Fable II

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Fable 2 is the anticipated sequel to the popular original that sold more than 3 million copies. Created by famed game designer Peter Molyneux, Fable 2 for Xbox 360 features an epic story that picks up 500 years after the first game. It offers an open world environment giving players a massive amount of freedom to explore and play as they please, with every decision made contributing to the game itself.

Fable 2
Players:
Offline: 1-2
Online: 2

Gameplay Modes:
Single player, offline cooperative multiplayer, online cooperative multiplayer.

The new combat system lets you master different fighting styles. View larger.

You are free to roam the world of Albion any way you like. View larger.

Every Choice Has Its Consequences
Fable 2 provides players with a truly immersive experience where a virtually limitless number of choices can be made, all of which have their own consequences, making each game unique. When you start the game, you choose either to play the role of a boy or girl, and depending on your choices, the hero will grow up to be tall or short, good or evil. Players can get married and have children; female player characters will become pregnant, which will then be reflected by their physical appearance.

Early in the game, players are presented with a stray dog for a best friend, who will need to be fed and loved, and will accompany the player throughout his or her life. Depending on the player, the dog will change appearance and assist him or her in various ways, such as alerting of impending dangers and attacking enemies.

Players inhabit the world of Albion and are free to roam the land to as they please. Players can use different expressions to communicate with others, such as taunting and laughing, and even belching or farting.

As the players grow, so does Albion, reflecting the choices that were made earlier in the game. Every house, hut, castle, and dungeon can be purchased if the player wishes. Players can buy up all the land in a town and can become mayor, king, and even emperor of the entire land.

Fable 2 presents a dynamic and free-roaming world that doesn’t demand a player to take any one set path. At the same time, players seeking a plot line will find an epic story and quest that they can follow if they wish, along with many side adventures.

Fight Using Different Weapons and Magic
Fable 2 introduces a new combat system that allows for mastery of hand weapons, such as swords, long range weapons such as cross-bows and guns, and, of course, magic. Players improve at each discipline with time, and can combine different combat styles when they fight. Other advanced design features include tactical positional advantages that can bring new strategic elements into combat.

Bring Other Players into Your World
Fable 2 has a multiplayer mode that allows you to bring other players into your own world. Consistent with the rest of the game, the actions of these other players can be permanent and affect your world. You can explore and fight together with these other players, share treasures, and even fight each other.

Note: Fable 2 will not ship with Online Co-op mode. An update with this functionality is rumored to be released shortly after the launch of the game.

Xbox LIVE Arcade Mini-Games
Gamers can play minigames through Xbox LIVE Arcade and earn currency that can be used in Fable 2 to purchase weapons, armor, and other items for the hero.

Fable 2 is rated M for having mature content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older.

Depending on your choices, the protagonist can turn out wildly different — male, female, good, evil, and more.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Letdown
Way too short, way too easy. Too easy to collect gold, hack-n-slash with little thought and almost zero chance of dying. The story is way too simplistic with very little character development (and I’m not talking about the main character). This game was a big let down as I really enjoyed the first one. I packed this one up real fast after beating it twice as there is little replay value. It is a renter is anything.

4 Stars Decent game with replayability
I thought that this game was a solid experience that could be repeated. It was open enough, skill wise, that you could take any skill tree, or all skill trees, and succeed.

Pretty casual game.

3 Stars Not the fable I was expecting
Like many people, I anticipated the release of Fable II the moment I heard about it, and wanted it to happen since I finished the first game, then beat The Lost Chapters in a span of seven hours. The great story, the detailed world, the heroes, and everything else about the original game(s) left me wanting more.

Well, here is what we got–Fable II.

Beginning in the slums of Bowerstone, we are introduced to our main character, as well as their sister. This is where the first part of the story comes in: character choice. In Fable II, we are finally able to select the role of either a boy or a girl. This is something I always wanted when I played through the original game, and now that I had it, I was extremely happy.

But, with the good comes the almost-immediate bad.

Fable has, and was, about the ‘choices’ that would reflect the word. Lionhead promised that our choices would affect the world on a massive scale. In the beginning, you can select to destroy stock, kill beetles, give arrest warrants to city officials or to criminals. These deeds, depending on how many good and evil you do, ultimately affect Bowerstone, but only on the most minute scale. I won’t go into detail for spoiler purposes, but let’s just say that starts out as one of my main quirks.

After you progress from childhood to adulthood, the real adventure begins. You get a sword, a crossbow, and a dog companion. Your weapons are wielded with the X, Y, and B buttons, and your dog is there to help you through the hard times. Don’t know where your enemy is? Looking for treasure? Well, here’s your dog, your ever-faithful companion. He (or she, depending on which you prefer) will guide you through the land of Albion, and help you during the darkest times of your quest.

Now, for all the good Fable has, there is the bad.

First, I’ll list the good:

– The story. For the most part, it’s good, and it’s expansive enough to cover a good amount of gameplay if you take your time and don’t try to rush through it. Few characters are memorable, but the additions they’ve made to the world are great.

– Gender-selectable characters. Male and female characters are much needed in RPGs. Thankfully, they’re slowly but surely becoming the norm. You’re no longer confined to a male character in Fable, which adds a lot of interesting depth from both main characters and NPCs.

– The combat system. Its simplicity makes it extremely easy for anyone to pick up and play.

– The customization. Beards, tattoos, makeup–we have it all. You can even dye your hair and clothing in the game.

– The dog. Need I say more? The dog warns you about enemy, helps you find items, and even helps you fight off enemies sometimes.

Now… for the bad:

– The ending. It was weak, and unlike the first two Fables, there was no epic boss fight at the very end. Instead, we are faced with a very simple ‘choice’ ending. The main baddy is easily dispatched, and although I won’t spoil it, it’s in the most unexpected way possible.

– The ‘choices.’ While Fable II was supposed to be about the choices the character could make, few things actually change. Oakvale changes depending on whether or not you save the church, Bowerstone becomes rich or poor depending on what you do… and other than that, that’s all I can think of. There may be small, minor things, but the ‘choices that affect the entire world’ don’t really exist in the manner Lionhead originally stated they would. Well, except the choices at the very ending, but even then, depending on how good or bad you are, those choices don’t make any difference anyway.

– Replayability. Basically, you can play the game three different times, with three different endings. As it was in the first game, you could play the game through as a combination of the mage, archer and warrior, or you could play the game as just that class. The same goes in Fable II. While this isn’t a big thing, it’s enough to turn people off from playing it more than a few times through. You get tired of playing quests the same way after a while, and the fact that you have to go through the same scenarios with multiple morality/classes of characters can turn players off to playing the game multiple times.

All in all, I wouldn’t recommend putting down the full fifty/sixty for this game. If anything, you should rent it at your local video store (or swap it on a trading website) before you shell out the money for the game. Honestly, if I would’ve known it wouldn’t have the replayability value, I wouldn’t have bought it for so much. Sure, I enjoyed it the first month (while I played through three different characters,) but you can’t expect much more out of this game after that.

Fable II isn’t bad–it’s just not as amazing as it was let on to be.

Buy/More Info