Fable 2 brought me to a world full of fantasy and amazement, but left me feeling needy inside. With a gorgeous art design and simple pick up and play mechanics, Fable 2 is definitely a step above its predecessor. The game is undoubtedly beautiful and fun to play, but small quirks keep it from being perfect.
Fable 2 takes place 500 years after the original Fable. You play the roll of either a boy or girl with only your sister at your side and toy weapons strapped to your back. Through a series of twisted events, you are left alone with only a dog at your side. Much like the first game, you are trained to become a hero, and destined to either save or destroy the world in which you reside.
While the first Fable was clear in its good or evil choices, Fable 2 seems to be filled with a bit more mystery. While you may think your actions are just and appropriate they may turn out to be dastardly and sickening once completed. Fable 2 urges the player to make choices during most of its quests; the challenge comes in making the choice you believe to be right.
While the main story is relatively short, about 10 hours--the side quests and second life will keep you playing for days. You literally live a second life in Fable 2. You can buy homes for your wife, or wives, and do whatever you please around the city. You’ll be buying food to fatten up or slim down, buying condoms to protect against STDs, stealing from businesses while the owners are asleep, and kicking every godforsaken chicken that crosses your path.
I found the main story to be a bit dull and anticlimactic but the side quests were filled with enough humor and wit to quell my nitpicking. It’s as though the developers took the humor from the original Fable and gave it all a dark twist. Whether you are eating chicks to enter a temple or helping an old hag the sense of dark humor is always present.
When you enter the realm of Albion, you are witness to what may very well be the most beautiful art design ever. Technically speaking, Fable 2 is solid, but it is the style that will grab your attention.
Buildings have a 19th century feel to them and the people appear to have been pulled straight out of a Dickens’s novel. After you venture out of your childhood stomping grounds, you are treated to the outdoors of Fable 2. Nature has never looked so damn amazing. The sunlight seems to gleam off the water and the grass provides a feeling of comfort and awe, no matter how many enemies surround you.
From a technical standpoint, most people would be hard-pressed to find something that makes them gasp in Fable 2; it just isn’t next gen looking. The frame rate dips sometimes, but never for more than a few seconds. The locations you traverse, whether they are treacherous towers or secluded swamps, are flat out astonishing. Hands down this game is one of the most beautifully designed games I’ve played in a while.
Gameplay in Fable 2 is certainly a step up from the first installment. One of the main reasons I disliked the original Fable was its combat system. Fable 2 smoothed out the problems of the first game and the effects show. Combos are easily stringed together from enemy to enemy and combatants are constantly dropping. Blocking has become a simple press and hold mechanic, and switching to a ranged weapon takes just one press of the Y button.
Your melee, ranged, and spell attacks are all mapped to their own buttons. Simply tap the button, or hold it, and watch enemies fall at your feet. The only problem I encountered during combat was the fact that the camera sometimes got in my way in enclosed environments. At those times I would wail on the X button and prey to hit anything near me. Potions and food are context sensitive, you simply press left or right on the d-pad when your health is low to heal.
One of the most talked about features of Fable 2 is the dog. The dog isn’t that big of a deal really. It follows you around and makes treasure hunting a breeze; he runs about and barks when treasure is nearby. Occasionally the dog will attack downed enemies, but he doesn’t do much else. The little guy will follow you on your path of righteous or supreme evil, and he does offer an emotional attachment. Throughout the game he will get hurt but he can’t die so there are no worries.
Perhaps the less talked about feature, but certainly more helpful, is the breadcrumb like trail system. A trail of glowing lights will point you in the correct direction for your currently selected quests. This comes in handy in every conceivable situation, since getting lost would be too easy with the horrible in game map.
Overall, I found the combat system to be incredibly intuitive. There are also jobs to earn cash that are simple one button games that get quite addicting. The dog and trail system help to iron out what could be tedious searching. These features and mechanics simply add to the twisted world that is Fable 2.
Epic scores, intense battle music, humorous dialogue, and heavy sound effects all mesh together to make Fable 2’s soundtrack one of the best. The music in the Fable series has become a staple of sorts. Its gorgeous soundtrack moves the player along from city to city, all the while giving the game an epic sense of scale. One of the more surprising aspects of the music was the transition from exploration music to battle music.
As soon as battle draws near the music changes into a heart pounding techno-like beat. At first the battle music surprised me; I would never imagine that Fable 2 and the Matrix soundtrack could go together. After a few fights, I realized how the music was able to immediately change my attitude from happy and explorative to tense and aggressive. Fable 2’s music is truly something to behold, but the sound effects are no slouch either.
Every crashing blow of a hammer or slice of a sword can be felt through their individual sounds. Bones of the undead crack and flesh from the living is clearly heard tearing. Gunshots echo through the world and spells cause the world to tremble. The only thing more entertaining than the sound effects is the dialogue.
Fable 2 is the proud owner of some of the wittiest dialogue in a video game. Passing pedestrians give their opinions of your hero while bandits and evildoers shout random verbal assaults. Drunks in the bars give their stories of the loved and lost, and devout followers of the light or dark beseech you with their faith. All of the dialogue is cleverly and expertly delivered giving Fable 2 a sense of dark humor.
I didn’t play much multiplayer in Fable 2, mainly because it wasn’t very good. The co-op in Fable 2 was supposed to be its main selling point; sadly it fell on its face. The camera in multiplayer always seems to focus on your partner and quests seem to lose importance with another player around; most of the time I was just trying to keep up with my partner as he ran around killing citizens. I felt the co-op to be a bit useless honestly-- just stick with the single player.
Fable 2 is a game that wants to be one of the best but is still stuck in that “nearly there” stage. The graphics are breathtaking and the mechanics make the game incredibly fun and intuitive to pickup and play. Phenomenal music grabs the player and never seems to let go. Just when the fun is peaking it is abruptly stopped by the end of the game. Fable 2’s short story and horrid co-op stop the game from reaching its true potential. Fable 2 is so close to being what Molyneux promised, its just small quirks that hold it back.
Overall Fable 2 is a great, if flawed, game with witty humor and top notch visuals. 4 out of 5 scruffy beards for this one.
I just finished playing Quantum of Solace (just this second...as we speak) and I decided that I don't want to write a review. There really isn't a reason to write one; all you need to know is that there are too many games that deserve your attention before you think about playing Quantum of Solace. Imagine Call of Duty 4 in the James Bond universe...then take out all the amazing ideas that pop into your head and replace them with bad graphics and Daniel Craig. That is all this new game is, it has some great moments in the story but it's such a basic shooter that it doesn't warrant a closer look.
