The world Albion awaits the next
great hero or dastardly villain. Whether you choose to be the hero or the
villain, Fable 2 offers up an enthralling experience that is
one-of-a-kind on the Xbox 360. Forget what you remember about Fable 1
because Fable 2 is the game that western role-playing fans have been
begging for. Let’s cut to the chase and discuss why Fable 2 is the game
you need to be playing at this very moment.
For starters, Fable 2 allows
players to make their own choices within the game and either reap the benefits
or suffer the consequences behind them. Players have the ability to align
themselves with the good or evil path by every decision they make in the game. If you decide to eat a live baby chick whole, then be prepared to receive evil
points. Not only will the villagers of every town look at you different, but
you soon will be seeing physical changes to your character. So if you give into
those evil impulses, expect to see your character to look a little more corrupt
throughout the game. Your choices will also influence: what villagers say about
you and how they barter, the appearance of your dog, and what missions become
available to you.
Speaking about the dog, – which, of
course, you are able to name – it’s a lot more useful than when it was first
talked about. It’ll search out hidden chests, buried treasure, attack knocked
down enemies, and alert you when enemies are near. Players can also train their
dog through books to learn tricks, find more valuable treasure and cause more
damage in combat. Only a few hours into the game, it’s guaranteed that you’ll
become attached to your furry pal and realize that without him, you might still
be out in the wilderness looking for those hard to find items.
One aspect that Fable 2
trumps its predecessor is in its narration and storyline. While it isn’t the
most in-depth plot in video games, it at least gets the job done and is told
well enough to understand what is going on. There’ll be times when you are
scratching your head, but through dialogue, you’ll soon figure out what needs to
be done and how to accomplish it. The premise is based around revenge and I’ll
leave it at that to avoid spoilers – just expect a lot of quests where you
embark on finding other heroes to aid you in taking down the central villain.
The quests provided by Lionhead
Studios (the developers) are diversified and well thought out. Even though the
start of the game is a bit of a downer when it comes to pace, once players reach
their adulthood, they’ll be on their way to taking down trolls, accepting quests
to give rejection notes to women from men, hunting hobbes, joining the Temple of
Shadows, and much more. If the quests don’t satisfy you, then Fable 2
has odd-jobs to take place in such as being a bounty hunter, cutting wood,
making steel blades, becoming a bartender, and a lot of unique tasks that are
entertaining. There are also the pub games that released before Fable 2
on the Xbox Live Arcade that players can participate within Albion to earn
money.
Declaring that Albion in Fable 2
is ten times bigger than it was in Fable 1 doesn’t do the game justice
since the game world is flat out huge in size. What’s even better is that
Fable 2 permits players to purchase almost every house, castle, merchant,
vendor, pub, and whatever else you can name. Players can rent out these houses
and stores to earn a profit to continue to move up in the world of real-estate. Before you know it, you’ll own half the town and will be racking in the money to
move on to the next city.
Another interesting aspect that will
lure many gamers into Fable 2 is the possibility of getting married and
having sex in the game. Players have the option to perform protected or
unprotected sex with villagers, whether they are their spouse or not. Getting
married is a little more simple than expected as all you have to do is give a
villager enough gifts and compliments, but sustaining that marriage is a
slightly more complicated. Your spouse will rely on you to stop in from time to
time and provide the family with income. It is also possible to have multiple
spouses and families within the game, but be warned about the grave results when
the families become aware of each other’s identity.
Fable 2 takes steps towards
making the combat simple to pick up and play. Melee combat is initiated through
the X button, ranged combat through Y button and magic through the B button. When players level up, they’ll earn advanced moves to perform, but for the most
part, these three buttons will be what players will be cycling through when in a
fight. It may sound tedious to switch between the three different styles, but
it’s not that problematical. Players can be mixing it up with their katanas and
then quickly press the B button to send a fireball in another direction of an
oncoming enemy. Of the three, the magic (Skill) has provided the most
electrifying experience with the eight spells granted to the players.
Another huge attribute that Fable
2 has that the original didn’t is offline and online cooperative play. The
player joining into their friend’s game will become a henchman and assign the
gender, clothing, and weapon for their character. A henchman won’t be able to
interact with merchants (to buy equipment) or buy real-estate. The only thing
they receive from their session is a set amount of the gold and experience. There have been a few issues that have occurred with online co-op such as no
music being played, enemies becoming frozen in place after a spell, and a few
other technical issues. But, even with the small issues, the added co-op is
overall entertaining and a great diversion when you are bored performing your
own quests
For the most part, Fable 2 is
an absolute beautiful game. It has colorful environments to explore, a lot of
unique NPCs to interact with, high production values with its art and design,
and brilliant animations for the characters. The same can be said about the
audio as the voice-overs are excellent and the score of Fable 2 is
pleasant on the ears. Though, once again, there are a few technical problems
with the framerate dropping, music cutting in and out, and long load times.
Aside of those small technical
issues, Fable 2 has delivered a resounding experience. It’s a charming
and stunning game that should occupy about 20 hours of a gamer’s time with up to
50 hours of side-quests, odd jobs, and real-estate purchasing available.
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Review Scoring Details |
Gameplay: 9.7
There’s so much to do in Fable 2 that players will get sidetracked
from their main quest and waste an hour getting five stars at a job serving beer
or chopping wood.
Graphics: 9.5
Fable 2 sticks out among the Xbox 360 catalog of games due to its
lush and beautiful environments represented all throughout the world of Albion.
Sound: 9.7
This may be a love it or hate it category since the voice-acting could get
irritating to some people, but the score of Fable 2 is whimsical enough
to ignore any annoyances.
Difficulty: Easy
In all honesty, players shouldn’t have too much difficulty completing many
of the missions. If they do, they can always invite a friend to play co-op
through it.
Concept: 9.4
The addition of a dog as a pet is brilliant along with the expression wheel
to communicate with the villagers.
Multiplayer: 9.1
The online co-op has a few issues, but just having the ability to journey
through Albion with a friend is enough to satisfy the foaming mouths of co-op
fanatics.
Overall: 9.5
Fable 2 is among the elite titles to release in 2008. If players skip
out on their opportunity to play this ambitious and heartwarming title, then
they are missing out on one of the best games of the year.
