Fable 2 Review
Considering the first Fable game was a monumental letdown after the numerous hype from original xbox gamers its no surpise that the pre release hype for this game has been kept to a bare minimum.
Lionhead studios first outing into the next generation market is a non direct sequel to the original Fable there are references here and there of the events of the first game but they are mostly to far and few between for you to really care.Fable 2 puts you in the shoes of a hero starting off as a penniless street urchin, after claiming 5 gold pieces in the games lengthy opening prologue you and your sister purchase a supposedly magic box after activating the box this catches the attention of the games villain Lucien after he murders your sister your hell bent on revenge in your later life after only barely escaping on the night of the murder.
Similar to the first game every action in Fable has a consequence,will you laugh at a poor beggar in the street or will you give him money? Even minor decisions like this will take its toll on your heroes either angelic like or devilish like appearance.Charging high prices whilst renting out real estate will increase your corruption,however letting people live in them for free is its own reward people will cheer at you for your kind hearted nature thus increasing your purity ,its more rewarding to play as the good guy but it sure is good fun massacaring villagers and being evil as well.
Gameplay wise the game is fairly similar to the first, mixing combat,exploration and traditional RPG questing,the games combat system is fun and works well, like games such as assasins creed the game switches to a fixed aerial camera angle whilst in combat to show whats going on around you,questing is quite unique in fable as you access side quests through the quest area in the pause menu whether your a fan of this method or not is down to individual taste despite simplifying accessing quests the games fairly small game world is too small to be a chore to venture across so its not as if the game is doing you a huge favour by doing this.
The game also features real estate which depending on how many propertys you own gives you gold every five minutes even when your not playing which is a nice touch however this will undoubtedly be ripe for hackers to exploit each individual 360s time setting to get themselves mega bucks.
Graphically Fable 2 holds up pretty well its a game that looks impressive on the whole but looks lacklustre when you look more closely still the game certainly looks how you would expect in this new age of powerful consoles.The game holds up pretty well i encountered no slowdown whatsoever which is impressive considering how much action can be on screen at once.But then we come to glitches and boy does this game have some glitches many of them are minor glitches that can be overlooked what cant be overlooked however is the fact that the game has numerous game breaking glitches mostly triggered during conversations,which is a dissapoinment most likely however lionhead will be getting to work on patching these up.
Lifespan in fable is down to each individual players style of gaming the story takes about 5-10 hours which for an rpg is quite amazing similar to the first game the games story is over just as you become fond of it however is you want to get the most out of a game Fable is the game for you with numerous collectibles,side quests and minigames not to mention a slightly dissapointing co-op and an item trade system despite a short story fable 2 is a game you could easily put 50-100 hours into if you become engrossed.
