Fable II – Review

Fable II has been more hyped than a hyped thing in Hype Town on the planet Hype. It is with little wonder then that gamers expected huge things from a game, that by designer Peter Molyneux’s own words “not even a cross between the Kama-Sutra and the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare could have met their [game reviewers] expectations. But hopefully Fable II is going to exceed expectations.”

Wow, quite the big talker huh? So how does Fable II fare, the Karma Sutra and Bible left out of the equation? We’ll take a look, but we won’t spoil story elements.

Firstly it would be amiss of us to not briefly mention Fable II’s predecessor Fable (deftly reviewed by Jocelyn many moons ago). When Fable released for the original Xbox console – in September 2004 – the hype surrounding it was in full swing, it was a media darling and gamers were excited. Though Fable had a few issues, it managed huge sales, a loyal following and garnered reviews scores averaging 8 to 9 out of 10. It was in a word, a ‘hit’. With this in mind Molyneux and team had a lot to live up to with Fable II, it essentially needed to be the original, with everything that was wrong with it fixed and new content added.

Have Lionhead managed it? Yes. Is it perfect? No. Let’s take a look at what’s oh so right with it and what’s wrong with it.

Fable II is an interactive fairy tale for adults, one that is set 500 years after the original Fable. Interactive fairytale is quite possibly the best descriptive term one can come up with and it also makes the name perfectly apt. Like it’s predecessor, Fable II is set in the fantasy world of Albion. It features heroes, villains, might and magic. The Brothers Grimm could have written it, as it embodies all that is innocent, good and evil in storytelling and best of all you’re the main character.

The story begins with your character as a child in the city of Bowerstone, a magical place with tudor-esq buildings, lanes and citizens. You’re hanging with your sister Rose and you can be a boy or girl (yay!!). You discuss how you want to leave the city and live in the castle… we won’t spoil the story for you, but essentially you get your wish and your adventure begins.

Gameplay takes place in a dynamic interactive world full of colorful characters, locations and thriving hamlets. A third person view is utilized and the world is your oyster, you choose where to go and what to do. You are given quests, but everything is up to you. As with Fable you can choose your path, be good or evil, but both will affect your character in more ways than how people react to you. According to the hype, your world is now ten times bigger than it was in Fable, so vast in fact you will have more hours of gaming than most other games on your games shelf.

A new addition to Fable II is your companion, not a person, but a dog. Your loyal friend will follow you, lead you, show you things you might have missed and is generally a lovely addition. You can teach your dog tricks and interact with it on your travels.

The fighting system too has been tweaked which just makes the whole thing feel more polished. Your character can melee attack, use swords, ranged weapons and of course cast spells. Each time you fight you gain experience which can be spent on upgrading your character. You can also take jobs to earn money.

With such a huge and sprawling world it is such a shame that Fable II is slightly let down in the multi-player department. The online system is implemented in such a way that it all feels a little clunky and unfinished. Though you can meet your friends for co-operative play, you cannot play your own character if you join their game or vice versa. Essentially your custom character gets left behind in favor of a generic character if you want to join a friends game. The camera too becomes fixed in co-op mode and you get that annoying thing of only being able to run left if the other player does so as well.

Female Gamer Angle
Fable II features women aplenty, straight, bi and gay, yes truly. As you meet and interact with other characters you can look at their profile to glean more about them and the profile will state straight, bi, lesbian, gay. Seems like every avenue has been covered with regards to gender. Thumbs up to Molyneux for actually realizing female gamers exist and of course adding the option to play the lead character as a female hero as well.

Overall Fable II – despite the mutli-player debacle – is a wonderful fairy tale of a game and one you should most definitely own if you have an Xbox 360. Albion is a truly magical land where you can roam and be good, evil or something in between. You can marry, buy real estate, businesses, do odd jobs, small quests, great quests and best of all, be a female hero (or villain) in a game.

Review by Angela