Dragon Age II

 Xbox 360
User Score
4.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 2466 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 795 out of 2466
  2. Mixed: 431 out of 2466
  3. Negative: 1,240 out of 2466
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  1. uberfanboy2000
    Mar 19, 2011
    1
    As a fan of everything RPG, I fell completely in love with Dragon Age: Origins. A sprawling game filled with memorable characters, an intricate storyline and seemingly limitless customization opportunities, Origins ticked all the right boxes and felt like a concerted effort to breathe new life into a genre that is seemingly falling by the wayside. Even Origins' most glaring flaws could beAs a fan of everything RPG, I fell completely in love with Dragon Age: Origins. A sprawling game filled with memorable characters, an intricate storyline and seemingly limitless customization opportunities, Origins ticked all the right boxes and felt like a concerted effort to breathe new life into a genre that is seemingly falling by the wayside. Even Origins' most glaring flaws could be easily forgiven in light of it's many strengths.

    Dragon Age II is a rushed, poorly written and overly-simplified game that has little to nothing in common with it's predecessor. Whilst the immediacy of the reformed combat and the overhauled interface are welcome improvements, the rest of the game seems like a cynical slap in the face to roleplaying game fans everywhere.

    The characters are soulless husks saddled with sparse, poorly written dialogue. The environments are claustrophobic, drab, grey and brown boxes with moveable walls and endlessly spawning enemies that are endlessly recycled (think of THAT WAREHOUSE in Mass Effect 1). The dialogue wheel, whilst a positive move, was hampered by the fact that Hawke delivers all of his lines with about as much emotion as dead slug. Couple this with the fact that the ENTIRE of the game takes place within roughly 10 or so areas (sorry, but Hightown Day and Hightown Night or does not exactly satisfy any wanderlust) and you are left with a bland, cynical, soulless game that does nothing but blacken the name of what was shaping up to be an intelligent, well written and refreshing fantasy series.

    Must try harder Bioware. You are a lot better than this nightmare of a game...    … Expand
  2. necro128
    Mar 19, 2011
    4
    simple.. repetitive and predictable. good bye dragon age.....
    now you have a action game masked as rpg. run around the same caves and "dungeons" one time and other let you with the feeling of be playing a bad chinese MMO made to extract you money with micropayments. and probably thats what EA want with the forthcoming dlc,s.
  3. Nerresand
    Mar 14, 2011
    3
    Story - 5/10
    While I appreciate the divergence from the stereotypical "save the universe from an unspeakable evil" in favor of a more down-to-earth story, they spoiled an opportunity here. Not being grandiose doesn't mean the story can't be good and interesting, and this one wasn't particularly either one.
    Graphics/Audio - 4/10 I actually liked Origins' graphics and sound much more.    Story - 5/10
    While I appreciate the divergence from the stereotypical "save the universe from an unspeakable evil" in favor of a more down-to-earth story, they spoiled an opportunity here. Not being grandiose doesn't mean the story can't be good and interesting, and this one wasn't particularly either one.

    Graphics/Audio - 4/10
    I actually liked Origins' graphics and sound much more. It's just personal preference, but I feel that DA2 looks and sounds more like a comic book than a good RPG.

    Speaking of RPG... 2/10
    The positive spin is that this game was made "more accessible". Unfortunately, I feel that this spoiled part of what made Origins so good - it was a game that focused on RP elements more than most, and they sold out. Interacting with the characters is a shallow experience, inexplicably made more difficult than it needs to be and offering very little satisfaction from a roleplaying perspective. This is a roleplaying game, and while personal character customization and choice are part of that, the RP elements that Dragon Age already had were very good, and just needed a little work; I was surprised and disappointed to discover the gigantic step backwards. Almost everything having to do with your party members is worse than it was in Origins, from customizing their gear, to having conversations with them, to affecting their personalities, to making sweet love with them in a campsite. Overall - 3/10
    Bioware seems to have taken the approach that simplicity is good, delivering a mindless comic book of absurd gore (one fatal sword slash causes an enemy to explode in a cloud of blood and its armor to, for some reason, pop into a dozen pieces?) and lackluster story. Simplicity is a very bad approach for an RPG, however, and a great many things that only needed minor improvement (or didn't need fixing) were completely destroyed in this sequel. Your opinion of DA2 will very likely depend on what you liked or didn't like about DAO. If you were disappointed with the action and thought the overall game was too complex, you'll probably like it. If you liked the core RP elements, you probably won't.    … Expand
  4. galaktur
    Mar 16, 2011
    1
    Game - disappointing year. is certainly in the game and the good moments, improvements and new approaches, but unfortunately, disadvantages outweigh all its advantages. in pursuit of excess income, usually leaves the crude product, which subsequently will only exacerbate the situation and standard condemns the continuation of game to fail. ea company should reconsider marketing policy.
  5. FozzyTheForger
    Mar 16, 2011
    0
    (PC) Acknowledging that "Immersion" has become the sword to wield when you're in computer game or other content delivery marketing, I have built up antibodies that make me immune to marketing BS. If marketing funds manage to show me nothing but outsourced videos to try and lure me in, I just don't bite anymore and put my cravings on hold until I get reviews and visual proof of what's to(PC) Acknowledging that "Immersion" has become the sword to wield when you're in computer game or other content delivery marketing, I have built up antibodies that make me immune to marketing BS. If marketing funds manage to show me nothing but outsourced videos to try and lure me in, I just don't bite anymore and put my cravings on hold until I get reviews and visual proof of what's to come. This is, of course, a bit sad in itself since it prevents me from pre-ordering, another new tool of the trade that has already gone bittersweet.

