This review is based upon my observations of completing the game with a single character, so some gameplay elements may differ. I've deliberately kept it light as I don't want to spoil any of it. Also, this is my first games review (I've never seen the point in reviewing something everyone has already played) so go easy.
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The easiest way to talk about the latest instalment of the Fable series is as the game Fable 2 was hyped to be. Essentially, and unsurprisingly, the games are very similar. You play a hero in the land of Albion, destined to save the day, and allowed to do so with whatever combination of good deeds or evil doing you see fit. Unlike the previous game, these moral choices are abundant in Fable 3, though they are far from evenly distributed throughout. The effects they have on your character are pleasantly subtle. Whereas Fable 2 would see your character change in appearance fairly rapidly, Fable 3 takes a slightly different approach ? your true nature only becoming revealed near the very end of the game, during combat.
Combat itself is typical Fable fare; one button for melee weapons, one button for firearms, and another button for magic. Holding down a button charges the appropriate power while the left stick controls direction of the attack. Once more, pulling the left trigger allows the player to manually aim firearms from a first-person perspective but, the targeting of specific body regions is now curiously absent. The main difference to combat is the ability to mix magics. Any two magical abilities (fire, vortex, blades, push, shock, and ice storm) can be selected, allowing for some special combos (e.g. fire + vortex = flaming tornado!). Slowing time and summoning minions are now available as potions. While it can be assumed that this is to counter the imbalance the two spells were capable of in Fable 2, they do actually work quite effectively in this capacity.
While the whole game is unparalleled in aesthetic charm, it cannot go without mention that combat in this game looks incredible. General hack ?n? slashery is nothing special, but it is the interspersed ?flourishes? that make fights feel so satisfying. Flourishes, apparently occurring randomly (though perhaps in response to an element I didn?t detect), activate a slow motion, up-close, view of special moves. These moves are specific both to the weapon your character wields, and the enemy you are facing. I was genuinely stoked the first time I saw my protagonist grab a leaping wolf by the throat and run it through before throwing it aside. These moves evolve as your abilities do and by the end, your flourishes demonstrate your aforementioned ?true nature?. During the endgame for example, my massive goody-two-shoes hero grew a large pair of ethereal wings, and vaulted onto the head of a victim to snap their neck with her legs. Awesome!
The acquisition of abilities has been changed quite drastically for Fable 3. Instead of earning skill-relevant XP for each foe defeated, you now earn generic Guild Seals. These are earned through both combat and ingratiating yourself with the citizens of Albion. Guild Seals can then be spent on unlocking enhanced combat tiers, new spells, expressions, and job abilities on the ?Road to Rule? ? a transplanal lane of chests, containing said abilities, and gates which are unlocked as the plot unfolds. This means that progression is made somewhat more linear than in the previous game. While this will stop WoW types such as my housemate from power-levelling off Bowerstone guards at the very beginning of the game, it does seem like a bit of a step backward.
One new feature of the game that definitely warrants mention is the hub system it employs. Pressing the start button seamlessly transports your character to ?The Sanctuary?, a safe haven containing, among other things, a map table from which you can manage your property portfolio (buy properties, conduct repairs, change rent), view available quests, and teleport (sorry, ?Quick Travel?) to any region. From this room you can access the Road to Rule and four other rooms; armoury, wardrobe, treasury (complete with climbable money-pile representing your finances), and a room for accessing other dimensions (the worlds of your Xbox Live friends). Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the online capabilities since it has not yet been enabled. Several achievements would suggest that you can adventure with, marry, a co-own property with your friends. Furthermore, an online shop is present... though it has yet to be stocked so I couldn?t comment on what it will offer or whether you?ll have to pay Microsoft Points for it.
As can be expected from Lionhead Studios, the game is incredibly quirky and incredibly funny. I?m not one to often laugh out loud at games very often (not since Portal, actually), but this one elicited a lot of such behaviour. Perhaps the greatest testament to the writers? comedic talents is the fact that Jonathan Ross (just one of a number of celebrities joining Stephen Fry, Zoë Wannamaker, and Sean Pertwee on the cast) is actually funny!
There are glaring omissions from this review, but I?m going to leave them be. I have loved this game from start to finish (and anyone who knows how I harsh I am on games will know what high praise this is) and I believe it is the little surprises throughout - the comedic quips, numerous collectable weapons, the surprising missions, the beautiful level design, powerful music, dramatic cutscenes, and plot twists ? that make it so. For me to tell all on these aspects would be to deprive you of the untarnished experience I have had. The game has a few flaws; interaction with NPCs is worse than it used to be and the in-game jobs are all pretty much identical exercises in tedium, but these are forgivable. It honestly has to played in order to appreciate how much more rounded and balanced this instalment is compared to the last. I deliberately shut my eyes and ears to any marketing hyperbole Peter Molyneux had to spout on Fable 3 so I don?t know what lofty expectations he has set in peoples? minds... if, indeed, any. However, to my mind this is the first truly great Fable game which I wholeheartedly recommend.
