Dragon Age II Review - A heartbreaking misfire

There is no worse feeling a game can induce upon a poor, unsuspecting player than that of disappointment. Dragon Age II is guilty of this worst of gaming sins. It steps forward into the spotlight with a confident stride only to reveal hours later the moldy, rotting core lying within. Terrible games are easy to dismiss. Great games are easy to recommend. Those like Dragon Age II prove difficult, offering glimmers of hope bright enough to make me truly mourn the loss of what could have been. 

Dragon Age II is proof that even the best writer can have an off day.

Anyone coming into this game because of Bioware’s illustrious pedigree will find it curiously below par. Some of its shortcomings can be written off as bold attempts to do something different than the studio’s norm. They may not have worked, but perhaps they can at least be excused in the name of attempting the unexpected. Far less justifiable are those failures that come where this group of talented developers should be strongest; those that let its audience down precisely where it is expected to be at its best. 

To begin, let us examine the setting. A more generous mind could perhaps label Kirkwall as “intimate”. I think “small” is more accurate.

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The Undying Lure of the Pocket Monster

of new Pokemon games on shelves, I found myself facing a familiar conundrum. On the one hand, there was the unquestionable desire to play; to collect, level, and explore; to bask in the familiar glow of a growing Pokedex and a troupe of friendly creatures with which to kick the ass of cuddly things the world over. Simultaneously, a curmudgeonly part of the back of my brain was yelling to get that children’s game off of his damn lawn and go do something more productive. 

“Pokemon games haven’t changed in twelve years,” he said with an air of cranky authority. “You played it back then when you were only knee-high to a Charizard. Now you’re grown and out of college and you want to do it all over again? I understand you’ve got a lot of free time on your hands. A return to “simpler” days might sound refreshing, but Pokemon? That’s just desperate. Grow up and go play something for adults.”

I tried to remind him that I actually played Pokemon Diamond a couple of years ago and rather enjoyed it for a while, though I had to give it to a roommate to finish after losing interest. He mumbled a series of indecipherable grunts and the only words I managed to make out were “dang blasted nostalgia” before he trudged his way back into the recesses of my mind and let me stop talking to myself. 

This particular brand of desire is not unfamiliar to me. It is the allure of being drawn into an epic game combined with the excitement of collection and leveling up, growing ever stronger and exploring every corner of a vast world. It’s also laced with that nagging feeling of guilt that comes with believing that I’ve done it all before, with thinking that there must be better ways I could be spending my time.

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The Great iOS Game Search: Tiny Wings

I am simply convinced that Apple’s iOS platform has a lot of potential for great gaming experiences. The powerful hardware, responsive touchscreens, and gorgeous displays of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch are brimming with possibility. Unfortunately, the App Store is filled with shovelware and games that don’t do the OS justice. As such, I have decided to go on a search to find those digital diamonds in the rough that are not only great games, but are designed for the platform as well. 

Tiny Wings

Developer: Andreas Illiger

Current Price: $0.99

Platforms: iPhone/iPod Touch

I firmly believe that there is a place for games on iOS that attempt to challenge dedicated handhelds like the PSP and DS in terms of depth and quality. Why not aim for such lofty goals, after all?

Even I must admit, however, that the games that most often feel “right” for the platform, those that capture my attention and bring a smile to my face and leave me thinking to myself “Yes, this is what mobile gaming is all about” are those games that embrace the simplicity of the device. They find ways to build mechanics around minimalism while including enough depth to retain challenge and ensure practice is needed to master the game.

These games often require only one input, touching, tapping, or holding the screen at a certain time, but can have an addictive quality than can rival their more complex console brethren. They come in bite sizes with prices to match, costing as little as a dollar and are perfectly suited to gaming on a mobile device, able to give you a satisfying experience in just minutes.

They may be small, they may be disposable, but the best of the iOS crop is densely packed with creativity. It’s simply delightful to see how much experimentation is being done with graphics and gameplay in this sector and how much success it is bringing some developers. I’ve felt on more than one occasion that more creative thought has been put into a game I bought for $0.99 and thought would be a throwaway experience than a game I bought for $60 in a retail store.

Tiny Wings is one of these delightful little surprises. I bought it on a whim, having never heard of it before, after a writer I follow on Twitter recommended it. I didn’t even know what to expect, but for $0.99 I took the gamble and bought it sight unseen. When was the last time you did that with a console game?

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Bulletstorm and the gaming industry's immature obsessions

I found an article the other day that I thought rather brilliantly summed up the movie industry’s current creativity drought. Put simply, the entire industry is aimed at immature teenagers with no taste. Why? Because focusing their efforts on this group makes a butt-load of money and it’s an easy sell. Said immature teenagers are in no danger of developing better taste, so movie studios have found a comfortable rut to lie in.

Now, I’m no expert on the film industry, so I’m not capable of a detailed critique of this argument. Generally, I feel it’s right on the money for the most part but perhaps exaggerates just a tad as to the implications and side effects of the issue. 

More important to my own interests is the parallel I see between where the movie industry is now and where the game industry is quickly heading.

A little game called Bulletstorm was released on February 22. This title has managed to generate quite a lot of controversy due to various misguided articles by poorly-informed Fox News writers and the intelligent responses to these ridiculous accusations. Whether or not Bulletstorm’s dialog will, in fact, cause an increase in rape is not my concern right now though. 

You see, Bulletstorm is the perfect gaming equivalent of the immature movies bringing down the film industry right now. You simply couldn’t ask for a better example. 

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The Pitfalls of Tradition: The Decline of the JRPG

The origins of the fledgling medium of interactive gaming lie steeped in tradition. Close ties to technological development have inspired great change in a short span of years, but most games even today are still rooted in a core of rules and concepts formed many years ago.

When you consider that video games are, essentially, highly evolved forms of old-world entertainment, such as card and board games, this is understandable. Modern interactive games might be technologically wondrous, but they’re still based on rules and systems like any other traditional game. As such, it’s easy to understand the temptation to stick with what works and resist change simply for the sake of it.

This traditionalism has, in many ways, served the industry well. Years of honing concepts, evolving ideas, and developing genres has led to a steady trend upward in quality across nearly every facet of game development. It’s this evolution from early ideas, this adherence to what works, that has allowed video games to come so far in such a short time.

It is vital to point out that the key concept here is evolution, not stagnation.

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