    Thing is, I was really actively waiting for Dragon Age II to happen. So, when I got it in the mail, I simply could not wait to have it up and running. I tried to look beyond the shaved dwarf or the deadpan delivery of unpalatable speech impediments. I was looking forward to dive into the game and get my RPG fix. And I got a hack'n'slash with multiple-choice cutscene intermissions. Or a machinima movie with action-RPG intermissions, maybe.

    Let me say that I really like God of War. But when I go out and (pre)order an RPG, that's what I expect to get. In case of Dragon Age II, however, it is just not what I got - at all. I got a mini-game which consists of way too many options to customize my - one - character. So I did that. Then I was served confusing and annoying bits of want-to-be movie sequences, haphazardly made-up history, cut scenes, an in-my-face appetizer of the action that was to come and.... more cut-scenes and more sessions of story-telling. If you can't read, it's pretty much OK, for the video is included in the game. Then I ran through what appeared to be an on-rails beat-em-up button mashing routine that was only improved (on PC) by having my character auto-attack, which is definitely easier on the mouse-and-keyboard hardware. My brother has no such luck on the PS3, he's mashing buttons till kingdom come - but he likes it, so there you go.

    I have not yet finished the game, but currently I feel more inclined to un-install it and burn the disc it came on. It is not an adventure. It is not an RPG. What it seems to be is partly immersive cut-scenes with multiple choice forks - of the "Good"-"SarcasticLOL!"-"OhShutUpAlready" type, with the "good" ones easily leading to gratuitous sessions of very open-minded sexual intercourse with seemingly anything that moves. Bioware really seems to be about procreation. Was I surprised? Yes. Was I touched? A bit, but not in places where I wish for an RPG to touch me, really. "Moving about" has become a moving back and fro, revisiting recycled resources as if it had a positive impact on CO2 emissions. It is definitely less about discovery and all about run-by kill-em-all. "Dungeons" consist mainly of recycled locations, as well. Not the kind of ever-repeating deja-vu I was looking to find. I actually came up with a word to describe my emotions when i recognized the same set for the n-th time: Grindhog Day.

    I know the bills that need to be paid and business in general call for franchises to be established and then cashed in ASAP to reach ROI targets. But this is sad and preposterous.

    I hope this new-school bubble of not-quite-RPG will soon burst and funds will find a way to flow into the resurrections or reincarnations of the true RPG titles of old. Here's to hoping we'll get more "Dungeon Master", "Bard's Tale" and "Wizardry" crawling and discovering than "Dragon's Lair" interactive cut-scenes (without the brilliant cartoons, mind you). When I feel like watching a movie, I don't sit down to play a game. Maybe this is "modern" and I'm just not "modern" enough. Then again, I remember going out and buying what I thought was a fighting game some fifteen years back. It did involve well-known samurai sword-wielding characters alright. But it turned out to be a Japanese RPG of sorts. I felt stupid for not having informed myself properly beforehand. It was my fault, and it at very least delivered good incentive to get a basic grip on the Kanji & Kana, even though the game still didn't get better once I was able to somewhat understand the funny symbols.

