The Dragon Age II demo has been long awaited and everyone wants to see how Bioware has revamped the series. All the fears that fans have of the game being changed too much can’t be answered by my experience with the demo. I can answer some questions and explain some of what to expect on March 8th when Dragon Age II drops. I will start by saying the presentation has been totally revamped, and the game looks great. The demo gives the ability to pick one of three classes Mage, Rogue, or Warrior (male of female version). I have played the demo through as all three classes. I will address each class and the changes that have been made.

The classes have been revamped and improved in every aspect and it is a blast to use either one. The demo lets you explore the warrior class in two different ways. The first is a warrior using a shield and sword which is a great time. The shield bash move has been brought back but there are flurry like attacks that were not present in the original title for sword and shield warriors. The two handed warrior on the other hand has been completely over hauled. The two hander now attacks with speed and doesn’t feel like your moving in slow motion. The amount of damage you can deal out in a small amount of time is amazing. The combat is even bloodier in this title if you can believe that.

The Mage class (my favorite) feels the freshest in my opinion for a few reasons. The mage is considered a threat close up with staffs now having blades on one end. The times of sitting 100 yards away from the battle and casting spells are long gone. I would cast arcane shield on myself and then get right in the thick of things, and could be successful. The spell and battle animations are superb, and the odd or glitchy combat are over. The improvement in fluid fast combat allows the Mage to move around the battlefield with ease.

The Rogue class is the fastest class and has aerobatic moves and seems to be the only class that can dual wield weapons. The back stab move is back and it is meaner than ever causing one hit kills on most characters. The Rogue can also throw poison bombs that will stun enemies. The biggest improvement I have seen with the combat though is the archery combat the Rogue is capable of. The archery is actually fun and not a broken element like in the first game. The archery skill tree has so many fun abilities to learn, you can cause Mage like devastation at range with the bow. Now don’t be fooled going down the archery route it doesn’t mean standing back in every battle. The Rogue with the bow equipped also has a knife that will be brought out automatically when you attack an enemy at close.

Overall the new presentation, amazing new combat, and gripping story of Hawke and his or her families story of escaping the Dark Spawn blight has me hooked. I can’t wait to see what Bioware has in store for fans of the series with this epic sequel. I won’t spoil it but if you download the demo a key character from Origin’s does lend you a hand. In closing how excited are you the reader for Dragon Age II?

Games: Dragon Age 2, Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Genres: Action RPG, Publishers: EA, Developers: Bioware