Fable II

"Tons of content and snarky humor make Fable II easy to recommend."

A Review by Bill Lange

BOTTOM LINE: Manages to improve on the gameplay of its predecessor while still carving out a name for itself with comical, snarky writing.

If you'd like to blame one person for the vague feeling of disappointment you felt after beating the original Fable on Xbox, go ahead and point the finger at Peter Molyneux, the man who built his masterpiece up to unreasonably lofty heights before reality crushed him under its cruel weight.

Fable was envisioned as the "killer RPG app" that was supposed to usher in a new era for Microsoft's black behemoth that didn't revolve solely around a green-suited space marine. At one point, Molyneux made the ill-advised statement that Fable would be "the best game ever." Not so, Peter; despite promises of a living, constantly developing world that the player could interact with in morally ambiguous ways, Fable ended up shipping to stores as a decent action-RPG more notable for its character customization than a compelling storyline.

Developer Lionhead obviously learned its lesson, since Molyneux was kept in a locked box for most of Fable II's development. The lack of hyperbole seems to have helped Fable II, since it still isn't the greatest gaming experience ever, but builds upon the framework of the first game just enough to enthrall you for a few dozen hours.

The main quest holds no surprises: your silent Hero (or Heroine, since you can play as a woman this time around) is on a mission of revenge in the land of Albion circa 500 years after Fable 1 against the nasty bad guy de jour. You're tasked with gathering three heroes which happen to specialize in all three of your combat options (melee, guns and magic).

Aside from your heroic destiny, there are many sidequests and jobs to sign on for that will etch your name into Albion's history, making you a legendary paragon or a monstrous cretin; your mileage may vary. Your renown will soar throughout the game just by completing storyline quests, and you'll soon become the most popular person ever. Add in marriage and parenthood, and you have a ton of extra content to wade through.

It's all well and good to become famous and gain an entourage of fawning townsfolk, but Lionhead needs to come up with some kind of crowd dispersal method for Fable 3. You'll yearn for a non-homicidal way to make peasants get the hell out of your house while you're trying to woo your spouse.

Wait, so you people get to call for the guards when I'm in your house after hours, but I can't do anything legal to get *you* to leave? Even trying to disgust them into leaving with your Hero's farts, middle fingers and vulgar pelvic thrusting doesn't always work, because some degenerates actually enjoy that. (One of my character's wives loved it when I used the Kiss My Ass expression.)

Combat received some much-needed attention during development. Just as before, you can attack with your melee weapon, draw a gun or crossbow for long-range battle, and cast Will spells. Magic is no longer fueled by a meter, so feel free to cast as many spells as you'd like. The tradeoff is that lower-level spells are incredibly underpowered, and to cast a high-level spell your hero must charge the attack, leaving you exposed and vulnerable.

However, there are some combat balance issues. My character's rifle became ridiculously powerful after leveling up Skill a few times, to the point where I was one-shotting each enemy I encountered with the head-targeting and zoom functions. Though melee continues to be useful throughout the game, Will spells quickly become almost useless unless charged to the third or fourth level, and few enemies will give you the chance to do so before tearing off a nice chunk of health.

Character progression is much improved from Fable, as instead of starting the game with every ability, you'll need to unlock combat moves like melee flourishes and manual aiming with ranged weapons with experience points. You can clearly follow your character's growth as a Hero since high Strength levels make your Hero brawny, leveling Skill makes you taller and pumping up Will causes magical glowing blue lines to appear on your character's body.

Though the storyline is as serious as ever, there's a strong element of snarky humor that runs through Fable II. Each item in the game has a funny description attached to it; I found myself at a shop looking at each available item just to see what the game had to say about it. Loading screens feature game tips as well as hilarious short quotes and tidbits from the world of Albion. One particularly humorous bit pokes fun at the fate of the most annoying character in the original Fable.

For all its improvements, Fable II fails to rise above the original's disappointing ending. The main storyline ends very abruptly, leaving you with a weighty choice to make that is supposed to affect all of Albion, but ends up being a no-brainer. Even this doesn't end Fable II, since there are quests that open up after you've fulfilled your destiny, and DLC tacks on several hours of new gameplay.

Sitting down to Fable II expecting the greatest gaming experience ever will quickly earn you a trip to Letdown Town, but gamers with tempered expectations will find humor, adventure and a chance to shape a virtual world as you see fit. As with every choice in this game, it's up to you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/16/09

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