    This time around, however, I got something I thought I was watching closely for a year - and I still didn't get what I thought I'd get. And that's wrong on a number of levels, I think.    … Expand
  6. Jaddel
    Mar 19, 2011
    0
    Absolutely disappointing. This was my last bioware game...
    For the next 5 years I will give the money for every bioware game released, to charity instead buying the game !!!
  7. pete_3po
    Mar 22, 2011
    0
    I have never felt the need to write a review for anything on metacritic before. However after being so excited at getting my hands onto DA 2 and enjoying the first few hours of play i have been left feeling appalled by the absolute lack of regard shown by Bioware towards the Xbox community. As i have said i was enjoying playing this game and have no particular greivance with the differingI have never felt the need to write a review for anything on metacritic before. However after being so excited at getting my hands onto DA 2 and enjoying the first few hours of play i have been left feeling appalled by the absolute lack of regard shown by Bioware towards the Xbox community. As i have said i was enjoying playing this game and have no particular greivance with the differing approach taken from origins, but since running into the shield glitch I have had to stop playing and wait for Bioware to release a patch. The shield glitch is a bug in the game were-by if you unequip/re-equip or change your shield your defense stat is not reset but stacks, meaning that your warrior class characters become unbalanced and in effect you are unintenionally lowering the diffulculty of the game. How was this bug missed in testing? did the testers never change their characters shields? In the demo you were unable to change your characters equipment and this leads me to belive that there were stat issues with regard to altering equipment then, if this was the case why was this game released without Bioware resolving this glitch. While I haven't been playing DA 2 (all most two weeks now) I have been reading the Bioware social forums for info on a ETA for a patch, from what I have read I'm glad that I did stop because multiple other game breaking glitches have been found including save, achievement, AI and issues envolving the downloadable content. While little to no info from Bioware as to why on when these issues have occurred or will be resolved.

    Overall i have had to rate this game 0 out of 10 as it is unfinished and should never have been released and therefore in my opinon does not qualify for a rating. The experience has left me with a nasty taste in my mouth after giving Bioware and EA my £40 day one that all most two weeks later is still not a finished product whilst also feeling completly ignored by a company that just doesn't seem to care that it has done wrong.    … Expand
  8. konda210
    Mar 23, 2011
    4
    Same review I've posted in other forums...One word. Unfinishable. This was like watching a long bad direct-to-video fantasy. Wow. I'm really shocked at how bad the storytelling was here. Just so unlike Bioware to utterly fail at the story. Possibly it was the production timeline? I can excuse the repetitive maps, the hack-and-slash, the idiotic AI, the auto-spawn enemies that always seemSame review I've posted in other forums...One word. Unfinishable. This was like watching a long bad direct-to-video fantasy. Wow. I'm really shocked at how bad the storytelling was here. Just so unlike Bioware to utterly fail at the story. Possibly it was the production timeline? I can excuse the repetitive maps, the hack-and-slash, the idiotic AI, the auto-spawn enemies that always seem to materialize out of closed spaces, even the giant spiders who web down from a clear blue sky. Over-powered rouges and buggy system that clearly handicaps damage when there are more enemies than less, no problem. I can even excuse the locked companion armor, nameless equipment and the disjointed, often-times mindless quests, but never, ever have I bought a Bioware game and was so frustrated where I just preferred not to finish. I'm a hardcore RPG fan and not only is this worse than Dragon Age Origins, it's more like some strange alternate world spin-off. It doesn't even feel like Dragonage. I got to the final part of the end of the final act and was so disgusted with the story, I turned my Xbox off. It's been a long, long time since I've done that.

    Look for copies to show up on the pre-owned shelves soon. Remember it's a very LONG game and Bioware earned credibility with DA:O that despite bad experiences people are still trying to give it a chance. I think some are coming to the conclusion that I've arrived at. I'm done. Not even a DLC can save this .......... abomination. LOL.    … Expand
  9. CmdrShepard
    Mar 29, 2011
    3
    As a fan of Bioware, I can honestly say that I never expected quite an "exprience" like the one I received from this game. Bioware, to me, is a forward thinking developer of Great Western RPGS and experiences like the Mass Effect Series, Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age: Origins and of course, Knights of the Old Republic. Despite my great anticipation of Dragon Age 2, the game feels very rushedAs a fan of Bioware, I can honestly say that I never expected quite an "exprience" like the one I received from this game. Bioware, to me, is a forward thinking developer of Great Western RPGS and experiences like the Mass Effect Series, Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age: Origins and of course, Knights of the Old Republic. Despite my great anticipation of Dragon Age 2, the game feels very rushed from the stand point of the story, which is completely linear and somewhat unsatisfying, a rare failure by Bioware. The "rushed to the shelves" feeling also comes from the lack of Item descriptions and the complete failure of the Inventory System. Companion Armor is nonexistent and probably 80 percent of the items you will loot are useless as you are unable to equip them based on your characters stats or your character's build. (Warrior, Rogue or Mage) Thankfully, you have access to several vendors and storage almost immediately , unfortunately, it still requires either going back to your home base to store or constantly visiting vendors to unload several pairs of "Torn Trousers" you have come across in Thedas. The generic item names also led to several things being sold that weren't meant to be sold, thus more trips back to the vendors. This caused a large disconnect from the game world for me.

