For those of you who don't know, Origin is EA's attempt at a multi-functional game client.
I purchased 3 (Digital Download) EA releases during my review and I own many other CD releases of EA games, during this review I only attempted to add the most popular and newest versions of BFBC2 and Medal Of Honor, both with the same results listed below in portion (5>)
This review was done on a 100% clan and virus free, custom built Digital Storm system running, Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on drive 1, and on the second drive Windows 7 Ultimate x32.

1> Online friends update is an annoyance, every 2 to 3 min your friends status is updated with an annoying audio tone followed by a popup.
This is excessive and unnecessary, no other in game overlay has this annoying feature implemented in this manner. In my opinion it's more like a nanny tool and not a friends tool

2> for customers with less than stellar internet (like me), receiving a purchased digital download can be very frustrating, the application looses the download of a purchased game when simply paused and resumed, or a system restart is needed due to system updates (not related to Origin) This will turn a what should be a short and straight forward game download, into a very lengthy and frustrating process. Attempted pausing download to prevent this result and it made no difference, the results were the same. In Short while downloading an EA game or patch with Origin you can't pause the download, exit Origin, Or restart your system or your will loose your download and be forced to start from scratch. Your system is hostage during the DL process lol.


3> The online chat and friend status located on the 'right" of the Origin window has been displaying "chat disabled" randomly, some days it is stable some days not so much.

4> Removing a game or pack chosen for download is very complicated, and for the average user not possible without damaging Origin and rendering it unusable, this is something that should be made easy in the event the user adds the wrong patch or update, or accessory patch to the DL list by mistake.

5> Games added to Origin that are CD versions of New or newer releases from EA are unable to be launched or updated using Origin, even when installed correctly and displaying "Installed" at the bottom of the game CD cover icon next to the (i) icon for game info.

These are just a few serious errors and not the whole list of errors that I have experienced, that even though in the beta stage will have a negative impact on how readily this app is adopted, EA has to know that in their line of work First Impressions can and will make or break the adoption of an app, especially with such solid performing competition well established in the community already.

In conclusion, the 3 EA games I have via Digital Download in Origin are going to be very lonely seeing that all my future EA purchases will be 100% Disc versions.

Review by Ap3x-Pr3dator 08/17/2011