By Matthew Scott Hunter
‘Dragon Age: Origins’ (M)
An epic journey of endless possibilities
****1/2
Electronic Arts
Xbox 360
Tolkien was the first to create a fantasy world with a gratuitous amount of detail. Middle-Earth had thousands of pages dedicated to fleshing out the characters, the languages, the history and the pre-history. “Dragon Age: Origins” makes Tolkien look lazy. There is quite possibly more history and detail in the world of this game than there is in the world we inhabit. And that’s before you even get to the story, which — depending on which of the characters you select and what decisions you make for your character out of hundreds of possibilities — can be different every time.
When it comes to value, no other RPG comes close to giving you your dragon’s weight in gil. Every character class comes with its own origin story, already giving you an incentive to play several times. But rather than being based on strict good vs. evil morality, choices are much more complex, adding replay value to each individual character. Depending on your choices, other characters can fall in love with you, hate you enough to leave your party, or choose a number of options in between, drastically altering the story’s outcome. The graphics are burdened with that somewhat stiff PC-to-console port look, but the endless customization options compensate. Whatever minor complaints you have, you’ll get over them in the first three hours of gameplay. And in a game like this, three hours is negligible.
‘Lego Rock Band’ (E10+)
***
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Xbox 360, Wii
Back in the 1940s, Frankenstein met the Wolfman on the silver screen, which was a sign that both film franchises were running out of steam. Here in the late 2000s, we have “LEGO” meeting “Rock Band.” But why? As you might expect, the result is that we have goofy plastic characters screwing around in the background while button prompts scroll towards the bottom of the screen. But with so many notes to hit, does anyone really notice what’s going on in the background? All that matters is that this game has some good songs to add to your rhythm game collection.
‘Band Hero’ (E10+)
***
Activision
Xbox 360, Wii
The latest “Rock Band” gave us the most legendary band ever, and “Guitar Hero 5” gave us everything but the kitchen sink, so “Band Hero” (the latest installment in the “Guitar Hero” — not “Rock Band” — franchise) can’t help but be a little disappointing. Mechanically, it’s just like “GH5” with a limited track list, and those tracks are expletive-edited and clearly catering to pre-teens. So if you like “Guitar Hero,” but always thought there should be more Taylor Swift songs, then this is for you.
‘Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter’ (E)
**
THQ
Wii
“Drawn to Life” worked great on Nintendo DS, where you have a pencil-like stylus with which to draw. But drawing with a Wii remote is like standing on stilts and trying to draw a picture in the snow with urine. Trust me: it’s hard. And even when you get past the drawing portions of the game, all you’re left with is a mediocre platformer. The idea is sound, but the implementation requires a solid surface on which to doodle. CV