    The Story is spilt into three Acts, with each one hinging on a end act climax. Bioware really pushed this game as an "Interactive Framed Narrative", where your choices have real consequences, but nothing could be further from the truth. Every descision your character makes all leads to the same result, regardless of how you play through the game. Bioware has already written the end before you kill you're first Darkspawn, all you are doing is telling them if your Character is a jerk or a nice person. Little to no depth from the standpoint of the PC, you're character is billed as one of the most important people in the world by the end of the game, but you feel dragged along since you're choices just don't matter.

    Promised fresh new enviornments was what i was also looking forward to, alas, the game failed to deliver in this respect as well. The Environments are bland and HEAVILY recycled, giving you a deja vu feeling everytime you are sent to a quest location. You are constantly revisiting the same areas over the course of the story with no real change, despite being told over a decade, nothing in the city or the surrounding landscape, outside of a few corpses to loot, ever changes. The Battle system, which was tweaked to be more natural feeling on consoles was hit and miss. I liked the new skill trees and the new animations, even if they were a bit "over the top" however, the "wave fights" were handled poorly with enemies basically dropping off high buildings or out of the sky, in some cases. This also made the "tactical" side of combat completely useless with enemies poping in and out all the time.

    The story was driven by the sidequests, but there were only a few that actually mattered to the overall story of the game, the rest felt like "filler", but there was always a unique hook or angle from which the quest went. Some of the later side quests were bugged, further leading to the assumption that the game was rushed. Act 1 and 2 were hit and miss but the Last act, act 3, was an absolute nightmare, it was buggy, glitched in some respects and led to a hollow, empty ending.

    The dialogue was witty and clever, for the most part. Utilizing a Conversation wheel, like Mass Effect, along with a voiced character really added to the experience in the sense that you could, at least navigate responses, even if you couldn't affect the story in any measurable way. The Bioware writing and lore salvaged what little respect the game gets from me. Certainly, its hard not to see this has an attempt to blind the gamer with unfulfilled promises and cheap flair. The questionable release of a DLC pack day one that seems like it was meant to be part of the original game as well is disappointing. Hopefully, Bioware will realize that trying to totally reinvent something has risks. I'm glad that the same development team isn't working on other Bioware products. This game clearly isn't worth what was charged for it and I think you would've seen an even bigger outcry had Bioware/EA charged extra for the Signature Edition (instead of just setting a "Pre-Order By" deadline)

    A disappointing ride from start to finish. Clearly not a product that stands up with its predecessor or any other Bioware titles that I've had the pleasure of playing and enjoying.

    No need to try and reinvent the wheel if its still working, Bioware. You have a strong enough team of writers that just minor tweaks to the Origins system would have brought this game much more widespread acclaim amongst the consumers.    … Expand
  10. junglepat
    Apr 3, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have been a follower of BioWare's games since the release of the Baldur's Gate series - they generally put out high quality products. Dragon Age 2 is not of the same caliber as previous games, but it is moderately entertaining. They have made some changes to improve the overall game play experience - some are successful, while others are not.

    PROS:
    - Combat system feels more responsive and visceral. While the option to manage companions and their tactics remains, you can definitely get right into some button mashing fun without every combat being an agonizing tactical slog or ending in a funeral pyre for you and your friends.

    - I enjoyed the way the the story unfolded as a combination of cut-scene dialogue and direct player involvement. The cut-scenes between Varric and Cassandra are excellent and work to unfold your time in Kirkwall.

    -Great character companions, with involving stories, certainly made the game interesting. They were well voice-acted and written. More dialogues would have been even better.

    CONS:
    -Some quest bugs had me running around scratching my head as to what I was doing wrong - all of which can be fixed with a patch. Although I did find it funny when my character assumed the daggers ready stance for 1/3 of the game while moving and talking to people - she looked like a car crash victim, hobbling along. Seriously, buggy games are not cool.

