Molyneux puts the money where his mouth is in this sequel.

Peter Molyneux is probably one of the most over-zealous hype masters to ever walk in the spotlight of the games industry, generally attempting to offer the world on something as small as a disc for the price of a video game, and never generally coming close to producing the vision he had been injecting into the brains of consumers for years.  This time--utilizing a little self-control and--he seems to have gotten things just right.

Fable II is a very well designed, very charming game that players will enjoy from start to finish. If you have come here searching for a bottom line on the subject, then look no further than this (the second paragraph!). It certainly has its flaws, some of them more obtrusive than others, but much like the original, none of them can cripple such a solid game play experience.

You begin the game by choosing your gender, and progress quickly through a tutorial stage where you are introduced as a homeless child living on the streets of Bowerstone’s Old Town district. While this small portion of the game is very simple, it presents nearly the entirety of the game’s plot focus, which in general RPG fare is getting back at someone that screwed you over early in your life.

You’re thrust rather quickly into the heat of the adventure, which is enabled by the game’s limited complexity. The controls are simple and aim to have you zipping through caverns and the country side, bashing in the heads of anything that gets in your way within minutes of loading up the game. Everything seems to quick and easy to understand, and is one of the things that makes the game so enjoyable.

Combat is just as easy to comprehend as the rest of the game, using simple timed button pressed to destroy and decimate your foes. Switching between your three primary weapons is as easy as pressing three different buttons to trigger your melee attacks, ranged attacks and magic attacks.

In addition, defeating foes and collecting different types of experience orbs will enable you to purchase various upgrades for your character, including passive abilities that increase your combat performance such as Physique, to guard-breaking abilities such as Brutal Styles, to minion producing magic spells such as Raise Dead. While many of these are passive, the ones that aren’t stream into combat and flow just as naturally as everything else in the game.

While the main quest and the various side quests found around the world of Albion are fantastic and engaging to take on, we actually found ourselves more inclined to perform non-combat tasks. There are repetitious–yet somehow addictive–jobs to be found all over the world to be used for some extra gold. There are hundreds of houses and businesses to be purchased for an eventuality of tremendous amounts of gold gained in five minute intervals. There are crowds of men and women to perform ridiculous poses and gestures in front of, and there are all kinds of eligible partners to start a families with.

Visually, Fable II is nearly perfect, but the artistic style that drives the game’s animations is nothing more than masterful. Cities come to life in a style that seems almost Tim Burton-esque, and the whimsical layer of gloss that seems to overtake the entire world adds to the feeling of enchantment that seems to radiate from all over the fantasy world of Albion.

One of the huge selling points touted in the original Fable was the ability to have your choices impact the world. While it wasn’t fleshed out so well then, it’s definitely much more prevalent in this sequel. From even the beginning childhood stage of the game, you can decide the fate of Bowerstone’s Old Town district. Help the sheriff and the district might prosper, while helping criminals could cause devastation. Helping the economy of the game’s numerable regions by keeping prices and rent low on your properties will display pleasing visual results, while corrupting the economy will cause building and districts to be become run down and junky.

The general feel of the game is one of whimsicality and ridiculousness. Moving through this heavily stylized, cartoony world and running into such unforgettable characters like Mark the Whore can be quite unnerving, as can digging up piles of condoms from in front of a civilian’s home in Westcliff. While these things may sound a bit suggestive, they actually work toward the game’s advantage, handing it a significant portion of its charm.

Fable II is not void of flaws. It suffers from a somewhat clunky menu system that can sometimes prove a chore to operate. While travel through Albion is made easy, finding certain structures such as specific homes and businesses you have acquired can be quite harrowing, as they are not at all displayed on your map. The game is also plagued by excruciatingly long load times, some of them lasting as long as three minutes.

While the game’s main story will only take an upwards of ten hours to play through, doing the dozens of things presented to you along the way can greatly extend your play time. If you blow through the story (learn to stop and smell the roses!) from start to finish, there will still be plenty of side quests to play through and tons of real estate to acquire.