Dragon Age - E3 Impressions @ Gamespot, Shacknews

Here are two impression articles for Dragon Age on the X360.  Let's hit GameSpot first, who don't appear convinced by the control scheme:

After the demo we had some hands-on time with an early stage of the game on the Xbox 360. This was the first time we've seen this game on a console, so we payed close attention to the control scheme. Our objective in this short session was to find a particular item with another member of our party. We walked through a forest, encountering and collecting items, before coming across a wolf and a cave containing giant spiders in a fight. The combat here proved very slow--you can assign six different weapons to your control scheme, pressing the X, Y and B buttons to access them, and A to use them. However, pressing A near an enemy seemed to do nothing. It was only when we were under heavy attack and standing almost under an enemy that our weapons finally worked. Holding the left trigger down allowed us to switch between weapons, while the right trigger brings up the weapons menu, which shows you what weapons you have at your disposal. There is also a stealth mode you can access if your skill set allows for it by pressing the X button. A is also for using items and collecting and storing them in your inventory.

On the the other hand, Shacknews liked the control scheme but didn't take to the apparent sex-first marketing trip:

After getting my hands on the Xbox 360 version, outfitted with a prototype interface, that question was answered soundly: it plays fine. Three of the face buttons are mapped to spells, and the left trigger acts as an alt-toggle, offering six mappings to the PC version's ten. One bumper key takes over healing duty, leaving only a three-button disparity between the two builds.

Unfortunately, beyond the controls, I came away from the Dragon Age E3 demo feeling oversold--particularly on its sexuality--and ultimately underwhelmed.

The presentation began with lead designer Mike Laidlaw spending ten minutes explaining how players can have sex in the game. There was no lead-up to this segment, mind you. This was the headline topic. This was the new shit.