Maybe Doom understood it best – sometimes you just need a really big gun. But Doom’s Big Flipping Gun (sorry, Google has rules about these sorts of things) is not actually that big. You can still hold it in your hands. The best type of gun in a video game is the one that’s too big to even wield, one that needs to be bolted to the ground just to stay upright, swivelling as it mows down your enemies. Dragon Age: The Veilguard uses this a lot in the form of a ballista, and those moments are always vintage video game carnage.
There’s a line in Inception that gets mocked a lot. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character has a gun, and Tom Hardy’s character tells him “you mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling,” then pulls out… a bigger gun. People laugh at it because, in the dreamworld of Inception, you can have anything you want. You can imagine a rainbow cannon that fires sabre-toothed tigers. But why would you? That’s not cool, nor effective. The best solution in that situation is indeed a bigger gun. It’s magical in its simplicity.
Dragon Age’s Big Crossbow Ballista Is Its Best Weapon
You first experience Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s ballista when you recruit Bellara, and need to use it to bring down a wall covered in Blight. Soon after, Ghouls swarm through, and you pick them off like fish in a barrel. It’s just a taste of what is to come – the ballista is a functional problem solver, bringing down walls or breaking mechanisms, and a death bringer to your enemies.
Throughout the game, you find other ballistas, which often coincide with enemies rushing through a small gap that fits perfectly in your crosshairs. It’s the lowest common denominator design in a way (shooting enemies with instakills from a safe distance is FPS 101), but this is a tradition for a reason. It has lasted because there is simply nothing better.
It’s not always perfect. There are ballistas at Weisshaupt during The Siege of Weisshaupt, but one is guarded by a Hurlock Blighter then attacked from range by two more. But this only serves to highlight the value of these weapons. As frustrating as it can be in the moment (this quest is tied with Fire And Ice for Most Stacey Deaths), when you take the first Blighter out quickly, then grab the ballista and remove another one of the ranged boil flingers from distance, you turn the tide in an instant.
Sometimes, Dragon Age Feels Like Red Dead Redemption
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is not the only game to understand this. My fondest memories of the Red Dead Redemption series (and there are a lot of them) include being behind the Gatling gun and letting rip. I think it’s because Red Dead, like Dragon Age, can limit your power quite significantly without you realising it. That makes this raw explosion of violence feel like a sugar rush of blood.
In Red Dead, you’re just a cowboy. Pretty strong physically (especially as Arthur), constantly intimidating (especially as John), and great with a gun (especially as whatever the guy’s name is in Revolver), but you’re just a man. You can slow down time mentally to pick off enemies one by one, but fights are tough. Bobcats can take you. Snakes can take you. One guy with a well-aimed arrow can take you.
While Dragon Age does give you magic powers, or at least super-human abilities, you’re still pretty underpowered compared to most video game heroes. You don’t have a gun, or grenades, or a laser blaster. You have a bow or a sword or a staff. You’re pretty good with them and can take out anyone one on one, but it takes you a while. Anyone who has fought a Champion or a demon from Pinnacle of its Kind too early can attest to that.
A big gun, whether a Gatling or ballista or anything else, does not provide a level playing field. It tips the scales massively in your favour. The counterweight is they don’t move, they take too long to load (to the point of sometimes being ineffective), and are only occasionally available. But that’s also what makes them so great. They’re a rare treat doled out systematically, and that makes it feel so special when you get one.
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OpenCritic
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Top Critic Rating:
81/100
- Released
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October 31, 2024