PC Gamer - Dragon Age 2 Review: "RPG of the decade." 94/100
A review of Dragon Age 2 can be found in PC Gamer's April 2011 magazine issue. The main points from each section of the review have been pasted below. Enjoy.
"The best RPG combat ever. Not gaming's best story, but maybe its best storytelling. Darker, sexier, better. Is this the best RPG of this decade? Nine more years will tell, but for now, yes.
Like Origins, it's a 50-plus hour role-playing epic with a deep, complex combat system and a well-defined supporting cast. DA2's combat is spring-loaded - cooldown periods are just as integral as they were in Origins, but the abilities are flashier and lightning-fast. Origins' free battlefield camera is gone, but a mouse wheel scroll still gives the zoom you need to see the full field.
Dragon Age 2's party combat is rapid and satisfying, but it's almost more intricate than in Origins. Each companion has a set class, but from there, specialization is largely up to you ... I found myself rotating my party regularly - sacrilege in a lot of RPGs that demand a standard party to succeed, but sensible here when everyone's abilities are just so much fun.
The conversation system employs Mass Effect's conversation wheel and splits most interactions into a three-tierd system: saintly, aggressive, and - most fun - smartass, but only very occasionally did I feel neutered by limited choices. I found myself flipping between responses depending on the situation, and the lack of an arbitrary karma system meant I could do so without fear of being pigeonholed.
Dragon Age 2 is the most impressive attempt I've seen at making player decisions mean something - I can't wait until everyone I know has played it, so they can tell me what would've happened if I'd only killed person X in my sixth year in the city ... the world of Thedas is one of racism and fascism, and only now has BioWare really come to terms with this and conceived some genuinely dark quest lines."