    - Player options are severely limited. After the tour de force that was Dragon Age:Origins, with multiple races and origin stories, your time as a human male/female seems downright pitiful. Not the usual buffet of choice presented in BioWare's games. It is not inconceivable that there may have been other survivours from Lothering, or characters that had been related to the Battle at Ostagar in a different way. -Player choices don't have the same impact that they have in Dragon Age: Origins. Whether you are an apostate or a supporter of the Templars does not make a difference to the game ending. You fight the same boss and the game ends exactly the same way - as a cheap cliffhanger. Choices made during the game have no actual impact on on how the story unfolds. As an example, I supported the mages and Templars during different play throughs and got the same result. I felt like decisions made during the game were pointless. -The story is somewhat limited. In other games like ME, ME2 and DA:O there were extensive plot lines and character development. In comparison, DA 2 felt short and contrived. It did not have the same epic feel as these other games. Most of the time you are completing mundane fetch/carry/find quests. The plot which is suppose to be the back bone of this story is sometimes non-existent and when it does rear its head you are left wondering how things got to this point. The idea of a rags to riches story is great in theory, but falls short in this game. On my first play through I stumbled on the end game - very annoying since I had unfinished quests. -Environments and NPC's - I don't know if BioWare was under pressure to save money or if they only had one guy working on these but, the places you go and the people you see are severely limited. Just because you make me run through a place backwards doesn't mean I don't realize that it is the exact same environment. At one point, when an NPC said that I could meet him at his base on the Wounded Coast, I felt like asking if everyone in Kirkwall was time-sharing this place, because three other NPC's were using it as their base as well. No effort was made to change any of the layout's or anything. I understand that the story takes place in one city - it's good to be familiar with a place that you are living in for an extended period of time, but creating one cave and two outdoor sets really seems like someone got lazy. It really makes the game hard to replay when you know you will be trudging through the same 10 rooms over and over again. Character models are also limited - the mobs that you meet in the streets wear the same outfits. At one point I was like "Hey! Didn't I kill you guys in the other alley over there... at least 30 times!?" -A lack of really memorable foes. Besides the Arishok and the High Dragon (which really came out of nowhere the first time I fought it) the villains you meet really are not that memorable. Meredith seems like a foe of convenience rather than, someone you have been building to face - like the Archdemon or Saren/Reaper.

    While not un-fun, this game is certainly a shadow of its predecessor. It lacked the momentous choices of DA:O and the involved story that went along with that. It worries me that this may be a trend that BioWare's games are going to follow. Perhaps BioWare will take player concerns into account when releasing DLC and DA 3. I certainly hope that the issues with this game are not the result of being tied to EA - generally more concerned with profit than quality.    … Expand
  11. Makaveli
    Apr 14, 2011
    4
    Is this an action game or an RPG? Perhaps a ARPG? I played the first dragon age and I give that one a 7 out of 10, DA 2 gets a 4 and that is being genourous. I have never seen such a game, where they copy and paste areas. I know a lot of games do this because the creators are lazy, but that is all this game is. Take out all the copy and pasted elements in this game and what do you have?Is this an action game or an RPG? Perhaps a ARPG? I played the first dragon age and I give that one a 7 out of 10, DA 2 gets a 4 and that is being genourous. I have never seen such a game, where they copy and paste areas. I know a lot of games do this because the creators are lazy, but that is all this game is. Take out all the copy and pasted elements in this game and what do you have?
    It's like going to a museum and seeing the same painting with different color. This game is only good enough to wipe your ass with, and even then, it aint charmin..    … Expand
  12. karok
    Apr 28, 2011
    1
    Not worth the money, It just goes to show how bad this game really is when Bioware employees made metacritic accounts just to try and boost the scores... then they go and add mass effect as a free game when you buy dragon age 2. Now that is desperate. In all honesty the combat seems different and OK to begin with, but then its just so repetitive and dull, you spend almost the entire gameNot worth the money, It just goes to show how bad this game really is when Bioware employees made metacritic accounts just to try and boost the scores... then they go and add mass effect as a free game when you buy dragon age 2. Now that is desperate. In all honesty the combat seems different and OK to begin with, but then its just so repetitive and dull, you spend almost the entire game in one city and the dialogue is no where near good enough to bring light to that fact. The only reason this game has positive reviews is because some people refuse to believe bioware can release a bad game, either that or they are just dragon age fan boys and mindless gamers who actually enjoy spamming the a button through combat and listening to depressing speech and story. Sorry but it's true.… Expand
  13. kellykrinaldi
    Apr 30, 2011
    1
    Disappointing!!!!! Decepcionante eu esperava muito mais desse jogo, emburreceram o Dragon age 2, sinceramente restringiram o jogo a uma história sem uma real possibilidade de escolha, ficar preso em um mapa mediocre com quests secundárias no minimo entediantes!!!
  14. Nyurena
    May 18, 2011
    4
    The combat system was a new streamlined approach that was enjoyable. Story was decent and your decisions had some weight. At first I felt it had far surpassed DAO in every way. Then the extensive level reuse and boring arbitrary fights set it. Every time I started to get immersed in the story a quest would send me to the same reused level and it would all evaporate. Kudos to bioware forThe combat system was a new streamlined approach that was enjoyable. Story was decent and your decisions had some weight. At first I felt it had far surpassed DAO in every way. Then the extensive level reuse and boring arbitrary fights set it. Every time I started to get immersed in the story a quest would send me to the same reused level and it would all evaporate. Kudos to bioware for trying some new and well implemented things, like the combo system, but you sold us a cheap and dragging game in the end. Don't let EA force to you cut so many corners to release early like this, or your well earned rep will suffer. I turned it to casual and ignored sidequests just to be able to finish it by the end.… Expand
  15. Saker
    May 13, 2011
    0
    on Dragon Age II website they say :

