Game Reviews

Dragon Age Journeys Review

by admin posted Aug 10,2010

Dragon Age Journeys is an old-school top-down, turn-based RPG the likes of which this reviewer hasn’t seen in a decade. It would be worth playing for the sheer nostalgia, but it also happens to be very well-executed by a talented team.

You start off picking your race and class – fighter, mage, or bard. You’ll pick up companions along the way, so feel free to pick the one that suits your fancy. Then the tutorial section will set up the story – your reason will vary depending on your race, but you’re alone and fleeing through the dark towards the Dwarven city of Orzammar, and only you know of the terrible danger approaching.

It’s not a novel storyline, but there’s something comfortable about it – like an old pair of jeans. Your possible companions and their various helpful, crotchety, or shifty personalities also give the game a little flavor as you slaughter orc- and troll-like critters, giant spiders, and other familiar fare. You’ll have a variety of responses available in conversation to set the tone for your own character – although it doesn’t appear that the different options actually change the flow of the game, the different responses are generally amusing.

The combat is fun, although there isn’t a ton of variety in the enemies, and it’s really too easy at the easier difficulty levels. It becomes quite a tactical challenge in Hard mode as you try to conserve your mana but keep your allies alive against the numerous enemies. Combat brings you from the main dungeon onto a hex map with random line-of-sight obstructions. You have to maneuver around them, choose attacks with a variety of single- or multi-target, melee or ranged damage patterns, and keep yourself and your party members healed without running out of mana for this or the next fight.

There are at least a few hours of gameplay here, and if you choose to replay it to get all of the achievements you can unlock some interesting downloadable items for Dragon Age: Origins. The developers are also promising that the story will continue in an update currently in development. If you’re missing games like Fallout, Baldur’s Gate, or even the old Ultimas, give Dragon Age Journeys a shot – it should quench that thirst just fin

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