Dragon Age: Origins Awakenings (Playstation 3)

I wrote a review for Dragon Age Origins not too long ago and as you can tell I really enjoyed that game and it was my favorite of of 2009. So I was looking for equal enjoyment with this expansion. I didn't get that same feeling I had with the original as I did with this one. The story is kind of bland, as well as the new party members. The only new character I liked was Anders,the others didn't really catch my attention like the old ones did. And why in the world did they choose Ogrhen as the returning character? I would have rather had anyone other than him. The game play is the same of course. New spells and skills are forgettable and I found myself using the old ones more often than the new. The story is worth playing the game, though it is not too great. There also seems to be some issues with previous DLC that have yet to be fixed. I really hope too see another expansion for DA:O, and with that expansion all the characters from the previous 2 available and a better story than this. This one would have been better as a new downloadable side quest to play through before you kill the Arch Demon in my opinion.

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Know what you get, and what you don't.

NO ROMANCE / NO DLC USAGE / NO REPLAYABILITY

To date, I've invested more than 150 hours in Dragon Age. I bought all the DLC. For me, all Bioware games are Must-Play. But I can't make the argument that Awakening is Must-Own. It all depends on what you care about. Bioware games work on four pillars. Story World. Level-up System. Romance. Replayability. Awakening has two of the four. By 25% more Dragon Age, I expect to get 35 hours out of Awakening. Three play throughs, about 12 hours each. Warrior, mage, thief. I don't count that at as full replayability. I expect to get 6-8 play throughs for a Bioware game. Awakening doesn't let you use any of your DLC. Awakening has no romance. No old romance. No new romance. With no romance and no dlc and no full replayability, I consider Awakening 50% of a Bioware experience.

5-STAR BIOWARE STORYTELLING / LEVEL-UP TO 35

The same writers, the same artists, the same level of excellence. If you understand what you're getting, Awakening is easy to love. New quests are fun. Meeting new characters are fun. It's bittersweet that you don't get to continue with your old companions, but that's part of the emotional experience. You have to imagine making leather-bikini love to Morigan in that secret part of your mind while you're splattering fresh darkspawn blood. Or you can treat this mission as optional, and never make the trip. It's your Fantasy. You don't have to play it. You don't have to buy it. You don't have to give Bioware your money.

FOR ME, IT'S A MUST-PLAY. FOR WHAT IT IS, IT'S AWESOME.

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I found this expansion pack to be well worth the money.

I do miss the Origins party members, especially Morrigan and Shale, but the rest of it makes up for it.

The new talents and leveling up skills are so fun and interesting.

I actually see a bit of Mass Effect 2 in some of the new things.

The new armor, new weapons, new runes system and whatnot are really great.

The areas are neat and the quests are plentiful and are fun.

I have played about 3/4 of it so far and have played for about 18 hours (but, I am a bit slow as I take my time, read some codex, etc...).

Oghren never fails to make me laugh so I am glad he is back.

The only thing I do not like about it, in my opinion, is the female elf mage tries to hard to be like Morrigan was but fails miserably. She evens has the same hairstyle so it did not sit well with me.

But, overall, for an expansion pack, I highly recommend it.

Just more fun to be had in the continuing story of the epic Dragon Age Origins.

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