    Experience the epic sequel to the 2009 Game of the Year from the critically acclaimed makers of Dragon Age: Origins but then again people say , it's not DA:O 2 , i know it's not and never expected it would either but i would have expected the same quality of it's predecessor or even better but in no way it was. People then say well they only had    on Dragon Age II website they say :

    Experience the epic sequel to the 2009 Game of the Year from the critically acclaimed makers of Dragon Age: Origins

    but then again people say , it's not DA:O 2 , i know it's not and never expected it would either but i would have expected the same quality of it's predecessor or even better but in no way it was.

    People then say well they only had 18 months to do it, the development time was too short to make it as good, then why did they scrapped everything and remade a totally different game instead of fixing what was broken and getting rid of meh stuff ? The result is a bland story, shallow companions, retcons, recycled maps: same 1 house same 1 cave same estate and same warehouse X 100 , ninja waves that comes from no where as in popping out of thin air , plot holes .

    While not really worth a 0 but more a 4 or 5 since it's a crap sequel, i put a 0 because of the Biodrones who rated it with a 10 and some tool on DA2 forums exhorted everyone who liked the game to create accounts to raise the user score with 10s    … Expand
  16. sid4975
    May 15, 2011
    4
    Im just so incredibly disappointed in this game that im actually taking the time to write about it. even though im sure no one will read it. when it comes to sequels why must developers dumb down and ruin everything that made the previous game great?! Will someone please tell me this. I must have played through DA1 about 20 times. I cant even get halfway through this game. its a damnIm just so incredibly disappointed in this game that im actually taking the time to write about it. even though im sure no one will read it. when it comes to sequels why must developers dumb down and ruin everything that made the previous game great?! Will someone please tell me this. I must have played through DA1 about 20 times. I cant even get halfway through this game. its a damn hack fest! They did the Same with mass effect 2 although not half as bad as this, but dumbed down none the less. I cant help but think any reviewer on here that gave this higher then a 5 has to be a developer. If you looking for an action/rpg experience look elsewhere. dragon age 1, mass effect 1, the witcher, and the soon to be released witcher 2!… Expand
  17. gorkys
    May 17, 2011
    0
    I am very disappointed. I was expecting something more like RPG game, not Hack&Slash game. BioWare shame on you!! That was waste of my money. This game is very overrated on all platforms.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  18. wrotos
    May 17, 2011
    4
    I,m really disappointed Abut this game. I expect good cRPG and i get game with bad history, graphics and terrible game play, Boring game, made for console,
  19. Fanton
    May 18, 2011
    0
    I had high expectations with this game after Dragon Age: Origins, the game was done without any care for the story, being short and leaving holes that may have been playable and interesting! The worst of it is repeating the same maps in the few places to go! I very much hope that Mass Effect 3 will not turn that same garbage!
  20. yofingolfin
    May 17, 2011
    0
    Oh my God! And I realy mean it- oh my God! How could anyone call this piece of utter uselessnes a cRPG? This is just impossible. Extremely weak plot, characters that are as developed as the grass in my backyard, moder-4-years-ago graphics. But there's a lot of fighting and when you are not fighting you ... fight! If only this was absorbing but no, it's dull and monotonous as hell. FirstOh my God! And I realy mean it- oh my God! How could anyone call this piece of utter uselessnes a cRPG? This is just impossible. Extremely weak plot, characters that are as developed as the grass in my backyard, moder-4-years-ago graphics. But there's a lot of fighting and when you are not fighting you ... fight! If only this was absorbing but no, it's dull and monotonous as hell. First game that I bought just to sell it 2 days later on ebay. This piece of **** is not worth a penny! I give it the score it deserves- (0.0)… Expand
  21. RPGROB
    May 18, 2011
    1
    I borrowed, not bought this game. I'm glad I did. Battling is fun... everything else is not. What happened to games of quality like Baldurs Gate 2? It's a real shame.
  22. estrogen
    May 19, 2011
    0
    Dragon age 2 is underdeveloped, politically correct [in every possible aspect] and consolized hack'n'slash. Graphics are bad, environments are recycled and repetitive, characters are dull and stereotypical. Dialogue "wheel" is pathetic [GOOD CHOICE,BAD CHOICE, NEUTRAL CHOICE LOL]. Comparing to the first Dragon age everything got dumbed down drastically. Talent trees got simplified,Dragon age 2 is underdeveloped, politically correct [in every possible aspect] and consolized hack'n'slash. Graphics are bad, environments are recycled and repetitive, characters are dull and stereotypical. Dialogue "wheel" is pathetic [GOOD CHOICE,BAD CHOICE, NEUTRAL CHOICE LOL]. Comparing to the first Dragon age everything got dumbed down drastically. Talent trees got simplified, dialogues got simplified, you can even equip your team-mates anymore [I guess bioware thought it was too hard for a subset of gamers]. Conclusion: I don't recommend this game because it's a waste of time and money.… Expand
  23. Utensils
    May 19, 2011
    0
    This has to be one of the most disappointed games I have had the displeasure of playing. I foolishly pre-ordered this P.O.S game on the pretense that Bioware couldn't possibly mess up a sequel to a great game. I was wrong. I will not be buying another Bioware game.
  24. Lessi
    May 27, 2011
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Dragon Age suffers from a disconnect with its predecessor in more than one area.

