Fable II

Well I received Fable II (2) as a present on Christmas day, after hearing some good things about it. A friend of mine told me about it so I decided to give it a go, was I disappointed???

As you can see 4 stars is a pretty good mark, so I am not disappointed, quite impressed actually! Your journey begins with you as a small child (boy or girl, it is your choice) who is homeless & looks up to their older sister for guidance in the harsh world that they live in. You & your sister see a "magic box" which you believe could get you out of the squalor you are living in. A wish is made & eventually you end up in the town castle. The King sees the two of you as heroes but he also sees you as a threat & kills your sister & tries to kill you. You survive & are found by Theresa, a women who helps you survive for the next ten years or so & your trusty new friend, a dog!

From here the game skips ahead to the time of adulthood. You've been living in a camp for the last few years but now is the time for you to avenge your Sisters death, so you leave the camp with just a sword, a crossbow & the clothes on your back, oh & of coarse your new companion- the dog. The storyline is quite simple & can be completed pretty quickly however it is the sheer depth of Fable II (2) that keeps you playing for hours on end! If you were to just complete the game by following the yellow line & doing no more then you would find this awfully boring indeed. I recommend getting side tracked & end up working as a woodcutter in order to earn enough money to purchase a house instead of doing what you are supposed to do- these are my favourite moments in the game!

Another key feature of Fable II (2) is the visuals, now if you have sprint through Bowerstone Market to escape the Guards that are chasing you because you stole from some guy's shop & then attempted to kill him on the way out then you are properly not going to notice the crystal clear graphics in Fable II (the wonderful graphics may be enhanced by your HD television), however if you don't have a HD telly then you should still be able to see the clarity of the graphics. In my opinion, however the reel flaw of this game is that there is very little variation between the weird & wonderful characters that you meet, example: Sue the villager could look the same as Lisa the tailor. This, unfortunately, is where the game's few flaws lie, the lack of variation in the faces of the people is the reason many people (including myself) have taken a star away from the overall rating! The countryside you travel through is quite breathtaking. Getting sidetracked allows you to explore the landscape around you & get your dog to find treasure, fight bandits or simply attack the locals, if you are evil!

In Fable II you can choose to be either good or evil. Good being you get a job & earn a living the honest way, this way people will respect you & you can even sign autographs for your loyal fans. Evil means you steel & kill & people will fear you. This way is less honourable but arguably more fun. Which path you choose, its up to you.

Pros:
+ Good solid role-playing game.
+ Stunning visuals.
+ Loads of characters to meet.
+ Choice of being good or evil.
+ The chance to use magic.
+ Option of getting sidetracked.
+ A nice, solid Xbox live feature
+ Decent replay value.

Cons:
- Everyone you meet looks far too alike.
- The basic storyline is far too short.
- The gameplay really doesn't differ from any other role-playing game on the market.
- There aren't enough magic spells.
- Not to everyone's taste.

Overall: 8.5/10.
Graphics: 8.5/10.
Gameplay: 7/10.
Storyline: 8/10.

I am a big fan of free roaming RPGs but this one missed the mark a little bit for me. The game has plenty of variety but the customisation is fairly weak. A small pool of weapons and clothing instead of armour, that does nothing except make you look nice or scare people, makes your main character a little boring. You can marry and have children, buy houses and do jobs but all of this is ultimately pointless as it doesnt really get you anywhere. It feels more like playing the sims than an RPG sometimes.

The main flaw is the interaction with other characters in Albion. I always rate these games against Mass Effects conversation system where what you say affects how people react to you and what type of person you are. In Fable you dont talk at all, to anyone. Sound bizarre? It is. Instead you target someone and communicate through facial expressions and gestures which left me feeling pretty unsatisfied as my character is essentially a mime not a real person.

The game is also way too easy with no sufficiently challenging encounters or quests to make levelling up worthwhile. The 'ultimate weapon' is so easy to obtain there is no sense of achievement when you get it. Overall, this is a game that tries, but sadly fails to hold the interest in the way that more engrossing RPGs like Fallout 3 or Mass Effect do. The bottom line is you simply wont end up caring about your character and that is what put me off.

If you enjoy a thoroughly enjoyable role playing game, then this game is for you. But don't expect revolutions as promised.
Starting of just like in fable 1 you are a young child but this time with a twist, you get to decide whether to be male or female.

The adventure will start you of working and doing quests with your sister, which will then lead you on to the biggest new idea in the fable series, your faithful companion... your dog. This in most RPG's is a totally new idea and will change the concept of the game. The game will then proceed you through the childhood section and then dramatically put you forward in a plot changing scenario, this is where all your story will begin.

Right from the word go you will be making your own personal decisions on how to do the given tasks, over time your character will be morphed into a reflection of who you truly are and the world will change with you, it will be different will each decision you make, the paths you choose will determine the outcome to the game.

The many different styles of combat you can choose upon will defiantly appeal to a wide audience, and with the all new magic combat system, I think people might be tempted to venture to the more magical side of the game, but the option for the melee and ranged combat is still there, which has also been improved for those who like to come up close and personal with their enemies.

There is no denying that this game is bursting at the seems with gorgeous scenery, some of the effects look so real at times, it almost feels like you are in the game, it is up to you if you dare to adventure the country side or roam the towns and markets to trade or to kill... its entirely up to you. How you decide to deal with the people you meet, has a big impact on the citizens in the world, so if your going for the hero type I would recommend keeping killing innocents to a minimum, or if you want to strike fear into the eyes of the people that see you, well... going on a killing spree is always fun. Being a hero and a villain makes it feel as if they are totally different worlds, people will admire you if you are a hero, worshiping your very ground, but if you go down the evil path, people will run from you screaming, and you may get the occasional abuse thrown at you.

This game is huge, and with all the content trying to come out, you can be assured you will always have something to do, and to back this up there is tons of achievements to do... also a few legendary items to be found from Fable 1 for the dedicated players.

As if all that isn't enough, there is the new co-op game play which brings a whole new aspect to the game, you can join or have someone join you at any point of the campaign to help you complete it, even if they are powerful, the AI will adapt and find a balanced difficulty setting so it never gets too easy for you. There is always a challenge in Fable 2.

Although even with all the positives I am giving this a 4 star because, it still is not pushing the boundaries of game play, its still basic for RPGs, there is nothing new... apart from the dog, but apart from that you get what you would expect in most RPG's even if they are not up to fable standard, and the most disappointing fact is that the main story line is not that long. It can be done in several hours of play. But the amount of side quests and other activities makes up for this.

This is a game all RPG fans should have !

Story : 8.5
Design : 8.9
Gameplay : 9.0
Presentation : 9.0

ok, whoever seas this game is too short is either a noob or an idiot, there is soo much to do other than the main quest line in this game and literaly everything you do had a consequence, now you can if you want to play though the main story and be done in about a day and a half and put it on your shelf never to be played again thats fair enough but the developers dident just make a main big story line, get out and explore the world, do other quests, get some loot, go and buy a mansion, get a family. i know there has been allot of quiries about it being glitchy, myself i havent come across any problems so i cant specualte but if you like allot of freedom and real life consequences like if you eat too much cheery pie, you will get a fat (it happend to me) then i highly reccomend this game.

this is absoulutly brilliant and lives up to his hype in my opinion the graphics are amazing the moves are amazing but i wish there were more magic moves but they are briliant anyway and the gameplay is fantastic and funny i got it today and played it for 10 hours straight BUY IT!