Rejoice! Bioware made a PC game again.
The Origins, for instance. These, in fact, originated in Mass Effect's awesome background choices, but instead of simply increasing their number, Bioware turned the origin stories into fully developed tutorial campaigns. Now not only your origins cause, as they did in Mass Effect, different dialogue feedback, they also teach you about the class mechanics, make you acquainted with your character and the world, and provide much more tempting reasons for replaying the game. Imagine actually playing out the whole "lone survivor" thing in Mass Effect, instead of just hearing references to it from your crew.
The story structure is also very similar to ME. You basically have the same five missions disguised as locations, and one could draw certain lines between Wardens and Spectres, but that's probably getting too deep into it. What's worth mentioning is that the story is done better in Dragon Age. It's longer (by a degree of 100 hours versus 30 to complete the single play through), due probably to the slower pace, the side quests are better integrated within the narrative, and "crew" interactions on the whole are a lot more satisfying and natural. Unlike ME, the dialogue expansions seem to be tied more to the characters' disposition towards you than to the missions you completed, and that is a great improvement. As is now commonplace with Bioware games, the romance is present, although the improvements didn't reach that part of the game. It's not bad, mind you, but I still haven't seen Bioware outdo the Bastila romance from the first KOTOR. The "mature" scenes are, once again, barely worth mentioning at all.
The game's graphics are reminiscent of ME. The characters are on the whole a bit less sexy due to lack of skin-tight space suits, though that may be a personal preference. Someone may have a thing for chainmails. The outdoor areas look OK, though it's certainly not Crysis or anything like that. Overall the graphics are not the main selling point, but they tend not to get in the way of your enjoyment of the game.
The combat in Dragon Age is tough. Really tough. Charging into the fray even on normal difficulty will have you loading the last saves quicker than you can say "maleficarum." This may sound great to hardcore gamers, but in fact, it may be too tough. It forces you to split groups of enemies out by crossing the threshold of the detection range of those nearest to you and "luring" them away, which sort of make the whole ordeal look silly. And this is on normal difficulty. Still, it's enjoyable enough, especially with the apparently PC-exclusive old school isometric view.
The dungeon design is a bit inconsistent. The indoor and in-forest areas are great, while the streets of the Capital have been, inexplicably, recycled. Going to a "back street alley" in one part of the city will have you fighting through the same "alley" you just cleared of menace in another part, with the only difference being you entering the area from the opposite end.
But in the macro sense, the world of Dragon Age is its main attraction. Mature themes Bioware tapped in the previous games are much deeper and darker here. Tensions between races, classes and religions are high enough to sometimes make you feel that a thorough cleansing by fire, or by a horde of Darkspawn might not be the worst fate for that particular continent. It's a feeling I sometimes get after watching television. But unlike in real life, you, being the only normal person around, are stuck with the duty to set an example, unite everybody and save the world. And once you do, it's time to start over.