Dragon Age: Redemption (2012)

From sword fights to magic to battles between good and evil, Dragon Age: Redemption immerses viewers in a fantasy world. Originally a six-part series on YouTube, Redemption is now available on DVD, complete with special features.

Redemption tells the story of Tallis (Felicia Day), an Elven assassin, and her quest to track down Saarebas, an escaped mage who unleashes destruction wherever he goes. Redemption takes place at the same time as the video game Dragon Age II. Players can meet up with Tallis in the game by purchasing the Mark of the Assassin DLC. If you're not familiar with the Dragon Age games, you might feel like you're tossed right into the middle of an unfamiliar world, but the title cards that introduce each of the six parts will fill you in on what you need to know.

Redemption is pretty much what you'd expect when you have Day (The Guild, Dr. Horrible's Sing- Along Blog) writing the script and acting as the main character. She's sassy, cute and kicks some serious ass. The rest of the characters aren't as well fleshed out as Tallis, making them fairly one-dimensional. Though the acting occasionally drifts into wooden or cheesy territory at times, Redemption is fun to watch and the story is compelling.

The fight scenes and special effects reminded me of those from mid-'90s shows like Xena: Warrior Princess or Hercules: The Legendary Journeys — a little on the corny side, but pretty impressive considering Redemption's fairly low budget.

Redemption really brought the environments and atmosphere of the Dragon Age games to life. The settings in the show are lush and detailed — maybe even more than the much-lamented environments seen in Dragon Age II. The games and film take place in a fairly typical fantasy world with a few twists: magic is illegal and elves are slaves. Sadly, there are no dragons to be seen — or even mentioned — in the film.

The special features include a few making-of and behind-thescenes shorts that dive into the characters, costumes and crew behind the show. Characters do interviews in full costume and makeup, which is hilarious during Saarebas' interviews. Be warned, though; the special features have seriously inconsistent sound: the music is deafeningly loud and the interviews are whisper-quiet. The special features also include PDFs of the script, so if you're a superfan, you can act it out at home.

Overall, Redemption is a decent watch. If you enjoy the games, you'll really like it, and if you haven't played the games, it might be an entertaining way to spend an hour.

Rating: 3 out of 5