Overrated and dated
Dragon Age is hailed as a spiritually successor to Balder's Gate, the game that put Bioware on the map, and it fails to carry on BG's mantle in every conceivable way.
Dragon Age's combat system, particularly on consoles, is one of the games most unsightly sore spots. The implied tactical prowess required to complete a battle is totally overshadowed by the interface, which makes it impossible to issue the commands as the game intends. The result is a confusing and unsatisfying battle system that will, more often than not, have you turning the difficulty to the lowest setting and mashing A, rather than struggle through attempting to set up appropriate AI settings or trying to issue the right commands.
Unfortunately this game couldn't reach the truly high echelons of terrible quality without pairing this terrible gameplay with equally terrible characters. Just about every character in this game is predictable, flat, and uninteresting. The voice acting is equally lackluster, with borderline terrible performances from almost every member of the voice cast... except for maybe Loghain and Morrigan. But the terror doesn't end there.
Side quests are uniformly awful and uninspired, offering you no incentive what so ever to endeavor to do them besides achievements.
Graphically, the game is dull and ugly and frame rate hiccups are a constant headache.
The storyline is marginally better than the rest of the game, but that alone can't save it. The story's progression even suffers from being pulled straight out of Bioware's book of ways to move a plot along.
The game's worst offense, though, is false promises. Dragon Age promises a distinctly different world each time you play, it promises that your decisions have weight and value and will make a huge difference in the journey you take. This is a flat out lie, despite some minor changes in dialog, the story essentially will progress in the exact same way whether or not you play as a arbiter of justice or a horrible, self-serving, bastard.
Dragon Age: Origins is a game with a lot of hype, but looking beyond that, is impossible to recommend to anyone but the most die hard fans of mediocre fantasy novels and Bioware games. Decent story or no, the game has nothing else to make it even remotely entertaining or engaging. Stay away from this game at all costs.