Reviews

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.

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'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