardens, an organization whose goal is to stop the Blight, is being escorted by his mentor to meet the King. After a brief dialogue your left to wander the castle area and later the demo is moved ahead to a huge fight scene and the player’s job is to light a signal beacon, this leads to a lot of fighting and ends in a battle with an epic beast. I’m being a bit vague about all of this as to not give away story pieces—but the similarities to the huge battle scene in the Two Towers are clear.

Dragon Age is a gritty world that has been painstakingly created by the artists. Grass and banners blow in the wind, leaves fall from trees and looking up at the ramparts and towers gives one the immense feeling of atmosphere and proper scale. The character details look incredibly sharp as well and the beasties nothing short of outstanding.

The voice acting is right on par with usual Bioware standards. The music is also top notch and really conveyed the proper mood. For a game that is over six months away this thing looked ready to ship. I’ve never been caught up in watching a demo like this one, when the party manages to fell the large beastie at the demo’s end I almost cheered.

The world of Dragon Age is a dark and dangerous place. The choices you make affect not only you but the people around you as well. When our player came across a prisoner in a cage who offered him a key he has hidden, don’t ask where, in exchange for some food our player decided to kill the man and take his key. The guard got right into our face about the incident but thought the better of it when we told him to back off.