Fable II

"This isn't an RPG, and it's not a great action game either..."

Fable II has finally come out, and Peter's vision of love is here before us. I remember hearing how alive this world would be, how interacting with your dog would be a truly memorable experience as well as interacting with the citizens of Albion. I remember this was to be a free roam world, a wide open adventure where choice matters. I remember the hype surrounding the first Fable and its horrible crash and burn when that hype was never met. How does Fable II stack up?

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics would've been great a couple years ago. Things tend to look washed out and too bright at times. The landscapes themselves aren't bad though, despite their overall blandness when looked at up close, as a whole the areas of Albion evoke a good sense of atmosphere. The problem really comes with the character models. The people of Albion have never been uglier. The citizens in the first Fable were much easier on the eyes, and that's pretty sad. I know you can get married in this game but there are very few people who aren't hideous. A bit disappointing overall, but the atmosphere created is pretty good.

Sound: 8/10

The music is great, but I miss some of the themes of the first game. Overall, the music is just as good and memorable. A high point. Sound effects are decent too.

Controls: 6/10

This is a tough one. The controls are great on one hand. Whipping out the pistol and firing is simple, and pretty cool. Switching between the three fighting styles is easy and fun to use with a nice amount of diversity assigned to one button. On the other hand managing the menus is an absolute chore. I haven't seen such a terrible interface...ever. The menus load slow, you can't push UP on the control to cycle to the bottom of a huge list. That means you have to scroll through huge amounts of items sometimes to get to the one you need. All the newest items go to the bottom of the list too. I had a bunch of stuff in my book category of items. Every time I wanted to use a book that added an ability I'd click on it then it'd drop me out of the menu forcing me to go back through the slow loading menu, scrolling back through to the bottom of the list to find the next book (potion, or whatever) I wanted to use. Terrible terrible interface. Annoying and time consuming. A horrible design choice.

Story: 5/10

What was this story even about? I found myself collecting a group of heroes to help me do some unspecified thing, though I didn't know I was collecting heroes until the second one I found. The story leads you along real well from plot point to plot point (bread trail), but how it all pieces together is poorly done. The story isn't great. It's fairly boring, cliched, and shorter than the first game. I finished Fable II in about 12 hours and I really thought I was taking my time. There is no sense of build up or that your heading for a big climax. You just do some things and then go to a final battle. Be careful in the main quest because you'll suddenly be done when you feel like more should be coming.

Gameplay: 2/10

Gameplay is terrible. Maybe because all the things we thought would happen with these games never comes true, maybe this game would be sweet if it just came out of nowhere. But interaction with the citizens of Albion has not changed at all from the first game. There is NO complexity to meeting people and farting, or burping, or arm pumping. Making people like you is way easier this time around. Yeah you can get married and have kids but they're equally as worthless as families were in the first Fable, and this time more cumbersome because they get angry at you the longer you stay away. The game forces you to have sex too if you want to stay married, your house fills up with little children, your wife stands in the same place not moving, and wants gifts. That's it. That's all you get for marriage. If your wife, or husband, dies, then child services take your kid instantly. How's that for an open real world? Instead of programming in a way for you to raise your family (and allow the kid to be more than a baby which is born instantly after conception) you just lose your family.

How about the dog? Oh yeah you can scold it or comfort it. Great. It points out treasure to you. It follows you everywhere. It gets scared so you can scold it or comfort it. You can buy more expressions to spice up your interactions with it, but what's the point? It's no better than any of the other people in this game. I felt no sense of love for the thing.

There is also the open world of Albion. If you see water you can swim in it. If you see a ledge you can jump over it. Well if the message "press A to vault" appears, that is. Which is does quite a bit in the opening map of Bower Lake. You can vault and swim a lot around there. Once you get to the edge of the map (Bowerstone 90 hours travel time) you find much less freedom in movement. At the edge of each map it tells you how long its going to take you to travel to the next map. 10 hours, 20 hours, etc. You don't get to travel that open countryside yourself, just imagine it. The game is a series of levels and that's it. Just like the first Fable. Leveling hasn't changed, interaction hasn't changed, nothing has changed.

To buy this game for 60 bucks is a rip off. I've never beat a game in one week since I bought my XBOX 360. I can't play games often, maybe every couple of days. I sure did beat Fable II in a matter of days though. It was fun enough to complete, but nothing more.

Rent or Buy? Wait until it comes down in price if you're going to buy it. 20 bucks is a fair price. Not 60. We need to quit supporting terrible creations like this.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/17/08

Game Release: Fable II (US, 10/21/08)