Baldur's Gate was a touchstone game in computer RPGs and its spiritual successor, Dragon Age: Origins has the rocks to be another.
You are a Grey Warden, warriors tasked with fighting off the Darkspawn and The Blight, a catastrophic event in which an Old God is corrupted and leads the Darkspawn as the Archdemon in a bid to destroy the world. Heavy stuff.
This is where Dragon Age: Origins succeeds: its creation of a world both fully realized and familiar without being generic. BioWare is able to take fantasy staples: dwarves, elves, mages and valiant knights - and mold them, leaving its fingerprints on the genre. The world is familiar (in the sense that it's impossible not to draw some comparisons to the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy), though like its inspiration, rich in detail. If you're into a game's lore and history, and enjoy losing yourself in it, you're going to have a deep experience.
Unfortunately, BioWare's vision just can't be matched by its technical backend. The game trips up with some technical snafus that will annoy players sensitive to stumbling frame rate, camera hiccups and an assortment of other random odds and ends. It was distracting enough on the PlayStation 3 version to hamper the experience.
The battle system is party based and tactical. While modern games may have lulled players into the role of just one player, sticking to your main character only in Dragon Age: Origins is a quick way to a restart screen. You'll issue commands to your party members and are able to switch at any point in battle for direct control. If the pace of battle is too hectic, you can also pause the game and issue commands from a radial menu system (like Mass Effect).
A "gambit" system, like in Final Fantasy XII allows you to essentially program your party's habits during battle. As the game goes on, you'll find yourself babysitting your other party members less as they are able to more or less take care of their needs based on how you've set their commands.
Combat is interesting and keeps the game moving along. While the relatively fast pace takes some getting used to, you'll learn to work with it in short time.
Dragon Age: Origins's menu interface doesn't translate well into the console experience. The inventory menus and interface are confusing and frustrating to use. Even after extensive play I often had to remind myself how to find specific information. It was all very confusing and cumbersome. Additionally, the radial menu to issue commands just feels off and making the right selection is a more involved process than it should be.
If you can overlook some systemic BioWare issues when it comes to the technical aspect of their games, Dragon Age: Origins is more than a great experience. It's an excellent one. The game's world feels lived-in and epic and the combat, adventuring and quests all compel you to play its rather lengthy quest. Players that have been pining for a new Baldur's Gate have got it, the wait for the next great BioWare fantasy RPG is now over.
Note: This review was conducted specifically with the PlayStation 3 version.
