Reviews
Peter Molyneux is no shrinking violet by any stretch of imagination. His ambitious Fable game on the original Xbox was a commercial and critical success but it failed to live up to the hype that Molyneux promised. Therefore in his sequel and with the power of the Xbox 360, does Fable II deliver the goods? Well yes and no. It hits square on target in many respects but clumsily drops the ball in some obvious fundamentals. Set 500 years after the original story, you begin your quest as a young boy or girl in the city of Bowerstone. You and your sister are lured by the prospect of a better life to Castle Fairfax, where Lord Lucien resides. After a series of unfortunate events, a mysterious woman tells you that you’re the bloodline of Heroes. From here your quest as a Hero begins where you need to find Lucien and right the wrongs he has done unto you.
Fable II at its core is an RPG with an emphasis on character development and social interactions with NPCs. Even from the outset as a youngster your decisions and actions have repercussions on the rest of the game when you mature and come back to the city. In the original game, your actions could either align you with good or evil and this would be graphically represented on your character. In Fable II however that has gone to a deeper level where corruption, purity, fame, weight and hairstyle all have an effect on the way you look and how others react to you. If you hurt innocents, steal, overcharge clients and only eat flaccid celery sticks then expect your character to look like Germaine Greer. Sacrifice your spouse (yes you can get married and have children this time) to the Temple of Shadows or murder some monks and you could end up growing horns. It’s fun to see how your actions affect your character model and the choices between good and evil aren’t always clear cut. There will be many moral dilemmas and seeing your choices played out on screen is a joy to behold.
Molyneux strongly stated that casual gamers or those unfamiliar with RPGs can jump right into this game and intuitively will know how to play it. For the most part, he is right. There are no complex attribute points or micro-managing your armour and weapon to get the best combination. You just jump in and play and it works a treat. That’s not to say there isn’t a deeper level of customisation available. There are plenty of ways to tinker with your kit and is advised if you want to gain the best advantage in battle or get on the good side of a shopkeeper. Your basic attacks are mapped to melee, ranged and magic. These are then able to upgraded through experience points. The one button melee may seem like a overly simple combat mechanic but there are layers of depth and timing that once upgraded will open plenty of parries, combos and counter attacks. This combined with the ranged and magic attacks can lead to interesting and creative combat options. A win for Molyneux then.
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