Dragon Age: Origins

This enormous role-playing game (RPG) offers a complex and varied world to explore as well as several ‘origin stories’ to play through. Developers BioWare reckon you get at least 80 hours of gameplay here, enough to make even the most hardened gamer take a break for some Sugar Puffs.

The world of Ferelden is on the brink of annihilation, mainly because of a group of cads and blighters known as the Darkspawn. So whichever type of character you decide to play – choose from warrior, mage, elf, dwarf or rogue human – the point of your existence will eventually be to overcome the Darkspawn menace.

As ever, your method will involve smiting plenty of the ill-bred bounders whenever and wherever they happen across your path, but you must also take care while in conversation with peripheral characters. Your direction and success will, to a large degree, be determined by the success of your diplomatic skills.

As with any other vast RPG, your enjoyment of this will depend on how much you like trawling through databases for statistical data on herb lore or trap-setting abilities. But the world of Ferelden is marvellously realised, and you’ll be impressed by the sheer depth provided in the world-building. You’ll need 1GB of memory with 20GB of free disk space on your PC, though PS3 and Xbox 360 versions are also available.

Mark Blackmore is a games guru and critic