Fable [X-box]

[Brian]

Fable.

   Much hyped, majorly advertised.

   Epic in design, intent, and, hell, packaging.

   Peter Molyneux strikes again, and this game seems to follow his formula.

   As with Black and White, and Populous, the game is very much about somewhat abstract concepts of good, evil, and the consequences of those forces in a constantly evolving world.

   At least, in theory.

   Also, as with Black and White, while still very cool, Fable falls a bit short of the goal.

   Let's go into more detail on this, though.  The game doesn't disappoint graphically, for the most part.  If someone's an ugly bastard, you know it's because they're supposed to ... and in this world, when you see evil, you know it's evil from the sight alone.  And when you see good, you know it's good.  But there's the problem.  The game invites you to explore morality, while everything is on a very absolute scale of right and wrong.

   If you commit an evil action, you become more evil.  I'm sure you've heard how this works -- if you become evil enough, your appearance becomes monstrous, you grow horns, and you're surrounded by a palpable aura of ... well ... evil.  If you're good, you're surrounded by softly glowing lights, and you have a halo (though, it's actually well done and quite pretty).

   There's an awful lot of depth to your character design.  You can pick your hairstyle.  You can pick your tattoos.  You can pick your clothes.

   But you can't really pick your appearance.  That's shaped by your actions and morality.  Build up your physical stats, and your character becomes a beefy brawler.  Eat too many pies and become hugely fat.  Get beaten up a lot, and bear the scars to prove it.  Become a master mage, and be surrounded by a column of sparkling light when you stand still.

   This is a really interesting and well done aspect to the game.  It's subtle, and fun, and you can (since you can't just 'pick' your image) try and grow your character into the shape you want to.

   That's the good part.

   But where the game falls short is the fact that it's ... well ... short.  You finish the game after about fifteen hours of gameplay, and that's with taking time for sidequests.  Additionally, time in Albion moves really fast, because after those fifteen hours, my character was sixty five years old (after childhood, you start the game as a young man).  This kind of annoyed me, but being a hero, age didn't seem to really affect performance in combat.

   Or romance.  Socialization is a large aspect of the game, even though it's very simple.  Do good things, and people like you.  Do bad things, and people are afraid of you.  Do a lot of things, and become well known.  Socialization (outside of quests) involves choosing actions, or 'expressions'.  These are things like giggling, flirting, the Manly Arm Pump, the Heroic Sexy Pose, and so the Menacing Laugh.  People react to these things, but you can't do much more than intimidate them or get them to fall in love with you (and when you become famous enough, random people approach and ask to marry you, if you're good).

   There's not much dialogue, though the NPCs do talk to each other, and you can hear what they're saying about your character when you're around.  If you're good.  If you're evil, almost everyone runs away.  The game struck out with a noble goal -- create a dynamic world.

   But.  You can't roam the countryside, and you are restricted to specific paths, with hard boundaries.  The overarching mission of the story (the plot, one supposes) is the same regardless of if you're good, evil, loved, or hated.   What you get is a world that changes a bit, and a hero that changes a lot.  The game is fun, but is not the sprawling epic it was obviously meant to be.

   It is, instead, something you can pick up, throw together a character for, and then try something new.  And you can do a lot.  You can buy houses, and rent them out.  You can spend time doing good deeds ... gambling ... drinking ... competing in archery contests ... there's actually quite a lot to do in Albion, and an awful lot of ways to get it done.

   So, that's about it.  Fable is an okay game, but not the masterpiece we were all awaiting.


Though, it is kind of funny how polygamy isn't evil in Albion. ;)

[Kwokinator]

Though, it is kind of funny how polygamy isn't evil in Albion. ;)

Of course it's not, all that hero/villain prowess and image has to be too much for one woman alone to handle ^_^

[Dracos]

Cue expectations met: A game not worth buying an x-box for. =)

Dracos