Dragon Age: Origins Awakening - Xbox 360

Ok, if you played the the original DAO you will really like Awakening, I have able to import my previous characters and I'm even trying my hand at starting a new one, if you have a choice, IMPORT, the new character only starts a level 18 and all of the specializations start at level 20. For an expansion pack this is quite long, about 15 hours give or take, I would also say that this is more difficult than the original game no matter what level you plan at. The new party members are interesting, but I don't want to spoil it by saying too much. There are a few returning characters from the original, not all are playable though, I won't spoil it by saying any more than that. Even though you are only in Amaranthine for this expansion there is still plenty to do! The graphics are the same as the original, so they still need a bit of work, but overall a very good expansion/game. Oh by the way, the new specializations are very cool especially for the warrior and the mage, some new archer abilites are also quite useful too, especially Accuracy! Overall a 4.6 out 5, I just wish it was longer...can't wait for DAO2!

Your enjoyment of Dragon Age: Origins will primarily drive your love-like-hate status of Dragon Age: Origins - Awakenings. Reviewing Dragon Age: Origins is an essay on it's own, so I suggest you take your personal experience of that game and bring it to this review or you read some Dragon Age: Origins reviews first. Origins had superb quality in story, character development, and overall presentation of an immersive world. It was not a technical powerhouse by anyone's standards. It suffered from good-not-great visuals, cliche' Lord of the Rings want-to-be music, erratic difficulty, and a myriad of technical hiccups. However it's strengths were so strong it sucked you in and made even me guilty of playing 60+ hours of it to complete the epic. Yes the characters, situations, and story were that good. Awakenings brings more of the same in a more digestible package. The bad: There are no technical or gameplay refinements here. It is clearly built on the same engine as Origins with zero changes. This means you will experience some glitches, your companions will have limited AI, and the save system is still awful. Save the game constantly; all it takes is one bad battle or one moral decision with enormous consequences to set you back hours of gameplay. The battle system is the same as it was. Not 100% a bad thing because it is fun, just feels like more design could go into it. All of this can be said of Dragon Age: Origins. The good: The good outweighs the bad again in Awakenings. First, this is a new story that happens after Origins. You do not have to play Origins to play this! You may even start a new character. This is where Dragon Age shines. The stories will suck you in, the ridiculous moral choices that effect the game world around you in profound ways are still there, and the characters are just as awesome. Speaking of characters, you will meet a handful of new companions in this game all well written, interesting, dramatic, and often hilarious. It is a little bit of a shame that, except for 1, all the characters you grew to love in Origins do not make the jump to Awakenings. This speaks more to how great Origins was in character design than it is a flaw of Awakenings. You will love Awakenings' characters just as much. The difficulty felt both more balanced here and a bit more forgiving. I believe this is because in Awakenings you start at a much higher level and have a much larger and more diverse set of powers/abilities from the start. Another awesome option is that unlike the original, you can reset and rebuild your characters' skills at any time. There are no new races or classes, but there are a few new specializations to change up your characters' play styles. There is also a new rune crafting option that was a nice add (explaining that is beyond the scope of this review). Final thing that may surprise you as "good" is the length. Yes, Awakenings is considerably shorter than its predecessor. A fifth or smaller in size perhaps. The hardcore may cry fowl at this (given the price). I am of the school that this is good. Dragon Age: Origins was a monster in size, scale, and length. Amazing, yes, accessible to your average gamer? No, and that was a shame because it was a great experience. Awakenings is a normal sized meal compared to other games, while Origins was a gluttonous buffet. Do the dollars per hour math all you want, but you won't "feel" cheated when you are done. It is comparable to other games in length, just not it's own predecessor. If you liked or loved Dragon Age, then buy Awakenings and enjoy because there's nothing but good things for you here. If you didn't like Dragon Age: Origins, this is more of the same so you'll probably not be interested unless it was the length that put you off on the original.

This expansion pack is worth the 40 bucks and another good storyline goes with it. There is some more humor in the game that does might you laugh :) New spells, especially for the warrior are insane. The character that comes back from Dragon Age (whom i WONT spoil for you) I got do 589 damage on a single hit...INSANE :) its def an expasion pack to get if you liked Dragon Age

The controls are pretty terrible in this game as is the game play itself. Storyline lags a great deal with no real direction to it. Sort of feels like you're just doing this and that hopefully getting to where your supposed to get. In comparison to Elder Scrolls Oblivion which I think is one of the best RPG games I've ever played this game is far inferior. The only redeeming quality I could find in this game is the music is pretty good. Everything else was very sub par and poor.

Over all I think this is a very good extension of the original Dragon Age game. I'm just a little disappointed with 3 of the original characters showing up in one fashion or another. I would have really liked to see the original cast of characters available, or at least more of a role in this one. But I guess you can't have everything.

Well first off let me explain the good's and the bad's The Good. Is the you can inport your old character. you get new character in this new epic store and a couple of old character are back in this game and you do not need to play the first game to play this game. The Bad. the games has a lot of glitches no real good graphics the choices you made from the first game did not inpact the second game nun of the good character are in this game. all in all do I think this game in worth the $40.00 No maybe $25.00 but that's my opinion> I hope this help's you

This was great add-on content for Dragon Age: Origins. I was pleasantly surprised w/the length of the material (game play lasted quite a while). I was also very happy w/the story line, new chars, etc. It was a great buy - great value for the price.