Dragon Age II (PS3)

Release Date: March 8, 2011

Also On: PC, Xbox 360

Metascore
52 reviews

4.4

User Score
1233 ratings

Buy Now

Buy on

Rate Game

Developer: BioWare

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Game Details: EA announced that a new installment in the Dragon Age series will arrive in the first quarter of ...View More Details

EA announced that a new installment in the Dragon Age series will arrive in the first quarter of 2011.

Developer: BioWare

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Genre(s): Role-Playing PC-style RPG Action RPG

Number of players: No Online Multiplayer

Cheats: On GameFAQs

Rating: M

Official Site: http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/

Starring: Inon Zur Gideon Emery Jean Gilpin

Now Playing:

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

• Playing

Dragon Age II: Sir Isaac of Cla...
• Playing

Dragon Age II Champion Trailer
• Playing

Dragon Age II Rise to Power Tra...
• Playing

Dragon Age II Destiny Trailer E...
• Playing

Dragon Age II Destiny Trailer
• Playing

Dragon Age II Trailer Featuring...
• Playing

Dragon Age II - Exiled Prince D...
• Playing

Dragon Age II: Legacy - Officia...
• Playing

Dragon Age II: Mark of the Assa...
• Playing

Dragon Age II - Mass Effect 2: ...
• Playing

Dragon Age II Launch Trailer
• Playing

Dragon Age II -Refugee to Champ...
• Playing

Dragon Age II: Mark of the Assa...

Trailers

Rate Game

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Add your rating

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Spoiler Alert!

Please sign in or create an account before writing a review.

0/5000

Critic Reviews

(52)

Metascore Generally favorable reviews

44 Positive Ratings 84%

8 Mixed Ratings 15%

0 Negative Ratings 0%

Impulsegamer

Mar 14, 2011

"If you're a fan of RPG, than this game should definitely be on your pick list." ... Read full review

PSM3 Magazine UK

Mar 7, 2011

"Striking and confident compared to Origins' drab brownness. [Apr 2011, p.86]" ... Read full review

Gamereactor Sweden

Mar 9, 2011

"Some great storytelling and enjoyable fighting prove once again that Bioware is the king of modern role playing games." ... Read full review

PSFocus

Mar 16, 2011

"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." ... Read full review

Gamers.at

Mar 8, 2011

"Dragon Age II is still a good role-playing game, but in more than one way it is inferior to its great predecessor." ... Read full review

Guardian

Mar 14, 2011

"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." ... Read full review

Gamekult

Mar 11, 2011

"Quotation forthcoming." ... Read full review

User Reviews

(360)

4.4

User Score Generally unfavorable reviews

382 Positive Ratings 30%

181 Mixed Ratings 14%

670 Negative Ratings 54%

JRenalds

Mar 9, 2011

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

Hunter-Wolf

Mar 9, 2011

After trying both DA:O and DA2 i can say for sure that DA2 improves a lot of things .. and while few changes might at first seem a downgradeAfter trying both DA:O and DA2 i can say for sure that DA2 improves a lot of things .. and while few changes might at first seem a downgrade .. they simply are for the better to the overall experience ... removal of ability to choose from three races is compensated by a framed narrative (along with time skips) and a more rewarding story with a protagonist that actually has a personality and a voice .. it is nothing as simple as SAVE THE WORLD FROM EVIL plot in DA:O .. sure DA:O has all those morally ambiguous tough decision to cover up for the cliche "save the world" story .. but those still exist in DA2 and even better since many of them take effect after time skips and you have to deal with the consequences of your choices sooner than you think .. add that to a story about the rise of the main character from a refugee to a hero and all the political struggles and friction between the different factions in the city and you have a very interesting story.

As for the combat .. i don't understand how can someone in their right mind like the cumbersome laggy fest DA:O combat was .. having "dice based" combat mechanics in a real time game is an atrocity .. it isn't turn-based nor is it hex based RPG .. it is real time .. the combat system must be responsive and fluid not cluncky and laggy like in DA:O ... and DA2 did it just right .. you move and attack with the fluidity of an action game (and just like any RPG in real time MUST be like) and still have all the tactical depth and strategy of DA:O intact (pause and issue order, FF damage on any difficulty higher than normal, AI tactics assignment, cross-class combos .. etc etc etc) .. and all those who claim otherwise have no freaking idea what they are talking about.

