Dragon Age II Image
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 52 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
4.4

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 1231 Ratings

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  • Summary: EA announced that a new installment in the Dragon Age series will arrive in the first quarter of 2011.
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Dragon Age II: Sir Isaac of Clarke Trailer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 44 out of 52
  2. Negative: 0 out of 52
  1. Mar 14, 2011
    91
    If you're a fan of RPG, than this game should definitely be on your pick list.
  2. Mar 7, 2011
    90
    Striking and confident compared to Origins' drab brownness. [Apr 2011, p.86]
  3. 90
    Some great storytelling and enjoyable fighting prove once again that Bioware is the king of modern role playing games.
  4. Mar 16, 2011
    85
    This new Dragon Age game is a really good one. The game continues where the original game ended. This time you play with Hawke and multiple team members against the Darkspwan who are back to take over the world. A great Action RPG with a very strong story and gameplay, only the graphics aren't really improved than the previous part and that could have been obviously a lot better.
  5. Mar 8, 2011
    81
    Dragon Age II is still a good role-playing game, but in more than one way it is inferior to its great predecessor.
  6. Mar 14, 2011
    80
    Dragon Age 2 has its flaws, but none of them are big enough to obscure the vast, absorbing whole of the game. This Hawke the slayer is definitely not rubbish.
  7. Mar 11, 2011
    50
    Quotation forthcoming.

See all 52 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 99 out of 360
  1. Mar 9, 2011
    10
    I can't believe how much better this game is than Origins! The graphics are way better, the combat is actually enjoyable, and the framrate isI can't believe how much better this game is than Origins! The graphics are way better, the combat is actually enjoyable, and the framrate is smooth as silk. Another BioWare hit! Expand
  2. Mar 10, 2011
    9
    My favorite RPG game now. Thanks Bio ware for best 40 hours of my gaming life! The best characters ever, the best gameplay and the bestMy favorite RPG game now. Thanks Bio ware for best 40 hours of my gaming life! The best characters ever, the best gameplay and the best storyline. Dragon Age 2 > Mass Effect 2 and all rpg (gothic, oblivion etc) Expand
  3. Mar 16, 2011
    8
    Dragon Age 2 would be one of the best rpg games of all time if it wasn't for its story-line. i wouldn't call it a weak story-line, its justDragon Age 2 would be one of the best rpg games of all time if it wasn't for its story-line. i wouldn't call it a weak story-line, its just doesn't have anywhere the appeal the original did. origins gripped you from the very beginning with Duncan's speach about the blight. i'll start with the improvements from origins, the fighting is massively improved, i loved origins fighting but it was way to slow, the rouge class has been vastly improved, i only had a rouge in the party in origins to open locks, but now my hawke is a rouge, its great fun, i also like the fact that if your a ranged fighter and an enemy gets into close range you can the use your weapon to do close range damage as well, like e.g with the mage they'll attack with they're staff or with an archer with an arrow, which is a nice touch, but it also makes sense, unlike in origins if an enemy is at point blank rage and your an archer you'd still try and fire arrows at the enemy. The graphics are better than the origins, the dialogue wheel is better, though from other review i've read regarding this game some people aren't fussed on it, i like the fact that i choose what i'm going to say (which is obviously in origins) but it also tells me how i'm going to be saying it, which i think is a good addition, i like the fact they've overhauled the race designs, i think the kunari look a lot better in this game, as apposed to just being slightly bigger humans, i prefer the crafting element to the original, i would agree with alot of others who say it's been simplified, but i like the fact the you find sources of different ingredients as apposed to having to find individual ingredients which would irritate me in origins,
    the problem with the game is the fact the storyline just isn;t as gripping as origins. Its also seems lazy how the reuse the same maps over and over again. The game just seems to be a watered down version of origins (fighting system not included with that last statement) and i know i've mention alot more pluses than i have minors, mainly because overall i would still say its a good enjoyable game, but the downfalls are big ones, the story is the most important part of an rpg.
    in conclusion the game is an enjoyable one, but seems rushed.
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  4. May 25, 2011
    4
    I must reluctantly agree with a very low user score. The Origins made me wet myself it was that great. Ive played every DLC and can honestlyI must reluctantly agree with a very low user score. The Origins made me wet myself it was that great. Ive played every DLC and can honestly tell you it was the RPG of the year for me with Witcher following it on the second place. Grim unforgiving world, gripping fighting mechanic, ive had multiple main heroes specializing in different magic schools - game was that replayable. Making ugly choices and facing the consequences, reading about a boy that went missing during the fight in a village that was never found after a missing ive never completed, blackmailing and making a living from being a general a$$hole - "***** YEAH!" ive cried, this game is awesome. So why?! WHy did you do this to us, your loyal loving followers bioware. Why TF are you always, ALWAYS placed is in the fcking middle spot on every ffing fight?!. I cant believe how lobotomised the main hero and his gang were to ALWAYS end up there. It was a feature in Origins to pick your spot and fight from there. Fighting became tedious and annoyingly predictable with wave after wave AFTER WAVE of enemies, making mages less than relevant and even less relevant in boss fights, which are btw are even more tedious than normal fights. i didnt care about it anymore. Set the difficulty to Casual - that part of the game was dead to me, well done. Also thanks for dumming down dialogue options, they felt quite irrelevant after that as well. Such little investment in building your reputation and consequences when dealing with NPCs made that part dead to me as well. Do I support mages or templars, I didnt care which, they were mirror images of each other with betrayals and mad masterminds around every corner. So anything good about it? Yeah, id say engine is a major improvement, shading and lighting - nice. Models - very nice. Well done coders and art team - thats the only thing holding the game there. But with huge chunks of the game leaving a sour taste in the mouth that isnt enough unfortunately. Why did you take away all that was good in the game and had to dumb it down and make it incredibly annoying?! Bad marks for the game, Bioware! Expand
  5. Mar 10, 2011
    2
    While Dragon Age Origins was fun if not short of it's goals.
    Dragon Age 2 takes a step back to become inferior in nearly every way, even
    While Dragon Age Origins was fun if not short of it's goals.
    Dragon Age 2 takes a step back to become inferior in nearly every way, even visually despite it coming out a year later.

