Developer BioWare has earned a lot of respect from the gaming community. They are most notable for evolving the Western RPG genre since 1998 with the release of the critically acclaimed “Baldur’s Gate.” As the years pass and technology advances over time, it is apparent that this is a company that is struggling to keep up with its trigger happy game market. Case in point: “Dragon Age II’s” frenetic, anime-style combat.

The moves are flashy and animated well. No matter how many times an enemy explodes on screen, there is always something very satisfying about it. However, there is also something very hollow about all of this flash: it has no substance behind it. Players wield a sword or a staff simply because there are enemies in the way. They spawn randomly; just when you think you’ve cleared out a hoard, another decides to pop in out of the woodwork. Battles can sometimes be so fast and players will have to pause the action just to target an enemy. Boss battles have developed a case of “Final Fantasy XIII” syndrome in which they have a million hit points and players have to repeat the same strategy to defeat them. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the combat, but its predecessor, “Dragon Age: Origins,” had more finesse when it came to strategy and skill. In that game, there was a reason for combat, to save the land of Ferelden.

I really wish I could note the overarching goal of “Dragon Age II,” but I’m not certain that the developers even know. It doesn’t feel like a middle chapter or even a second chapter, as most of the game has very little to do with “Origins,” other than a few brief cameos. The game’s story has you play as Hawke, male or female, a hero that can choose between the Rogue, Mage or Warrior class. Hawke’s story is being recounted by a dwarf named Varric, easily one of the best written characters in the game, who is being interrogated by a Seeker of the Chantry. The story takes place in three major acts, where certain major plot points bleed into each other. There are a lot of memorable side missions, but it all feels like separate adventures. It doesn’t help that the ending leaves players with the feeling of “so what?”

The dialogue is well done in most places, especially for Hawke’s dialogue tree a la “Mass Effect.” However, unlike that game, “Dragon Age II” does not give players good and evil points for dialogue choices. Rather, it’s all about what kind of personality players want to choose for Hawke. Do players want him or her to be kind, sarcastic or violent? Also, unlike Commander Shepherd, Hawke isn’t painted as a grand, heroic character of lore. He or she feels like a celebrity whose exploits are documented in an episode of “E! True Hollywood Story.”

Hawke is joined by a ragtag band of misfits whose trials will either make players love them or loathe them. Far from being more memorable than Allistair or Morrigan, the side characters in “Dragon Age II” will probably be the only reason one will keep playing. Each of them has their own story which won’t come to a satisfying conclusion until the end game. Though their stiff animations won’t win anyone over, their dialogue and witty banter will.

While the dialogue and voice acting are up to BioWare’s standards, the presentation is not. There is a shocking amount of lazy game design that proves that this was a rush job. Every dungeon, beach area, house, etc. is exactly identical. That’s because the same map is used over and over. The only thing different is that, depending on the quest, certain areas of the dungeon are enclosed and players can’t revisit them. Kirkwall is broken up into uninspired names such as Hightown, Lowtown and Darktown. The unforgivable copy and paste crime is committed when it comes to armor and enemy design. And why, when I defeat a female enemy, does she turn into a man?

As Hawke, players have a myriad of important choices to make. But those choices are deemed nonessential when they have identical results. For example, in my first play through, I decided to send an elf mage to train with the Dalish. In Act II, I found out that a demon had possessed him, and I needed to go into the Fade to cure him. During my second play through, I decided to send him to the Circle, and I ended up having to perform the same tasks. At the end of the game players have to choose a team, — Chantry or Mages? — but no matter what side is picked, the player must take out both mascots.

All of this culminates into a half-baked experience. There were moments when I felt I almost loved “Dragon Age II” (“Apostitutes!”), but then the game would crash or one of the side characters would have their feet chopped off by the ground, and it would take me out of the experience completely. Considering the epic scale of the first game and “Mass Effect 2,” this was a rather disappointing entry in BioWare’s repertoire.