As I mentioned last week, BioWare has expanded their Dragon Age franchise beyond the console and computer format of Dragon Age: Origins. Their most interesting extension is moving into the social gaming of Facebook with a new chapter titled Dragon Age Legends. The game explores the setting of the recently released sequel with the social backbone players have come to expect from games on networks like Facebook.

Dragon Age Legends is an interesting hybrid between RPG games and social network games Facebook players are used to. You start out by creating your character, which you have limited control over. You can name the character (by default they get your name) and pick their class from a choice of warrior, rogue, or mage. Warriors get a wide variety of weapons and armor, rogues have sneaky attacks and excel with ranged weapons, and mages have spell-casting abilities. After creating your character, you embark on your journey, following a path given to you by an enigmatic quest giver.

The path becomes somewhat literal once you enter that part of the game. Looking similar to a glorified board game, the path has icons that indicate combat, treasure or knowledge, and destinations. You must stop at each point along the path, and each point costs the player a certain amount of energy. Most of the points are combat oriented, leading the character into battle against various monsters and bad guys, which is where the game transforms into a turn-based situation akin to the old Final Fantasy series.

As the star of your story, you lead a group of up to three characters into combat, choosing from a pool of characters made available to you. Presumably, as you get friends to play the game they would be added to your pool of available characters, much like friends can aid you in battle in Mafia Wars. With the game still in a closed Beta, however, it's difficult to tell as not many of my friends are involved yet. Battle moves through turns and players get a nice timeline at the bottom of the battle screen letting them know in what order the different characters will go. This helps with strategy, allowing the player to focus their attacks on opponents that may be more destructive sooner rather than later. The first instances of combat are simple, but as the game progresses you'll find yourself facing off against several waves of enemies, making limited use of potions and abilities more of a challenge. You quickly learn to strategize who you take into battle and when you use abilities, or you start suffering losses.

The downside of using other characters in battle is that after combat is over with they go into a state of recovery and are unable to be called upon for some time. The first time playing through some combat, I exhausted my pool of warriors too quickly and found later combat within that playing session to be really rough without their strength and heavy armor. You are given the ability to "Call" exhausted heroes into battle, but you must pay for it with the in-game currency of crowns. Unless you are willing to spend real money, it's an ability you'll want to use sparingly. Assuming adding friends in game does add to your pool of available combatants, there's an incentive to widen your in-game network in order to have more players to call upon.

Another interesting element of the game is the player's keep. You are awarded a castle and given the ability to build multiple rooms within that keep. Different rooms serve different purposes. Many are forms of workshops, used to construct potions, healing kids, bombs, and other consumable battle items. Other rooms are worker's quarters, increasing the number of workers at your disposal, and rooms like taverns and furnaces that increase productivity and reduce downtime. Building consumables takes time and costs gold, much like building things in other Facebook games.

At first, Dragon Age Legends appears like such a straight-forward RPG game that the limitations of its social network structure becomes frustrating. I want to leap into combat and earn experience to improve my character, but you are limited by the amount of energy you have available at any given moment, as well as the need for your characters to rest after combat. This means the game is best played in spurts: log in, move along in your quest until you've exhausted men or energy, set up your workers with some tasks, and then log back out until your reserves have been recharged. For players used to the common Facebook game experience, this is pretty normal, but for RPG fans who aren't used to that game model it might be a frustrating experience. Of course, fans of Dragon Age have reason to adapt to the social game: achievements in Dragon Age Legends unlock in-game content for Dragon Age II. Playing the social network game gives players access to items in the latest console game they might not otherwise be able to get.

Dragon Age Legends definitely takes the franchise in a new direction, building upon the world of the series while exploring new territory. Facebook players interested in an RPG-style game should look forward to this one and try to get into it as soon as possible, since the social element can only enhance the gameplay. Dragon Age fans have the added incentive of gaining in-game items in Dragon Age II. It may be a departure from the normal Dragon Age experience, but this is one Facebook game worth checking out.

Final Score: B+