PixlBit

Don't count these guys out...they may be some of the coolest games of the year.

Dragon Age 3: Inquisition

Video game development has become a vicious business in recent years, where one or two mistakes can take a leading company to the precipice of failure. It’s hard to believe that BioWare fits in that category; after a slew of major hits including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age: Origins the company has had a number of issues as of late. Whether it’s the stripping out of major game mechanics in the sequels to Mass Effect and Dragon age, the fan rage over the conclusion of Mass Effect 3, or the underwhelming performance of the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare is in a make it or break it period in their lifetime.

Dragon Age 3 has been officially announced for a 2013 release, and even though little information on the game is available, early details sound favorable. The most obvious fact is that the game will most likely be released late in the year, a respectable two year gap since the previous title. Dragon Age 2 was fast tracked a little over a year after Origins was completed, and it showed.

Somewhere along the line, BioWare (or perhaps EA) decided that putting a ton of equipment into their games was either too time consuming or too complicated, and their games have suffered for it as a result. Dragon Age 2 only allowed players to alter the gear of the main character, Hawke. It seems that they have rediscovered the art of individual party member equipment, and are opting for a more MMO approach to gear. Equipping a silver breastplate on two different characters will give them the same stat benefits, but the armor will tailor itself to the form of the character. This will ensure that characters retain their unique style and outline, but still look different as they level up.

We don’t have much more info than that, which is one of the reasons Dragon Age 3 is an underdog. The limited scope and reused level assets of Dragon Age 2 was a sour note for fans of the series, and BioWare seems hell bent on fixing that. Before his departure from the company, Dr. Ray Muzyka said that they were looking towards the world building of Skyrim as inspiration for the scope of the next Dragon Age game, which is definitely good news. They are working on the Frostbite 2 engine, leading to speculation that this game could end up as a launch window release for new consoles. There’s a strong sentiment out there that if Dragon Age 3 is another disappointment, BioWare may be done in the eyes of its fans. While that remains to be seen, it’s fair to say that a lot is riding on this one.