 Review By: Nick Arvites |
Developer: | Lionhead Studios |
| Publisher: | Microsoft | |
| Genre: | RPG | |
| ESRB: | Mature | |
| # Of Players: | 1-2 | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | Xbox Live (online play), HDTV 720p/1080i/1080p, In-game Dolby Digital |
Fable was one of the most-overhyped games of the last console generation. The title was the brainchild of Peter Molyneux (Black and White, Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park among others), and was supposed to fill the original Xbox’s void of RPG-style games. Indeed, it succeeded in that point, and the major flaw was the development hype stemming from Molyneux. Many features were promised that never made it into the product, and the over hype of ambitious features that didn’t make the game probably harmed Fable’s reception more than anything the game did wrong. Fable II made some waves through its development, although I noticed far fewer feature claims. The big question surrounding Fable II was if it would manage to continue progressing the series forward while delivering enough new content to satisfy fans and make up for the overhype of the original. This review will examine Fable II extensively, and as such will contain spoilers concerning the plot.
Fable II picks up 500 years after the events of Fable. You’re still in the world of Albion, but the feel is closer to the Colonial Age/Enlightenment than Medieval. Guns are making their way into the world, although they are still primitive and haven’t fully replaced melee weapons. Magic has basically disappeared, and the “Heroes” are gone. The game starts off by giving you an initial choice: a male or female character. You still can’t customize your character’s base look, but there are enough options later in the game to make up for that. The story starts off in your character’s childhood. This basically serves as a tutorial mode, and sets up the plot.
If you were looking forward to spending extended time playing as a little kid, you’re going to be disappointed. Your time as a youth is about an hour or two, and is quickly over. This works for me, since I’ve always had a problem with some little kid acting as a master swordsman/mage/crack-shot (looking at you Zelda). The time as a kid is a good way to disguise the tutorial mode. Combat is action-based, and is similar to games like Zelda. You can swing your sword, shoot your gun, or cast spells at enemies. Later in the game, you get flourishes to your melee attacks, the ability to zoom and target body parts with your gun, and cast powerful spells either directly targeted at an enemy or as an area-effect spell. Combat feels smooth and simple, and flows well from just walking around in the world.
Like many traditional hero-stories, your character is an orphan. The game starts off showing your character and his older sister surviving on the streets. Through a course of events, they use an Old Kingdom artifact as a “wish,” drawing the attention of Lord Lucien (the ruler of the city). Once you enter his castle, you find out that he is insane, and in order to prevent the heroes from rising again he murders your sister and shoots your character out of the window. Your character is found and nursed back to health by a blind cryptic old woman (with ties to the original game), and the game fast-forwards about 12 years before beginning your quest for revenge. The rest of the game is centered around your hero uniting three undiscovered heroes and saving the world from a madman.
The story in and of itself is fairly simple. At no point does your character ever question this creepy, cryptic old lady. She points you to find three heroes in order. The first one is a warrior, the second one is a mage, and the third one is a thief. It’s a basic fantasy paint-by-numbers. Orphan? Check. Revenge? Check. Band of initially unwilling heroes that have to be discovered and each represent one of the disciplines in that world? Check. If this is all that was in Fable II, the game would hardly be worth anything. However, the charm of Fable II is the expansive world.
Posted: 2008-12-01 21:02:35 PST