Though not perfect this was a unique journey.
User Rating: 9 | Dragon's Dogma X360
Dragon's dogma could be described as more than the sum of its parts or maybe a hodge podge of rpg ideas thrown in a blender and served as a smoothie. All I know is despite its various flaws I found this game addictive and incredibly entertaining. Starting with the opening credits that show you a dragon and a series of vistas whilst a cheesy pop rock song by B'z is playing I knew this was going to be a trip. Dragon's Dogma has a unique story that gives you a number of twist turns and head scratchers. While the base of the story is entertaining and ends like no other I have experienced, the side missions and ancillary characters that come along sometimes feel crowbarred into the mix with no regard for fluidity. You play as the arisen, chosen to defeat the dragon that haunts the lands. He doesn't give you much choice really because at the beginning of the game he rips out your heart..........so we need to get that back. As the arisen you can summon pawns from the rift(a parallel void). Pawns are your travel companions whom aid you in battle. They are soulless husks with the intellect of a 5 year old and live only to serve you. They only respond to simple commands and will often go about waywardly doing silly things. You can't really micro manage them like in some games. Most of the time they were competent helpers though as long as you choose them carefully. The combat in this game is great. Eventually you will be able to choose from a number a classes(warrior, mage, ranger, assassin, etc) and each class has unique skills that can be upgraded and unique weapon sets. The attacks feel weighty and every strike with an arrow or sword feels impactful. The weapons are numerous and can be enhanced with various items. The game is full of items and you have the option of mixing them together to create lots of new stuff. The environments are pretty and varied. The only problem is that if you don't take the time to investigate or accept side quests you may miss out on a number of locations. The main story line has you traversing the same passages over and over. There is no reliable fast travel aside from ferrystones which only take you to select locales and are expensive and rare. If you don't take it upon yourself to explore or seek out new side quests it would be easy for this game to make its way into a disturbing natural tedium. This very fact may have pushed away some gamers, the guys who try to speed run everything(you know who you are out there). There are lots of enemies in the game and some of the best boss encounters you may ever see in an rpg. The main boss fight is a multi faceted affair that most will find challenging and mind blowing. Speaking of mind blowing, the ending to the game itself is a little mind boggling, but in a good way. The music is fair if not a little inconsistent. The controls were plenty responsive. The camera got in the way occasionally, but was decent overall. There was some solid voice acting. The monsters/enemies look great throughout the game. The human characters have some wonky movements and there faces don't sync with audio too well. I experienced a little bit of pop in and screen tearing here and there. This is the sort of game that could easily be rated a 5 by one person and a 10 by another simply because its gameplay can change so drastically. I mean at the beginning I wandered about aimlessly for a few hours in areas I really shouldn't have been in because I didn't know what to do or where to go. Turns out I didn't talk to a mission character who was easy to miss. So early in the game I was frustrated and convinced I would hate the whole thing. Once I got my bearings and began to understand the game for what it was it sucked me in like few other games I have EVER played. I even started a new game plus after it was all over. So as you can see, that is a large disparity in my own experience of one play through.
Summary: Great boss fights, unique story, strong combat, and good visuals add up to a memorable journey or a frustrating nightmare depending on your perspective. 