    One of which being the protagonist and setting. While it is a decent idea to have either a new character or a new location it is an extremely stupid idea to have BOTH. This removes players from the familiar to an absurd degree and makes it harder to see a continuation in the story.

    The story is a weak point in itself. it is a story of religious intolerance and evil magic, but with no real substance. The mages that attack you may as well be cardboard cut outs are are so irredeemably evil that it seems like a safe bet that the local knights of mageslaying are the sane ones until you find out the entire city just wanted to kill itself and the faction that was played up as the 'villains' for 2/3rds of the game probably had the right idea after all.

    The game actually lacks an ending and takes place during a story told by one of the protagonists supposed companions who may or may not be lying through his teeth about everything.

    Hawke is leashed to Kirkwall like a Damane to a Sul'dam (or Saarebas and Arvaarad, as bioware would call yet another of their seemingly endless Wheel of Time borrowances) and can only go to a handful of locations outside the city which never change except to be populated with the monsters that hawke must kill for the new quests.

    Overall the game starts off well enough with anticipation and excitement being the main emotions as the player awaits one of biowares great storylines, this never actually materializes and you eventually wonder what happened as the credits roll.

    One of the reasons the game rates so poorly is the hype and expectation surrounding the game. This to some people may not be a fair evaluation, but as it influenced the positive experience with the first part of the game it is essential in understanding why people are so upset.

    Many people spent months watching trailers and unable to contain their excitement, and the game that arrived is one that causes one of two reactions; denial of its flaws or intense disappointment. I found myself in the later category, after hoping that the game would revive, it didn't.

    Decisions such as having a character killed off immediately if you chose the 'wrong' class reduced the replay value greatly, as it was easy to to see the character 'killed off' if your PC is a wielder of magic is needed to give a magical connection to hawke to artificially draw him/her into the mage-templar conflict.

