Also available on: PS4, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Released November 2014
6/10
‘Inquisition’ is a fantasy RPG from Bioware, the group that brought us ‘Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic’ and ‘Mass Effect’. We know Bioware can do RPGs. We know they can do immersive worlds and interesting characters. So what went wrong here?
The third game in the Dragon Age series allows you to play as male or female human, elf, dwarf, or qunari (horned giant). You can choose between rogue, warrior, and mage classes. Rogues and warriors also have a choice of preferred weapon. Then on to the famous Bioware character customisation which you can spend hours on if you wish, making the most beautiful, or most hideous, or anything in-between individual you like.
The game begins by having your character survive a strange magical explosion during a meeting of Mages and Templars. As the sole survivor, with a strange new glowing hand, you become a suspect of mass murder. You dive in and begin to prove your innocence by helping to fix things,your magical hand able to close the mysterious rifts that have opened and are pouring demons into the world.
It all sounds very exciting, but as the first mission is simply running along a set path and holding R2 to kill a handful of monsters as you meet a few characters who form your party, it plays out quite dull. Joining you are an angry female warrior who puts duty first – all force, no personality, an elf mage who seems like the dull person at a party who won’t stop talking about his pet gerbils, and a dwarf who thinks himself to be a lovable rogue but comes off as someone you never want to see again, but are stuck with.
After a little while, you are introduced to tactical mode, which shakes things up a little. Now instead of holding R2 to attack, you can pause the action, set up your squads next move, then allow time to progress as the action plays out. Though the inclusion of tactics sparks a rise in the interest, it actually feels like slowing down the previous dullness even more.
The first mission ends with a boss which tests your ability to handle the control system, but it feels like more of a grind than a challenge.
At that point I was ready to switch off, give a thoroughly negative review, and never return to it, but my better judgement insisted I give it a chance to redeem itself.
I’m glad I did. After a short while your team begin learning more interesting moves and abilities that makes the tactical battles much more fun. You also come across tougher enemies who require you to put a bit more thought into combat, making it less of a grind.
As a Bioware RPG, there is more to it than the combat too. Some of your actions and choices will meet with the approval or disapproval of your squad-mates and other characters, potentially changing outcomes of events later in the game. You also have political and military decisions to make that likewise will shape the story to be a unique fit for you. Quests that you complete will grant you power and influence which you can use to send agents around the world map on various tasks (similar to assassin missions in Assassin’s Creed). You can usually choose whether to send in diplomats, spies, or the military for slightly different rewards and outcomes.
Around the free roaming open areas, you’ll find various other details that add some more depth to the game. As well as the usual side quests from NPCs, there are astronomical telescopes which give you a minigame to connect the dots of constellations in order to reveal hidden treasures, and mysterious skulls that reveal secret shards that need to be studied. You can also craft armour and weapons, as well as collect various mounts ranging from horses to mythical beasts. You will also need to gather resources to brew potions and supply troops with requisition orders. Every little helps, and soon you will be armed with enchanted weapons, skill boosting accessories, and special items like bee grenades (yes, a grenade that releases a swarm of angry bees). Fans of the series will also be treated to lots of lore as readable plaques and books are all over the place and the information is saved in the player’s codex.
Despite the previously mentioned initial boredom inducement, the game does have a few other issues that affect enjoyment. Playing on PS3, I get the impression that the title should be on the PS4, as the graphics sometimes struggle to display as smoothly as they should – not to mention the odd glitches of soldiers darting across the screen randomly during cutscenes. Sound also cuts out for a moment sporadically, and sometimes the transition from tactical mode to time passing takes a little too long.
AI suffers as well. When a friend has fallen in battle, allies can revive them by running over and helping. Often after being given the command to do it, the characters will ignore it and carry on fighting. This is the same with the ‘disrupt rift’ ability unique to the player character.
Finally, even though rewards of equipment and accessories comes thick and fast, you only have space to carry 50 items (75 with a learned perk) and nowhere to store anything you want to keep but aren’t able to use.
You may want to save often, as checkpoints might not be as regular as you’d like, but that’s up to individual players. Although a well timed save could be useful in the event of a game crashing glitch (which thankfully I have only had once).
I will put here as a note that this is my first visit to a Dragon Age title, and perhaps the game will be enjoyed more by long time fans of the franchise. As I came into it expecting a fantasy version of Mass Effect, I wasn’t disappointed that it was different, but I was disappointed that the gameplay, story, and the characters in the world were just not as interesting or fun.
It’s worth sticking with, but it’s no contender to the likes of ‘Skyrim’, or even its predecessor ‘Knights of the Old Republic’.
