Fable

"This Game Does Not Justify Four Years of Delays."

Four years back this particular game was dubbed "Project Ego." It intrigued several Xbox owners and convinced many others, myself included, to go out and buy an Xbox for this very ambitious and grand game. Some time ago many gamers expected this game to rival Morrowind when Peter Molyneux said this game would end up being the best RPG in ever. It's a sad shame that the final product says otherwise. In no way is this game bad or below average standard in anyway, but with four entire years to plan out this game's future it's amazing how it fell flat on its face with all the hype that had backed it up. Several features were removed from the game that was originally planned such as being able to have children, carrying a shield, free-roaming lands, and a whole host of other features that definitely would have made any other open-ended game tremble in fear. Features such as marrying and making love to your wife are still available, but with the removal of being able to have children what exactly would be the point of getting married in the first place? There are several other complaints that could go on for pages, but there are still many redeemable qualities that make this game still worthwhile.

Unlike other several other RPGs, this game is very religious when it comes to being good or evil, and the game does a good job of showing it. The character interactions in this game are somewhat limited, but t he NPCs are what bring the game to life when in regards to interaction since your character is at a lack for words and branching replies. Depending on your alignment you, the hero, will either be cheered or feared in the world of Albion. Unlike most games that allow you to align yourself with good or bad, the alignment actually affects character relations. Take for example a holy knight steps into town, he'd typically be showered by an adoring crowd as they cheer him on and women will be in love with him. If a murderous bandit were to walk into town, the citizens will run in fear and will act rudely to the bandit. Although it sounds great on paper, the execution isn't very well pulled off. Changing your alignment in this game is as easy as changing your underwear. You want to be good? Kill a couple bandits and if you wanted to be evil, what easier way to do it other than just killing off a bunch of random innocent civilians? There's also a very annoying problem with being bad and that would be the fact that it's so insanely hard to interact with anyone when they're screaming the same phrase incoherently as they run into a wall and decide to stay there. Even with those setbacks the alignment system is still nice since physical appearance drastically changes depending on alignment.

The game is very linear as opposed to what was promised so long ago, but that doesn't mean the game is bad by any stretch of the imagination, there just wasn't much thought put into the final stages in this game. The story maintains a very basic "World is in trouble and it's up to the chosen one to save it." The game is separated into quests that you pick from your Guild which helps advance the storyline. It's a very primitive way to move a story along, but it works well with the first half of the game. After that the rest of the storyline falls apart and all you'll be concerned about is whether your wives still love you or not and if you can get rid of your grey hairs.

The visuals to this game, like every Xbox game, are very nicely done and look excellent even though at times they appear a bit cartoony when the hero is still a child. The simulation of being drunk is also a very novel idea, but the only thing your character will do is vomit and not actually act like a drunk compared to the NPCs. The atmospheres in dangerous areas is also nicely designed that even though your hero is capable of handling anyone that dares stand against him it's still a bit of a heart pounding moment to be walking alone in such a dreary and dark place, while towns NPCs aren't just standing around like idiots and are actually always lively and bustling with energy as they should be during the day and even at night it's quite active seeing as how the local tavern is open all the time and always full of beer and gambling. That is a prime example of how NPCs bring a town to life visually.

Like any RPG, there's experience to raise the character's levels, but Fable does it differently with a thing called experience orbs. After killing anyone or anything they drop little green circles called experience orbs which are collected and to be used later among skills and attributes. Depending on the style the victim was killed by (melee, bow and arrow, or magic) you'll gain individual experience points for that skill. There's also a multiplier that multiplies the value of the experience orb. The more heavy the combat is, the more likely the combat multiplier will rise and multiply the value of experience. Having all that experience is useless unless it's spend at the experience "shop" and in the shop there are three categories to choose from when raising levels. Personal preference allows you to choose which attributes and skills you want raised and depending on what was leveled up your hero will physically change, from either looking buffer or having magic energy emanate from his finger tips. There's also the ability to change your experience or even add tattoos to your body and when you're wounded you'll be able to see the permanent scars that cover your body, but fade over time.

The combat system in this game is similar to the one found in The Legend Of Zelda Wind Waker and Ocarina of Time. All combat is in real time and you can lock onto specific opponents and changing the style in which you choose to fight is a breeze. Simple button pressing allows weapon changing on the fly making combat a lot more exciting and adding variety as well. There are also a myriad of weapons to choose from along with some secret ones in which you must search the ends of the world for.

There are several mini games and side quests that can be engaged which adds to the replay value of this, but with them it's still an incredibly short game for an RPG. Some mini games include gambling and of course the popular option of getting married. Most people prefer getting married to at least one woman per town which of course it always useless seeing as how your wife does absolutely nothing she wasn't doing when she wasn't married to you. The only difference this time is that you're able to make love to her, which isn't really much of a reason to get married anyway. Developers have promised owners that there are still tons of secrets in the game that are very well hidden, but for the most part many of them remain in doubt. It isn't really surprising either considering the fact that it took the developers four years to release a completely different game from the one they described four years ago.

Even though many things were removed that what was originally promised, Fable is a good game even with its many shortcomings with an addictive combat system and several mini games.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/02/04