    As did lack of racial choices. Ultimately we wanted a continuation to the storyline started in origins, wether the Warden's story or Fereldan's story and it simply wasn't told.    … Expand
  25. jorge100
    Sep 26, 2011
    0
    Terrible game with no redeeming qualities. Game play was horrible and the storyline was pathetic compared to Dragon Age Origins. . The graphics were also better in Origins. The characters were weak and uninspiring. The combat was a joke. Rogue and mage classes stunk. The skill trees had no skills in comparison to DAO. Games a boring button masher.
  26. JamesX
    Jul 20, 2011
    3
    Glitz and glamour makes a pretty presentation but the game falls short of its pedigree and promise of "rise to power." In fact the game's flaw is hugely exasperated on 2nd play through - when you realize that there is little to no difference to outcome of events based on your choice. If it were called Mass Effect with Dragons I would have given it at 8 - because I would not have judgedGlitz and glamour makes a pretty presentation but the game falls short of its pedigree and promise of "rise to power." In fact the game's flaw is hugely exasperated on 2nd play through - when you realize that there is little to no difference to outcome of events based on your choice. If it were called Mass Effect with Dragons I would have given it at 8 - because I would not have judged it as an RPG as opposed to a Shooter with RPG elements. Unfortunately it was not. For a game that is sold on the detail of the world and its story - it is very much a disappointment and falls far from the tree.… Expand
  27. Rammsoldat
    Sep 30, 2011
    3
    Utter Utter Utter disapointment, im not agaisnt them revamping the gameplay but the story and characters in this game are so half arsed. Any decisions you make in the game lead to nothing there are no consequences the story will still go where it goes all that changes is your group. I really dont see why when they had such a winner on theior hands with origins they decided to much aboutUtter Utter Utter disapointment, im not agaisnt them revamping the gameplay but the story and characters in this game are so half arsed. Any decisions you make in the game lead to nothing there are no consequences the story will still go where it goes all that changes is your group. I really dont see why when they had such a winner on theior hands with origins they decided to much about with it so much and chop so much out. I know they were after a call of duty type audience but those types dont typically go for RPG games so Bioware has forsaken its audience to pursue another that wont want what they have to offer.… Expand
  28. RedHead1982
    Dec 13, 2011
    2
    Dragon Age II is an embarrassing misstep by a company I have grown to trust over the past 8 years. Bioware has the desire to create a game genre that does not work by blending elements of the most basic platformer with the highly strategic and customizable character creation and interaction provided in most RPG genre games. Unfortunately, the gamer is left with a poorly diluted productDragon Age II is an embarrassing misstep by a company I have grown to trust over the past 8 years. Bioware has the desire to create a game genre that does not work by blending elements of the most basic platformer with the highly strategic and customizable character creation and interaction provided in most RPG genre games. Unfortunately, the gamer is left with a poorly diluted product which neglects to serve either the hardcore RPG fan (and Bioware fan) or the lowest common denominator it was intending to exploit for profit. Sadly, the RPG gamer is the only one who truly loses (and frankly feels deceived) with this hegemonic disaster because we are the ones who cared. (And I do care-- from an intelligent standpoint... read on.) I look forward to a "quality" RPG experience because a game like Dragon Age Origins is few and far between. Dragon Age II patronizes and agonizes the more intelligent and mature players with flavorless characters, effortless game mechanics and the repetitive pointless meandering through a linear plot. Bioware needs to understand that complex and interesting gaming which takes concentration and organization is NOT a bad thing. I am in no way bothered by the need to make money and sell a product, but I do not like it when myself as a consumer is being sold a defective product. I could reiterate the many problems and flaws in Dragon Age II that have been mentioned by many other reviewers, but the thing that pisses me off the most is that it could only have been produced by a lazy disinterested and unmotivated group of game developers intent on making money at the expense of its core audience. I want to give Bioware the benefit of the doubt, but Dragon Age II is truly inexcusable and it makes me wonder if the Action/RPG genre Bioware has taken effort to create over the past few years is really false advertising. Can you dilute tried and true RPG elements and still call a game an RPG? No, you really cannot. For some reason, despite all contrary propaganda it doesn't seem to be logically possible. Saying it is possible doesn't make it so. Sorry, "I don't believe in fairies." At least not this time, from a company that can and should do so much better.… Expand
  29. Syndic
    Apr 11, 2012
    1
    The amount of critic reviews here giving this game a positive score is truly astonishing. Only explanation I can think of is that EA has spent a lot of money persuading the gaming media to give good reviews.

    As someone who is a big fan of Bioware's earlier games, this game was a severe disappointment. Not going to spend too much time writing this review as, frankly, it isn't worth the    The amount of critic reviews here giving this game a positive score is truly astonishing. Only explanation I can think of is that EA has spent a lot of money persuading the gaming media to give good reviews.

    As someone who is a big fan of Bioware's earlier games, this game was a severe disappointment. Not going to spend too much time writing this review as, frankly, it isn't worth the effort. Suffice it to say that if you are looking for an RPG avoid this like the plague. If you want a dumbed down, console action game then maybe you will enjoy this.

    Really a shame, used to be able to rely on Bioware to make decent RPGs but since EA bought them out they haven't released a single good game.    … Expand
  30. Chaozzak
    Mar 11, 2011
    0
    Its different game. Its not DA:O and i know it. But i really don't enjoy this one. Combat system is ridiculous, inventory is entire garbage. On the other side - graphics and story is good (not great!). EA pushes to many pencils and this game was obviously rushed. And... I don't want play Mass Effect in fantasy world!
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Awards & Rankings

67
#67 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2011
3
#3 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2011
19
#19 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 55 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 75
  3. Negative: 1 out of 75
  1. GamingExcellence
    Aug 3, 2011
    85
    I'll give Bioware points for trying to do something different in their world, but they really did have it right the first time in terms of character building and the scope of the story.
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  2. Gaming Nexus
    May 1, 2011
    75
    Faulty game mechanics and disappointing maps, combat scenarios and storyline direction aside, Dragon Age II still has a surprising amount of intrigue hidden beneath the blemishes. The depth of character relationships, as well as the complex nature of the world of the Dragon Age franchise are a savior to a game that would otherwise forever be remembered by its mistakes.
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  3. Game Chronicles
    Apr 22, 2011
    90
    Above all, it seems like Dragon Age II is an experiment. If you're a fan of the first game and expect a direct continuation, either in story or mechanics, you'll be disappointed. If you're not willing to put up with some rough edges and some mechanics that don't quite work as intended, you'll end up having a hard time. But if you're going for a game that has some of the best storytelling in RPGs in a while, or you're looking for a BioWare RPG to tide yourself over until Mass Effect 3, you won't do much better right now than Dragon Age II.
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