Dragon Age II: Legacy

The most interesting and useful aspect of Legacy is Hawke's Key, a powerful weapon that takes on a form relevant to whichever class you're playing as. As a warrior, for me it was an enormous, Final Fantasy VII-sized broadsword. Along the way through the prison, there are magical seals, set in place by your father. Only the Key can open them and, after defeating the obligatory hulking demon guardian each time, you get to pick a new status effect to add to the weapon.

You could add flame effects, mana drain and enhanced critical damage, or make an icy weapon that slows enemies down and increases your chance of critical hits. There aren't many permutations, but it's enough to allow you to customise this weapon in a way that fits best with your play style. Add in a decent armour set and some more status-boosting trinkets and, loot-wise, it's a worthwhile mini-adventure. Certainly this is the main reason to pick up the Legacy add-on, with the narrative and combat mostly there to create the illusion that you didn't just spend 800 Microsoft Points on bonus items.

That's a little unfair, as Legacy's story isn't bad, it just lacks emotional or thematic investment. We don't really learn much about Hawke's father, and nor does he (or she) seem to care that much about the whole legacy aspect either.

What Legacy does offer is a boss battle against Corypheus, an ancient foe with the potential to be something very interesting, but the restrictions of DLC and the implications for the wider game world in fully exploring his potential mean that your encounter with him is just a preamble to a big fight. A fight that is, quite frankly, one of the most annoying boss encounters in the Dragon Age series, and one that your AI companions are ill-equipped to cope with. It's not quite as infuriating as the Harvester from the Golems of Amgarrak add-on for Origins, but it shares a lot of the same weaknesses: silly arcade attack phases, crude low-level enemy spamming and the sinking realisation that the best way to win is to tackle it solo and just run around, healing and chipping away at an elongated health bar.

Legacy is virtually a template for not-bad-but-must-try-harder DLC. It has a story that is adequate but ultimately redundant. It has lots of combat, but few encounters that really test your skills or party management. It has plot twists, but anyone who has ever played an RPG before (particularly a BioWare one) will see them coming the moment certain characters are introduced. And the loot is good, but not enough to justify the whole enterprise.

That's a lot of buts, and when you sift through them you get a passable addition to the game, but one that doesn't do anything to make itself essential. Better than a lot of BioWare DLC packs, but nowhere near as satisfying as their best work.