The Top 10 Games of Christmas 2014

01. Dragon Age: Inquisition

ESRB Rating: M (for Mature)

Price: $69.99

The Dragon Age game series is one of those success stories in the games community that arrived as something of a surprise, and not just because for whatever reason the wizards behind its development opted to embrace controversial issues that were hot-button at the time, and make them their own.

As Inquisition approached its release date, some significant dialogue took place both at promotional venues like E3 and on the official chat boards at BioWare that, ultimately, appears to suggest a measure of awareness on the part of the developer that the popularity of the game, and its promises for a more open-world game play mechanic, meant that change was in order.

Early in that dialogue process the notion that Dragon Age should be following a path that if not similar to than at least like that of the Elder Scrolls saga. Unfortunately there was less clarity in that regard than most gamers would have liked, but we took it to mean that the development team recognized that they needed to distance the game from the (sometimes barely concealed) rail it tended to use as its story telling limitation.

Despite the general sense in the gaming community that the Dragon Age game series is a huge and persuasive force, until the 18 November 2014 release of Dragon Age: Inquisition, the core series only consisted of two titles: Dragon Age: Origins (2009), and Dragon Age II (2010).

Its position was boosted by a series of spin-off games that include Dragon Age Legends, Dragon Age Journeys, and Heroes of Dragon Age, but it was actually the extremely aggressive DLC program as applied to the main series by developer BioWare that literally took it to the next level.

Shortly prior to the release of the next game in the series - the game that pretty much made it a series - the decision was made to release Dragon Age: Origins – Ultimate Edition, which included all of the DLC and was an early example of the trend that is now dominate in the industry, which is to take a game and its DLC (whether a revamp or graphics upgrade is included) and re-release it as a package.

The second game in the main series, Dragon Age II, released in 2011 and was aggressively supported by DLC content that included The Exiled Prince, The Black Emporium, Legacy, and Mark of the Assassin, getting the bulk of that expansion content into the distribution stream just prior to the release of the combination of Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic, two game projects that literally dominated the development teams at the studio for the next two years.

Dragon Age: Inquisition was developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts on 18 November 2014 on the Windows PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One platforms.

As previously mentioned this game series routinely takes on controversial issues with great aplomb, including the same-sex relationships, and gender equality. It is almost as if the wizards behind it were looking for controversy...

The cornerstone of both the controversy and, some would say, emotional innovation of the previous titles was romance - specifically a system of romance that removed sexual orientation as a concern - since everyone was fair game - placing the emphasis upon the romance process, which was pretty much strongly influenced by dialogue and gifting.

That the dialogue and gifts system ultimately resulted in sexual encounters was a significant source for both controversy and celebration among players, and we expect that the same will be true in Inquisition since the same basic mating rituals apply.

Only this time around the romance aspect of the game has been overhauled so that it less resembles the urgent but casual “we may die at any moment” approach of the previous titles in favor of a more permanent and influential relationship system that places a greater emphasis upon sincerity.

BioWare is no stranger to the use of both emotion and sex in its games - Dragon Age and Mass Effect are notorious for the inclusion of those elements. So notorious in fact that the wizards who created the game felt the need to broadcast the warning early in the presentation season and specifically at its E3 presentations that a 'mature and tasteful' series of sex scenes might be present.

Going beyond what was strictly required of them, they even provided detail to the romance scheme in the game, going so far as to emphasize that the emotional side of game play mirrored real life in the sense that not all romance necessarily results in a sexual encounter.

That is actually pretty cool when you think about it, because it happens to be affirmation of the new approach that the studio has taken to increase the impact of moral decisions in the game.

While the previous pair of titles included a morality-based decision tracking scheme that, in theory, was supposed to imprint enduring consequences on game play (the same basic approach was used in Mass Effect) BioWare was roundly criticized when the decision making tree and the consequence scheme failed to have as large an impact on sequel play and party organization than was anticipated.

In Inquisition the players takes on the role of protagonist as either a human, dwarf, or elf just like in Dragon Age: Origins, but this time around the selection of player race for the protagonist also includes the Qunari race, which is certainly both welcome and something of a surprise..

The most significant change in Inquisition compared to the previous two titles falls in the combat area, as the game play mechanics for combat have certainly matured.

While the previous focus was on the more predictable stacked commands structure, in Inquisition combat follows a more ability-laden approach that, while it still uses the stacked system, places more emphasis upon how well prepared the player was for a specific encounter.

Concerns about game play and action continuity were addressed at E3, when the devs confirmed that certain events and the player's decision pertaining to them during game play in Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II would definitely factor into the game in Inquisition.

Previous platform play would not be permitted to limit the integration of previous saves for the purposes of continuity. At the same time another issue - the policy of kit customization - was also addressed.

Specifically, because the kit in Dragon Age often includes special weapons and armor that sports unique stat-altering endowments, the party-based structure and encountering special kit and equipment tends to encourage sharing of those items among the party.

To facilitate that, they decided that armor would be “altered” depending on which party member it was ultimately gifted to, so that it not only fit that particular character in physical terms, it would not clash with their basic appearance.

We took that to mean that the appearance of the kit would alter in terms of its color and pattern depending upon who received it and the other items they were quipped with, and that is precisely what it turned out to mean.

The player/party appearance and special kit were not the only areas of expanded customization to appear in the game - the regional stability that was obtained as a result of the player successful efforts in the first two titles has resulted in a more permanent base from which the player acts in Inquisition, and that base - your home and keep - plays a central role in your specific strategy in game play.

In addition to aesthetic customizations for appearances, the player also designates the principle role that their base plays in the game - be that espionage, outright commerce, or as an extension of the military powers of the player-character.

The destruction of The Temple of Sacred Ashes during the title screen as the game begins to load pretty much sets the stage for the story in Inquisition, an event that is followed by a hazed blackness that resolves itself into of all things an interrogation - of US - by Cassandra. You remember her, right? The Seeker of Truth from Dragon Age II? That Cassandra?

The thing is, Cassandra thinks that we were the cause of the explosion that destroyed The Temple of Ashes - and what makes it worse, either as a result of being too close to that explosion, or the beating we took immediately following it, we can't actually recall whether we did cause it! We are suffering from amnesia...

That is where the story begins. And considering how massive the world is, how deep and complex the story and its several plots are, and the depth of the world in terms of other things to do (think side-quests) are, what we have here is an ideal collision of circumstances and characters!

At the risk of indirectly introducing a spoiler here that clearly we do not desire, it will help you to understand that in addition to being the all-around swell warrior and diplomat that we clearly are, we also happen to have been gifted with a very special ability, and as it turns out it is just precisely the special ability that the powers-that-be desperately need.

What that means is that they are going to need to keep us civil if not outright happy, and that introduces the lever with which our character gets to pry open the whole story. And it is a story worth hearing - and experiencing. And that story is largely how Dragon Age: Inquisition made it to the top of our annual Top Ten Games of Christmas feature piece!

Regardless of the platform that your gamer plays on, if you need a gift for your gamer that you just want to know will be an instant hit and that will offer massive value for its price, you can not do much better than Dragon Age: Inquisition. We are just saying...