As for the Dialog and conversation wheel .. first i have to say i'm super glad the main character actually has a voice (because giving everyone and their grandmother a voice in DA:O except your own character was a bad joke) .. and the whole dialog wheel works just great and is slightly different from ME .. it rewards consistency and affects your tone and dialog even in conversations that doesn't involve much choice ... also the friend/foe system is quite nice and it rewards consistency as well .. just hoped there were bigger rewards than just a single passive skill .. but still quite a big improvement over DA:O.

As for the items .. while it might seem like a step back that you can only fully equip Hawk .. it is actually a step forward .. now whenever you get a new item you won't spend 20 mins checking the inventories of your entire party to see if someone might benefit from it .. it is just cumbersome and annoying .. i'm not playing an RPG version of Sims .. i want to play the game itself not stare at menus for 20 and 30 mins arranging and managing a bazillion items for half a dozen characters .. blah .. you can still upgrade your characters gear and also quip them with accessories .. fair enough and makes the game far more accessible and playable.

As for the grahpics .. yes .. it isn't top of the line indeed .. but for me a great art direction like in DA2 more than makes up for it ... i don't care if they don't use technology (X) or technology (Y) or if the shadows are or aren't dynamic .. only graphics junkies do care about this nonsense .. the art direction in DA2 triumphs the extremely generic fantasy art and soulless designs of DA:O and looks very close to the concept art.

Finally i have to say DA2 is an excellent game that improved a ton of things from DA:O and is a move in the right direction .. the only thing it might be lacking in is content .. it should have been lenghtier than it is now .. but it is forgivven since you will replay it over and over again.

a final note: to all the DA:O fanatics how keep making "zero" score reviews (probably using multiple accounts) .. you guys are a joke .. shame on you .. if anything you have shown how desperate you are .. really people .. get a life.… Expand

chessmasterhex

Mar 16, 2011

Wow. Users here are losing it. DA2 is not as good at it's predecessor, fine, but it's far from a total failure. I suppose it's more fun toWow. Users here are losing it. DA2 is not as good at it's predecessor, fine, but it's far from a total failure. I suppose it's more fun to grief a decent game than it is to actually discuss it rationally.… Expand

Chris_DK

Jul 8, 2012

Dragon Age II was a let down, I don't like that the game is being told through a completely new character as it was some storybook. In DragonDragon Age II was a let down, I don't like that the game is being told through a completely new character as it was some storybook. In Dragon Age: Origins you were able to choose race and story setting unlike this sequel. The setting is also very boring, in the prequel you could travel to all kinds of different places but in this game you find yourself in a dull city called Kirkwall. The storyline is boring and cliché, it doesn't live up to it's expectation and it does surpass it's predecessor. To make it even worse Bioware were so lazy they reused the same locations over and over again… Expand

Rizla

Mar 18, 2011

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's sad that this game has turned out how it has. Where i would play DA:O hours on end cause it immersed me into a beautiful world with diversity and a compelling story, i have to take a break from DA II every half hour because of the fatigue the game gives me, it's the same thing over and over, covered in bland and repeating surroundings and a general 'meh' feeling toward anything character or story wise.

I miss bird eye view alot when positioning party members, which is a shame since you haveto reposition alot due to enemies spawning out of nowhere. Simplified loot system is so uninteresting and easy to get around with that it's an annoyance to be bothering with.

Managing companions has been reduced to giving them jewelry. I never liked Massive effect to start with and the introduction of that wheel selection thing is just horrid to me.

In the end i felt like all options that would activate some braincells have been reduced to such simple tasks that i can't find it more challenging than setting one foot in front of another. It's so straightforward and linear :-S

The character selection system is restrictive and doesn't offer in any way what DA:O did, not at all. I don't feel like i'm playing a unique character at all in this game.

This game might of been received better if it hadn't been named the sequel to DA:O. But even if you take the first game out of the picture it still doesn't add up to a very good game in it's genre. I'd say i would rate it a 6 without ever playing DA:O. It's just not good. :(… Expand

imperita

Mar 11, 2011

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

XcaliburOne

Mar 12, 2011

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

User Reviews

Top Games Right Now

Top Movies Right Now

Top Shows Right Now

Top Albums Right Now

Dragon Age II (PS3)

Buy Now

Rate Game

Add your rating