###############################################################################################
The easiest way to talk about the latest instalment of the Fable series is as the game Fable 2 was hyped to be. Essentially, and unsurprisingly, the games are very similar. You play a hero in the land of Albion, destined to save the day, and allowed to do so with whatever combination of good deeds or evil doing you see fit. Unlike the previous game, these moral choices are abundant in Fable 3, though they are far from evenly distributed throughout. The effects they have on your character are pleasantly subtle. Whereas Fable 2 would see your character change in appearance fairly rapidly, Fable 3 takes a slightly different approach ? your true nature only becoming revealed near the very end of the game, during combat.
Combat itself is typical Fable fare; one button for melee weapons, one button for firearms, and another button for magic. Holding down a button charges the appropriate power while the left stick controls direction of the attack. Once more, pulling the left trigger allows the player to manually aim firearms from a first-person perspective but, the targeting of specific body regions is now curiously absent. The main difference to combat is the ability to mix magics. Any two magical abilities (fire, vortex, blades, push, shock, and ice storm) can be selected, allowing for some special combos (e.g. fire + vortex = flaming tornado!). Slowing time and summoning minions are now available as potions. While it can be assumed that this is to counter the imbalance the two spells were capable of in Fable 2, they do actually work quite effectively in this capacity.
While the whole game is unparalleled in aesthetic charm, it cannot go without mention that combat in this game looks incredible. General hack ?n? slashery is nothing special, but it is the interspersed ?flourishes? that make fights feel so satisfying. Flourishes, apparently occurring randomly (though perhaps in response to an element I didn?t detect), activate a slow motion, up-close, view of special moves. These moves are specific both to the weapon your character wields, and the enemy you are facing. I was genuinely stoked the first time I saw my protagonist grab a leaping wolf by the throat and run it through before throwing it aside. These moves evolve as your abilities do and by the end, your flourishes demonstrate your aforementioned ?true nature?. During the endgame for example, my massive goody-two-shoes hero grew a large pair of ethereal wings, and vaulted onto the head of a victim to snap their neck with her legs. Awesome!
The acquisition of abilities has been changed quite drastically for Fable 3. Instead of earning skill-relevant XP for each foe defeated, you now earn generic Guild Seals. These are earned through both combat and ingratiating yourself with the citizens of Albion. Guild Seals can then be spent on unlocking enhanced combat tiers, new spells, expressions, and job abilities on the ?Road to Rule? ? a transplanal lane of chests, containing said abilities, and gates which are unlocked as the plot unfolds. This means that progression is made somewhat more linear than in the previous game. While this will stop WoW types such as my housemate from power-levelling off Bowerstone guards at the very beginning of the game, it does seem like a bit of a step backward.
One new feature of the game that definitely warrants mention is the hub system it employs. Pressing the start button seamlessly transports your character to ?The Sanctuary?, a safe haven containing, among other things, a map table from which you can manage your property portfolio (buy properties, conduct repairs, change rent), view available quests, and teleport (sorry, ?Quick Travel?) to any region. From this room you can access the Road to Rule and four other rooms; armoury, wardrobe, treasury (complete with climbable money-pile representing your finances), and a room for accessing other dimensions (the worlds of your Xbox Live friends). Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the online capabilities since it has not yet been enabled. Several achievements would suggest that you can adventure with, marry, a co-own property with your friends. Furthermore, an online shop is present... though it has yet to be stocked so I couldn?t comment on what it will offer or whether you?ll have to pay Microsoft Points for it.
As can be expected from Lionhead Studios, the game is incredibly quirky and incredibly funny. I?m not one to often laugh out loud at games very often (not since Portal, actually), but this one elicited a lot of such behaviour. Perhaps the greatest testament to the writers? comedic talents is the fact that Jonathan Ross (just one of a number of celebrities joining Stephen Fry, Zoë Wannamaker, and Sean Pertwee on the cast) is actually funny!
There are glaring omissions from this review, but I?m going to leave them be. I have loved this game from start to finish (and anyone who knows how I harsh I am on games will know what high praise this is) and I believe it is the little surprises throughout - the comedic quips, numerous collectable weapons, the surprising missions, the beautiful level design, powerful music, dramatic cutscenes, and plot twists ? that make it so. For me to tell all on these aspects would be to deprive you of the untarnished experience I have had. The game has a few flaws; interaction with NPCs is worse than it used to be and the in-game jobs are all pretty much identical exercises in tedium, but these are forgivable. It honestly has to played in order to appreciate how much more rounded and balanced this instalment is compared to the last. I deliberately shut my eyes and ears to any marketing hyperbole Peter Molyneux had to spout on Fable 3 so I don?t know what lofty expectations he has set in peoples? minds... if, indeed, any. However, to my mind this is the first truly great Fable game which I wholeheartedly recommend.
