Possibly the best video game of its time and current times.
Dragon Age Origins is possibly the most awe inspiring game for the PC that I have ever played. So much so that it's scary, considering I just started playing it in 2010 and I've already logged a huge number of hours on it. I have to say that Dragon Age blows almost every game I've seen this year, at least so far, completely out of the water. I'll try and review it in segments so I cover all the points. Starting with good:
First and foremost is Dragon Age's well thought out and interactive plotline, and I'm not using interactive as a big fancy filler word either. Almost every decision you make starting from the very first scene in the game has an effect on the storyline. If you play an Elf Mage people treat you as an Elf Mage/Warden, if you play as a Human the humans are friendlier, if you play as a Dwarf, your background affects how others will see you, both of your own race and of the other races in the game. The general plotline is fairly used, though it deviates a little you'll have to play it to see what I mean, large evil enemy entity is coming for your homeland and you're eventually drafted into the cause to fight them from some interesting background.
My overall opinion on plotline though is that Dragon Age has taken a fairly well worn idea and pushed it back into life, complete with accessories that you can choose out for it yourself
Next is the class system. Dragon Age's class system is one of those shock factors for most gamers. When you're at the character creation screen you see what you're used to: Warrior, Mage, or Rogue. Well maybe you feel a little disappointed. By the end of the game though I guarantee you'll be looking at your character sheet, looking at your companion's character sheets, and then wondering how the heck they became so different. If you give a Mage companion what looks like only a slightly different spell set from your own, you'll end up noticing huge differences between how your character functions and how your companion functions. A single skill can make all the difference in a build, a single spell can change a war mage to a battle healer. I love this system because even though it looks incredibly simple (maybe even disappointingly simple) it's actually incredibly complex. Unless you write down every stat change you make, you'll end up with a completely different build at the end of your next play through.
Another strong point is the environment. I'm sure I mentioned earlier when I was talking about the plot that every choice you make affects the plot in some way, well at the same time every choice both you and the game makes can have an effect on the environment. Dragon Age isn't just a straight storyline; there are side quests, random events, board quests, companion quests, and more. What you choose to do in these quests all have an effect on the environment around you. If you don't do some quests, some NPCs will react less favorably towards you but at the same time if you do some quests but it's not a conclusion they agree with they'll react even less favorably. Sometimes these NPCs aren't even in the area of the quest.
For an example of what I mean, say you complete a side quest in Denerim (once more play to know what I'm talking about) early on in the game. Later in the game some NPCs in a different faction from your quest giver are in a city on the other side of the map. Those NPCs will act more aggressively or possibly even mention the quest. Everything you do has some effect somewhere.
Now onto the not-so-good aspects of the game:
I'm not sure about the console version of the game, but the PC version was plagued by a very huge, very conspicuous memory leak, which means that the longer you play the game the slower it gets. I didn't know about this at first and was wondering why loading times kept slowing down as I got further into the game, when I started playing the loads took maybe 10 seconds, after two hours in they were taking a minute, and, seeing as I'm an avid gamer, after 4 or 5 hours in it would take upwards of several minutes. Dragon Age Origins is on its fourth patch after release, all four patches promised to fix said memory leak, none of the four fixed it. Memory leaks are a huge impediment to games and programs in general, and to be honest I'm appalled that Bioware would release it in that state. This memory leak alone is worth a good point deduction from the scoring, and I think Bioware is extremely lucky that the concept was enjoyable enough to outdo the penalties.
Another thing I don't like about the game is that you have to buy the DLC just to tie up all the loose ends from the original campaigns. Origins and Awakening both leave a lot of questions unanswered and a lot of plot unfilled. The only way to fill in these plots is to pay a fair bit for the extra content like Witch Hunt and Leliena's Song, or be glad you bought the Ultimate Edition because it was on Steam Sale (in other words like me). I personally think that if you have a game and you have an expansion, the expansion should close up the plot holes that you aren't planning to clean up in the sequel. Downloadable Content should be extra stuff, not necessary to finish. But I will concede that the DLC was worth every penny they were asking and I would've paid for it willingly if I hadn't luckily gotten the Ultimate Edition which includes everything.