Fable 2
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Fable II
In a world about choices, what ones will you make?
People love Role-Playing Games for a number of reason, the story, the rich history, the chance to play hero. Fable II touches on all of these as well but the difference here, is that the developers have left how the story is told, up to you. So, “What kind of hero will you be?” Think carefully because the choices you make determine how your actions will affect the rest of the world and how that world perceives you.
Gameplay
Fable II begins 500 years after the events in its predecessor but don’t worry there is no need to have played the first Fable to enjoy the sequel. Players begin the game choosing either a male or female hero and begin their life in Albion as a common street rat. The main story has very little actual plot but that’s not a problem here as the focus is on you choices. While this does leave out the interesting character’s we’ve come to expect in a role-playing game, the scenes that are involved within the story are powerful enough on their own.
The way in which you interact with the citizen’s of Albion is up to you. You might be a hero, but you don’t have to act like one. After all there are people to assassin, towns to pillage, people to gouge and innocent people to sell to slavers, regardless of your choice it’s up to you to make it but it’s easier to get noticed if you are behaving rudely as opposed to that of a civilized person. Even if you find yourself steering towards the dark path of evil, you’ll quickly find that you are laughing the entire time. The morality choices don’t feel balanced at all. I was quickly able to max out my evil and corrupt side but trying to become a noble and justice do-gooder took much longer.
We are limited in our interactions of others to expressions that help convey our feelings but this does get’s old after a while. Unfortunately the citizens of Albion are flat and uninteresting and this makes it difficult to find any reason to care about them. The developers didn’t create any limitations to what players can do with the people of Albion. Players can select individual people in the world and find out more about them, their likes, dislikes and their even sexual orientation (you can marry someone of the same sex). The downside of these expressions however is that while they can be enjoyable to tell someone exactly what you think, lewd gestures will decrease your value in the world.
There are no truer words in Fable II than “A dog is man’s best friend” as a dog that you meet during childhood joins you for your journey. You are his master and there is so much to do with him, play fetch with a rubber squeaky ball, scold him, teach him new tricks using books – it doesn’t matter what you do with him, this is your guide and you will rely on him heavily. You will quickly find his ability to sniff out treasure chests, dig spots holding hidden treasures, warning you of impending danger and even joining in to bite off noses makes him invaluable. This does take away from the thrill of a discovery but when he’s missing, you’ll quickly start to miss him and wait for him to catch up. While the dog is a very handy tool, there are still issues with pathing and getting stuck within the environment. It’s frustrating and you’ll quickly notice how reliant you are on your trusty pet to help find hidden treasures and know immediately when danger is arriving when he’s back in the hallway frozen in a wall unable to help in any way. Unfortunately, he will remain there until you leave the area. The game also includes a glowing breadcrumb trail to help you navigate your way to quests while also allowing you to explore the world freely.
There’s no shortage of things to do in Fable II. This includes quests that will send you all over Albion. Some of these quests are the simple, kill so many creatures while others will place the burden of morale choices on you. During one particular quest, a ghost asks that you court the woman that broke his heart in an effort to make her fall in love with you. When she agrees to become your wife, you are supposed to hand her a rejection letter written by the jilted lover, breaking her heart in the process. As is the case with just about everything within Fable II, you don’t have to follow his requests and after hearing her story – you might be inclined to take her for your wife instead! You only need to complete a small number of these quests to complete the game making additional runs through the game just as different as the next. Job opening’s, buying stores and renting homes provide easy income, perhaps too easy but it allows you to earn while you quest.
The combat from Fable returns allowing you to take advantage of increasingly improved skills. Combat comes in three forms, melee, ranged and magic; it’s possible to concentrate on just one or two styles but to get the most out of Fable II, all three should be used, mixing up your attacks. Depending on which combat type is used, will determine what color “experience orbs” are dropped, each one color coordinated to the button used on the controller. Melee attacks are the most powerful while ranged weapons are useful to take out ambushes or create your own ambush, your dog will join in the fight if you manage to knock your enemies to the ground. Magic ranges from a variety of skills that can confuse your enemies into attacking each other, shocking your enemies to cause them to seize up while you deal with his buddies and summoning a series of magical blades to cut your enemies down faster. Mixing up all these moves makes the combat in Fable II truly engaging and exciting. The only difficulty I had with the combat system is the lack of consequence upon death. The game shows your death in slow motion but a moment later you are alive again right where you left off to give it another go. Except for the scars you receive there’s little challenge in losing a fight. These scars affect are permanent and will negatively affect your attractiveness but if you’re going to be an evil hero, you end up ugly anyways. This is an interesting concept but unlike most RPG’s, you never really “loose” a fight. Ever.
Multiplayer is a mixed blessing. As you adventure, your friend’s gamer pictures will suddenly appear whizzing past you. While this does detract from the game’s immersion, it also makes it extremely easy to turn a single player game into a co-op adventure. The only downside is that while you can invite your friend’s into your game, they can do the same – inviting themselves without asking. This can make attempting to explorer the world of Albion frustrating if you are not wanting to stick to any plan that your friend might have unless you unplug the internet connection from your Xbox. But when you do want some help, it’s not difficult to bring a buddy into the game and both of you will earn experience skills that your friend can take back with him to his game. Your friend can also interact with your world and since this is a world about choices, you can easily see what changes occur when you begin visiting the different world’s of your buddies.
Graphics & Sound
The graphics in Fable II are outstanding; it is a bit hard to believe this is a game for the Xbox 360. Environments and changing weather are stunningly depicted. The animation sequences of storytelling are quite breath-taking. Technical problems do persist such as people walking through objects and each other. I had one woman walk right through me and my wood stump while I was swinging the axe. These glitches don’t happen often enough to detract from the overall beauty. The load times are not unbearable, at least there are interesting facts, humorous anecdotes. My only gripe is that menus I commonly accessed were not at the top of the menu screen but since you don’t go in there very often, it’s not a major issue.
The music does a great job setting the mood between each of the environments. There’s a distinct difference between the serene, beautiful grassy hilltops of the gypsy village you begin in to the Bowerstone cemetery where the dreaded Hollow men have escaped. The voice acting also lends to the incredible atmosphere. Whether a citizen is making fun of your clothes, shouting marriage proposals or the bards who will happily sing of your deeds, Fable II remains funny and inviting no matter how many times you play it through.
Value
It’s difficult not to get sucked into Fable II and the choices available keep each game feeling fresh and new.
Conclusion
While the story isn’t very strong, the experience is full and very rewarding; it’s easy to lose hours doing trivial things and finding tucked away secrets. There’s a lot of interesting concepts within Fable II that make this a truly unique gaming experience. Albion is such a beautiful world that there’s no doubt you will want to see everything and visit the world often.
Verdict
Buy it! There’s a little something for every kind of gamer in Fable II. This deserves a place in your collection even if you didn’t play the first game and it will give you plenty to come back to again and again.Pros
+ Stunningly beautiful
+ Choices made within the game affects your world
+ Lots of unique quests with no shortage of things to do outside of adventuring
+ Dog is truly "Man’s Best Friend"
+ World is easy to explore with lots of hidden treasures
+ Fun and humorous expressions to interact with others
+ Multiplayer lets you see affects of different choices
+ Earn coin through jobs and owning businesses
+ Engaging Combat system
Cons
- Little story
- Morality choices are unbalanced
- Dog often get’s stuck rendering him useless
- Multiplayer means friends can force themselves into your game
- Coin is earned while offline too but makes the challenge of earning coin extremely easy
- Death carries little consequence
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
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