Your health is low... again.
Great gaming releases, it seems, are like buses; they invariably come in twos. Take The
Force Unleashed – arriving a few weeks after similar story-driven scrolling brawler Too
Human. Pretty soon DIY platformers LittleBigPlanet and Banjo Kazooie will be slugging it
out for the User Generated Content crown, too. And don't even get us started on FIFA and
Pro Evo...
Fable II, meanwhile, will be going head-to-head with Fallout 3 in the big battle of the
year's best open-world role-players. There's enough content in both to keep you playing for
months – so why should you pick Lionhead's latest?
Everday brilliance
Fable II is not your typical Action RPG. Compared to Fallout, the main quest is short;
there's no real dialogue choices a la Mass Effect; ammunition and magic power are infinite;
combat is simple hack-and-slash stuff; and you can't actually die in Fable II – if you do,
you'll surge back to life, losing some experience, and sporting some permanent scars for
your troubles.
So, Fable II doesn't impose limitations, complexity or story. Instead, it's a sense of
spectacle, personality and self-importance that makes Fable II compelling.
It's a sense of spectacle, personality and self-importance that makes Fable II
compelling.
Fable II fashions a gameworld of breathtaking scope, full of roving green plains, dense
forests, stormy clifftops, cobblestone walls, wooden shacks, enormous Camelot-esque castles
and gloriously radiant bloom-lit vistas. And within this staggering fantasy, it strives to
make the mundane important.
It's a triumphant juxtaposition, offsetting the melodrama of a hero's quest with a more
run-of-the-mill routine. Want to upgrade your fighting, improve your shooting skills, learn
new magic powers, slay monsters, bring bandits to justice, and ultimately hunt down the
evil Lord Lucien? It's all in there. But, if you want to style your character, purchase
property, play landlord (or landlady), buy a business, get wed and start a family… well,
you can do that, too. Whatever your objective, a golden dust trail lights the way, letting you tangent and never feel lost.
Beyond good and evil
Like the first game, Fable II places morality at the heart of the experience. Give the
warrants to the authorities; take the bandit-bashing quests; pose, smile, flirt and
generally be sociable with the locals and you'll be loved across the lands, with your
character developing a heroic glow. Give the warrants to the gangs; help bandits terrorise
towns; steal riches, and attack passers by, and you'll end up looking devilishly evil.
There's a second axis, too; aggressively hyke up rent or product prices and you can
collapse entire economies, ensuring you end up Corrupt. But lower your rates and earn extra gold instead by trading and playing the minigame jobs (woodcutter,
blacksmith, bartender, etc), and you'll become Pure. It's far easier to profit in Fable II from the
first approach, but you'll feel the shame as you see the world warp around you. Few games
play on your emotions like Fable II.
Fable II is a welcoming, colourful, tongue-in-cheek fairytale for everyone to
enjoy.
Fable II's main story is a simple, 12 hour affair, but to its credit it's a thoroughly
enjoyable, well-told swashbuckling adventure, boasting a host of top voice talent,
all with distinctly British accents, and an irreverent sense of humour to match.
Easily the biggest star, however, never says a word. Your dog follows you everywhere;
helping in combat, altering appearance with your alignment, and enhancing the exploration
by dashing off to sniff out treasure or highlight dig spots. With Fable II's inhabitants
more malleable playthings than fully-fledged characters, your pet pooch proves an
invaluable, endearing emotional anchor.
A promise fulfilled
And in that respect, Fable II is the polar opposite of Fallout. They're both about
choice, but here the consequences are less grandiose and more personal. Rarely in Fable II
will you feel an entire world hangs in the balance – but the appearance and reputation of
your character are ever-shifting, and each decision you make has an emphatic effect on
Albion's incidental goings-on. Where Fallout is a harsh, serious and unfathomably complex
post-apocalyptic epic pitched at hardcore gamers, Fable II is a welcoming, colourful,
tongue-in-cheek fairytale for everyone to enjoy.
There are some bugs – not least with the online co-op, which could really do with
letting each player control their own camera. And ever so often a character will glitch
through a wall or won't respond when they should. But for such an ambitious undertaking,
Fable II is a huge success. Streamlined but sprawling, intimate but epic, it's the RPG
Peter Molyneux always promised, and proof indeed that good things come in II's.
GAME's Verdict
- Albion is enormous, gorgeous, charming and an utter joy to explore.
- Economy, morality and character customisation are fantastically interwoven. And the
dog! Awww...
- Tons of sidequests, collectibles and the urge to buy every single piece of property
will keep you playing long after the main quest ends.
- A few bugs, with characters occasionally glitching through walls or not responding
when they should.
- The main storyline is a somewhat short 12 hours long.
- Why can't player two control their own camera in online co-op?!
Review by: Mark 'Shadowfiend' Scott
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Review Published: 29.10.08