Monthly Archive for October, 2008

Due to a small error by a couple of retailers Fable 2 broke its street date and went on sale for about half a day before being taken back off the shelves. Apparently there are still some stores selling but it appears to be a bit hit and miss. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and pick up a copy on my lunch break and seeing that Fable 2 will be available for the masses later this week I thought I’d post a quick first impressions on this highly anticipated game.

Developed by Lionhead Studios exclusively for the XBOX 360 Fable 2 is a western RPG and apart from Oblivion a genre I haven’t really played much. As with most RPGs it is too easy to lose track of time and I’ve already clocked up around 10 hours of game play and I’m surprised to say that I am really enjoying it.

I initially called out Fable 2 as ‘The Sims for boys’ and I’m going to stick by that. Your ‘hero’ while embarking on an epic quest also deals with the mundane and can get a job, have a wife (or two), family and even redecorate one of the many properties you own. Balancing both the main story and managing your life in general can be rather frustrating but also very rewarding if you’re willing to put in the time.

The main story is captivating and from what I can see going to be very lengthy and open ended with the choices you make throughout the game altering the story and ending which could lead to good replay value. I won’t go into the story as I don’t want to spoil anything but it looks like a winner and if anything bad happens to my dog there will be hell to pay.

The graphics of Fable 2 look gorgeous (although the water could do with a little more work) and the fantasy/cartoon style fits and helps create enchanting atmosphere as does the soundtrack. Voice acting is variable and intriguing unlike Oblivion and the random comments made by the AI throughout Fable 2 is both interesting, random and humorous.

There is a lot to like in this game, the fighting mechanic is simple but effective and collecting experience to level up your character is done very well and has forced me to pay attention to the way I battle although you could hack and slash your way though if you wanted to.

I don’t want to draw too much to the negatives as it is a great game but the menu system is slow and sucks in general. Some kind of hot key (back button) access to items or quests would be helpful as clunking my way through the menus can be frustrating and disjoint the gameplay. The lack of a detailed map is annoying the hell out of me but there are maps of regions etc so maybe I just need to adjust to this. I have also found that interacting with objects and people doesn’t always seem to register with multiple attempts normally required. My last gripe is with AI getting in the way. For example walking through a busy town people don’t get out of your way and are near impossible to move forcing you to walk around them. I would love to see the way Assassins Creed handles this in Fable 2.

As I have only just scraped the surface of Fable 2 I look forward to seeing how it plays out and also how the online co-op plays as this could add yet another meaty layer to an already massive game.