Introduction
The first Fable was a good game, and fortunately so is this next instalment in the series, the main issue with both these titles arises from one thing, their creator. Peter Molyneux is as most of the gaming world has realised by this point extremely good at over-hyping his titles to impossible levels and then fail to actually deliver. Yes Fable 2 isn't a bad game, but after all of the hype it's clearly a game that does not live up to it's expectations.
Story & Characters
Ugh, well Fable 2 is an action RPG, one with very little in terms of a plot and very little in terms of character development. You play a nameless guy or girl and are unleashed in a world to take revenge on the Lord of the land who destroyed your childhood in the tutorial part of the game. You are helped by the blind Theresa, three other heroes and your trusty dog all of whom have very little in the way of personality, to be fair the only cast member who left any impression on me, the third hero "Reaver" is in the story so briefly he is barely in the game. It's also worth saying at this point that if you blast through the story it'll only take about 3-4 hours to finish the game, so don't expect an epic yarn whatsoever, just expect a short tale, with some funny bit's and reasonable narrative.
The other non-main characters in the game (the villages you can work with and marry/have sex with/murder etc…) are all completely personality-less and lifeless. Im sure a few people will make an emotional connection to their fictional spouse in the gaming world, but I didn't so I sacrificed my characters many wives.
Gameplay
So plot and character wise things are a bit flat, so this leaves the side quests, the jobs, the "life simulator" part of the game. This is where Fable 2 is strong. The side quests are involving and allow the "good/evil/pure/corrupt" aspect of the game to feel more well realised than it does if you just follow the main plot. Most quests have two sides to them and each outcome has an impact on the world and what you can do in the future, while some of them have been recycled from the original Fable this isn't necessary a bad thing it just makes some of the quests slightly more clichéd.
Combat wise the game works well, simple button presses allow for you to wield you gun/sword and magic as weapons and become a master of all of them by gaining XP. Holding down buttons allows your gun and sword to become more powerful and additional skills such as the ability to blow enemies heads off or perform lethal chain attacks become available as your skills progress too. It's probably one of the simplest combat systems I have seen in a game for a while and it's refreshingly basic while still being fun.
When it comes to making money in Fable 2, the monsters no longer leak money from their twitching corpses but instead you make money by doing menial jobs. These jobs test your reaction speeds as you chop wood, make weapons and pour ale to get the bulk of your cash. Really, there should be more variety in the jobs you do, but as a rule they work quite well as simple and compelling mini games.
Finally a lot of your Fable 2 time will be spent, shopping, impressing locals, interacting with the citizens of Albion, seducing, scaring and singing too them as you go. This aspect of the game is probably the most refined and really my only argument for this part of the game as you can see in the "story/character" section of this review being that the people you interact with are fairly wooden and similar.
Graphics & Sound
Visually you can't get a lot better than Fable 2, the environments in particular are jaw droppingly beautiful to look at and I found myself taking time to admire the scenery. The characters themselves have a few glitches when it comes to their hair and clothing from time to time, but nothing major and for the most part they look good too.
The soundtrack is a good one too, a good range of well written music accompanied by some great voice acting by some British TV celebrities.
Length
The game took me around 20 hours to complete but only about 5 of that was the main quest, the rest was all side quests, interacting with characters and working. The game is really what you make of it in terms of time you spend on it.
Verdict
The additions of being able to be female, more involved quests, improved combat, and a better scale of aging make Fable 2 everything Fable should have been. Unfortunately Fable 2 should have been more than that and mainly the weak main plot stops that from being so. Lets hope Fable 3 is everything Fable 2 should be..
