The Playstation

Although Halloween will come and go, don’t put your leather leggings and chainmail away just yet. Instead, use them to get into character and prepare for the release of Bioware’s Dragon Age II on March 8, 2011. We know, it’s still a ways off, but with how much time you’re going to end up spending on this game, you might as well get started early.For those familiar with the two other titles in the series (Dragon Age and Dragon Age: Origins), playing this newest title will be like slipping into a familiar leather gloveand then discovering that it’s equipped with laser blasters in the fingertips. While it’s unlikely that a laser gun weapon will actually appear in the fantasy setting of Free Marches, players can expect to see surprises such as a new dialogue system (based off the dialogue wheel from the Mass Effect series), redesigned races including elves, dwarves, and qunari (a race of intellectual giants), and a new combat engine for consoles that takes advantage of the controller design.Unlike the previous titles, the character race cannot be changed in Dragon Age II, although players can select gender and class. This allowed the developers to create a more immersive, “cinematic” gameplay experience, in which the main character’s dialogue will actually be voiced (another first for the series). The plot will take place over a decade, and the world can be changed to reflect choices the player made in Dragon Age: Origins and the expansion, Dragon Age: Origins Awakening.Players will recognize some characters who made appearances in earlier titles, such as Flemeth, the Witch of the Wilds whose daughter is Morrigan (a DA:O main party member) and Isabela, a pirate captain who appeared in the town of Denerim in the last title. The choice to initiate romantic liaisons between characters will return in this game, and can take place with another party member or with certain non-player characters (NPCs).Dragon Age II comes from the talented developers at BioWare, who have created several other critically-acclaimed role-playing franchises, doing more to make the genre cool than any other group or individual in recent memory (except perhaps when Peter Jackson made fantasy mainstream with his Lord of the Rings film trilogy). Early titles such as Baldur’s Gate (1998) and Neverwinter Nights (2002) were based off the rules and settings of the ultimate role-playing experience, Dungeons & Dragons. Bioware has also produced games for the Star Wars universe, Sonic the Hedgehog, and original properties (Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age).With the release looming in the future, it might actually be a better idea to put some time into your relationships and essential tasks like eating and breathingbecause when Dragon Age II hits March 8, 2011, we know that it will take our breath away.