Brutal Gamer

Fable 2 (Xbox 360) Review

By Leigh - November 11, 2008 - 20:52 UTC

This review has been written by a guest writer, Lumwoz.

So I return home on Friday 24^th to a long awaited package containing my return ticket to a place I have not visited for a long time, the kingdom of Albion. Fable 2 is the sequel to the original hit Xbox title Fable, which is created by UK based games studio, Lionhead Studios.
Hit the jump for the full Fable II review.

There has been a bit of change since my last visit, 500 years worth of change to be precise. You can still teach hobbes a valuable lesson by traditional methods with either, melee, will (magic) or from range. Ranging has changed with the invention of gunpowder of course but that comes later. With references, themes and links to the original, Fable II’s story is more or less a brand new adventure in, what is as good as, a brand new setting, some place names will ring a bell but have changed beyond recognition from the original. The first of these places is where the story begins, the town of Bowerstone. It’s now larger and has seen better days. My hero was being lead around by his sister chasing a dream of escaping the urchin lifestyle and living in a grand castle. Committing good or evil deeds for gold in order to buy a mysterious music box from a local trader which seems an innocent enough venture for my child hero while I got to grips with the game. But once my Sister and I had the music box the town guards found us to take us to the lord of Bowerstone in the grand castle Fairfax where my hero’s sister’s wish of living as a princess in a castle would take an abrupt twist.

We met with Lord Lucian who takes a great interest in “old kingdom” technology and particularly my little music box. In the Lord’s study, you are ushered on to a strange circle on the floor, when standing you activate what appears to be a familiar looking guild symbol on the floor and the two siblings are revealed to be living relatives of the last great hero of Albion and are deemed too dangerous to be kept alive. The Lord pulls a pistol and kills your sister, he then turns the weapon on my hero but the shot merely sent him sailing through a window and falling to the streets below. It is here where he is rescued by Theresa who will keep him safe and train him to realize his destiny as a hero of Albion. These opening events set the bar for the gripping story expected throughout Fable II. So as I battled monsters and saved innocent citizens in exchange for people’s gratitude and renown in Albion, I was rewarded with some more snippets of story about Lucian’s evil plot to rule the world and how only the last remnants of the heroes of old can stop him.

As with the original release I expected the main plot to be short but enjoyable and that it was. Also I found that Fable never takes itself too seriously and for this reason I was able to step back a moment and laugh along with it, which really helped the overall experience until the end. Fable came to a sharp ending with an ultimate decision to make but once made, the main story ended and I was left to live in the Albion that had sprung up due to my decision, I couldn’t help feel disappointed. I felt like the final clash would be more eventful but left me not feeling the same sense of reward that previous quests had. One niggling problem with the story was that as you meet some of the key characters within the main story, they are somewhat underdeveloped. I found myself wanting to know more about them both before and after the events of Fable II but this never happens. Perhaps this could be dealt with in a sequel but I doubt this would be a move Lionhead would make if a Fable III would ever go into development.

To end on a positive story note I adored seeing my decisions take a massive effect on the world around me. For example, the cut throat town of Westcliff was a real slum when I first ventured in but I ran into Barnum with good intentions, he planned to attract people to the town and turn it into a prosperous settlement. All he asked for was my faith in him in the form of 5000 gold coins promising that I would get it back with interest once his project was complete. Fast forward many year’s and I walk back to Westcliff to see beautiful buildings, friendly people and decorations, I found Barnum who rewarded me with 15000 gold coins.

In the most part, the story to Fable had to be excellent and, well… is, tasks are adequately rewarded with plot progression apart from the end but also side quests and decisions take an active effect on the living, breathing and most of all, believable world of Albion.

The world of Albion is brought to life in beautiful detail using the top level graphics we have all come to expect from this “next generation” that is now in full swing. People look real with trademark large hand and feet, your dog whose appearance changes depending on the hero’s alignment with either good or evil, but whether he’s a gorgeous Golden lab or jet black with blazing red eyes your canine friend always looks excellent. When you walk into a built up area it’s always bustling with activity whether its high noon and the people are going about their day to day activities, going shopping, meeting people and the like or whether you arrive in the wee hours to be met by the distant glow of the local tavern with many folk gathered inside. It all looks brilliant and it all looks real. There are no real problems with Fable’s graphics but it is expected that when you’re trekking through a blooming forest full of enemies and with your dog running around the scene barking and growling some slowdown is expected and although it is a rare occurrence during Fable it is very noticeable. Also when you’re in the larger urban areas there is some random late rendering of objects but again this is not a regular thing.

The Cut scenes are very few and very far between but demonstrate visual excellence but these only take place to bridge large passages of time. All other scenes take place in the game world with your hero rooted to the spot or able to walk around a limited space while a character speaks. While this is fine for the purpose it serves the little we do see of what could have been done for scenes like this leaves me thinking that it could have been done for other parts of the main story to create a better atmosphere to the main plot, this especially could have been utilised towards the end of the story to make it feel like the final battle was coming up and that it really was as important as it was, this could have made the ending much more epic and fulfilling for the player depending on their choices.