    I would very rarely give a game a score as low as this but DA:2 Deserves it, it would have scored higher if DA:O didn't exist but considering this is a sequel it has no excuse why it should fail at things the previous game accomplished.
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  6. Mar 11, 2011
    1
    I've played this all of the way through before writing anything. I've always been a Bioware fan, but seriously, DA2 is disappointing and II've played this all of the way through before writing anything. I've always been a Bioware fan, but seriously, DA2 is disappointing and I cannot see how the bulk of review sites can ignore some its fundamental flaws. Granted I can see how the combat has improved for console platforms, but it's really the rest of the game that leaves me feeling irritated. For instance, the dialogue options and conversation interactions have really been dulled down - I assume this is due to the fact that Hawke is now voice-acted. I would love to sit down and talk with whoever came up with the 'sarcastic' replies for Hawke - he just sounds like an idiot. Taking the character of Isabella as an example - we get it, she is a sex addict - there is no need to constantly remind the player over and over again aside from the obviously intended hit with the younger male audience. There is no connection with the characters, you just don't end up caring what happens to them. The exception to this in my opinion is Merrill, whose dilemmas and underlying story fit in more with what I'd come to expect from Origins. The constant 'cameos' from older characters only reinforce the lack of interest with the supposed main cast of this installment. The story is definitely a lesser scale than origins, which makes me feel quite angry as to the marketing propaganda hinting at some sort of epic ascent to 'power'. Whilst the combat mechanics are a little more streamlined, as is item and inventory management in general, this doesn't fix the issue of repeated zones, reuse of assets, the low variety of enemies and the incredibly annoying 'walk-into-an-area-and-keep-spawning-stuff' ideology. Perhaps it is my fault for having expectations that were too high, or not checking beforehand that the entire game was essentially going to be set in one relatively bland city with a few outdoor areas which would be reused at periodic intervals as 'years' progress. I see a lot of the positive reviews being given here with scores of '10'. I just don't see why. Especially the 'OH MY GOD IM LEVEL 7 AND THIS IS AMAZING' - I too was still 'giving it a chance' at that stage hoping that it would open up and improve. Others suggest increasing the difficulty somehow compensates for the bad storyline and being locked into only a few zones just so that you can engage in slightly harder repetitive combat where on occasion people jump randomly from the sky, up from the ground or pop out of nowhere. I'm not a professional review writer - and I've never posted a review on metacritic before despite being a deidcated PC gamer for well over a decade. I just felt massively let down as a player and as a fan of DA:O that the experience of DA2 was quite simply a let down. Honestly it feels as if they sat down after the Awakening expansion and thought 'lets do that again with a new character and implement some of the ideas we couldn't fit into the scope Awakening - we'll call it Dragon Age 2'. P.S. Bring back more of the mage schools and spell combos. Why remove them?â Expand
  7. Mar 12, 2011
    0
    BioWare please tell me what in god's name did you do to Dragon Age? I don't even want to type how disappointed I am with this title. I fullyBioWare please tell me what in god's name did you do to Dragon Age? I don't even want to type how disappointed I am with this title. I fully blame this game's release with the superquake in Northern Japan. Expand

See all 360 User Reviews