Launch Station: Dragon's Dogma

For this whole console generation, Capcom has tried its hand at introducing new intellectual properties that they could possibly lead into bigger franchises.  Capcom has seen success with both the Dead Rising and Lost Planet while also experiencing complete failure with Dark Void.  In 2012, we have already seen Capcom try their hand at one new IP with Asura's Wrath back in February.  Today, sees the release of Capcom's other big new IP, Dragon's Dogma.

Dragon's Dogma is an action RPG published and developed by Capcom to compete with the action RPG giant The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  In the opening few minutes of the game, a dragon raids your home village.  During the raid, the dragon tears out your heart.  Missing your heart, you inevitably die only to be revived as an Arisen.  As an Arisen, you have been chosen as the hero to find and kill the dragon that stole your heart.  From the outset of the game, Dragon's Dogma offers tons of customization options in order to make your own personalized character.  From your appearance to your gender to your class, you are given the freedom to make whatever character you want.  If you do not like the character you made, you can retool them and change classes at any point in the game.  One of the main features in Dragon's Dogma is the pawn system, which governs the AI that controls the player's party.  These party members referred to in Dragon's Dogma as pawns, fight independently, learn skills on their own, actively converse with the player and give helpful information on enemies.  The player is also able to give pawns orders if you need them to do something in particular.  In Dragon's Dogma, you are able to grab onto anything from enemies to objects to even NPCs.  The grab can be used to grab onto to giant enemies like a griffon and scale them much like what you do in Shadow of the Colossus.  It makes the player feel like you are actually fighting a giant monster rather than chopping at their shins like you do most games.

Dragon's Dogma has a lot of stiff competition to compete with.  The comparisons with Skyrim will no doubtfully come up and most likely be used as a negative point against the game all due to Capcom's huge lack of promoting Dragon's Dogma.  While I was never interested in the game, it was very hard to tell how good or bad the game would be from the trailers or previews.  There is the demo, which I have not tried yet due to how busy I have been lately.  The reviews have been all been very positive so it will be interesting to see how well Dragon's Dogma sells.  If there are gamers out there looking for another high fantasy action RPG much in the vein of Skyrim, Dragon's Dogma should satisfy your needs.