Just a quick mention of the multiplayer, I had a session with a friend over xbox live playing Fable II expecting it to be a bit buggy due to it almost not shipping with the game for release but it was an enjoyable experience. You can barter percentages of loot with your friends and join each others world at any time, my one problem with it was not being able to bring friends single player characters into my world instead they take on a generic appearance and choose from a few weapons. Only their skills come across over xbox live. As a fun extra multiplayer will so little to add to the lasting appeal of the game but this lasting appeal instead comes with the various ways of saving Albion, I immediately wanted to jump straight into a new game upon finishing my first and play through being ad even and malicious as possible. However one or two plays through of the fairly short game is complete I’m not certain that there is too much appeal to keep playing just for the free-roaming in Albion alone as activities may be somewhat limited once money is not necessary and you may have maxed out your alignment in either direction. But prostitute spree’s or killing sprees can whittle away the hours for some time after completion.

The gameplay has changed little from the original Fable, It’s still very much an action RPG in every sense of the term, with all the choices between good and evil at every turn as you’d expect. It’s all very much the same as before, the choices that you make as to how you carry out task effects your alignment with either good or evil and purity or corruption and your appearance will change accordingly. Combat and your hero development has remained the same with different types of combat assigned to a button which is simple and works perfectly, experience points can be spent to enhance your abilities in key areas, that are divided into strength, skill and will (melee, ranged and magic respectively) within these are abilities that once bought with your experience points can give you more health, increase things like your weapon damage or make your spells effects last longer. Fable is vast but works on a very simple level, it’s the kind of game that most people can play and enjoy without necessarily being a hardcore role-playing fan. It’s very much the “every man’s” RPG and this type of gameplay will appeal to a wide audience however some big RPG players who who’d delve into Oblivion or Mass Effect without hesitation may not find the same appeal from Fable but may find it is too simplistic for their tastes.

There are points in the game where you will just find yourself madly mashing buttons in a big brawl, this is by no means a bad thing but some may find it too simplistic. In this sense that it is better that Fable is a shorter adventure than some not because the combat is boring but that had it been an extensive outing it could become tedious and dare I say; too much like hard work. All the extra work in the same manner, getting a spouse and marrying them, earning a living (besides being a hero of course) buying shops, manipulating a towns economy, building a real estate empire, making friends, showing off your trophies in public are all extremely distracting from the main plot and are equally as fun. Your love life takes up some time in Fable, chatting up your potential wife or husband with their favourite expressions, giving them their favourite gifts and taking them to their favourite places on dates, and eventually marrying them. It keeps you on your toes managing their budget and making decisions on starting a family are almost a separate game in itself. One key difference in the life of a hero 500 years on is that the quests don’t pay like they used to, while you become more famous for doing them the money is little or non-existent in most cases. As a result you are encouraged to find your own way of making a living, you can do this in a whole host of ways; Getting a job at the blacksmith, the pub, or on the farm. Is the honest way to support your family and your adventurers’ lifestyle. As always there’s a more evil alternative in Fable like assassinations or convincing innocents to be sacrificed to the temple of shadow.

To accompany our travels around Albion, Lionhead recruited the Slovak symphony orchestra to record the score for Fable. It was stated in the development diary that although the music and sound was a backdrop to the game it must always suit the environment and fall perfectly into the background to improve what’s happening on screen. The Team cannot be faulted as the music in Fable is perfect. It conjures atmosphere at the right moments and relaxes the tone for exploring a beautiful spring meadow. The voice acting also is great with the likes of Zoe Wanamaker and Stephen Fry putting in performances, and excellent performances at that. Stephen Fry’s character Reaver is a Extravagant, Pompous and beautifully written character that few could voice better than Mr. Voice over himself. I laughed out loud when I had to explore (no joke) “Reaver’s rear passage” to escape his mansion as Fry told me about his many sexual adventures playing for both teams if you catch my drift. The town’s people of Albion are as vocal as ever and always offer up witty remarks and comments to any passing hero, disciples at the shadows at their temple can be heard complaining that “the one downside of worshipping shadows is that we must take our tea without milk” which creates images of a room deep inside Lionhead with developers brainstorming all these fantastic one liners for the blacksmith in Bowerstone to the bandit in bloodstone. The voices are superb very rarely some dialogue may slip in out of place but it barely detracted from the enjoyment. All sound effects are solid, most from combat with clashing swords and gunshots. But also groaning and roaring enemies add to the players’ immersion into Albion as overall the sound from Fable adds to the visuals to actually take you into Albion.

Fable is one of the huge titles coming out in the run up to Christmas this year and it has been worth the wait. Its story is well written and rewarding but could have been delivered better by a more epic feeling to the ending however I was glued for the whole ride so it was been carried out well. It’s a title that has worked on previous successes and has taken them up a step with simple gameplay and side quests that is very rewarding and great fun. It is easy just to slip into Albion, into your whole other life. The world of Albion looks and sounds real too and drags you in and keeps you there. It would only seem more real if the rare but inevitable slowdown and render was eliminated or if you could actually smell Albion, despite how unpleasant some parts may be. Overall This title has not been a victim of it’s own hype and has delivered what the first did and built on t to create a game that has taken leaps and bounds towards realizing Peter Molenyeax’s original vision.

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