good game. not as good as the first though
The quests, while for the most part enjoyable, were lacking the same feel and emotional grip of the first game. Combat changed little, which is a plus, but the game lost some of the appeal of the first by predisposing character creation to a very limited, very tightly controlled start up, leading you down a fairly predictable path.
Choice was the primarily missing component overall. In the first game, the choices you made by far changed the overall gaming experience more than your choices in DA2 did.
Overall,
plusses: a fun play, decent story and relatively replayable. artwork is nice, voice acting is decent.
minuses: limited map and adventuring outside of the prescribed path, predictable quests for both encounter and outcome. lack of choices in startup, character development and weapons/items.