MENA Gamer - Where Game Begins

Molyneux in 2004 promised us a monster of a game, fable I which turned out to be a bit of a let down as it was missing some of its major promised features. Nevertheless it was wildly successful and went on to sell more than three million copies. Fans of action and role playing games found it hugely entertaining as it focused on the fun parts of RPGs and left out the boring bits.

Set 500 years after the original, fable II has turned out to be not as good as promised, but even better. The game builds on the play theme of fable I where your choices determine who you will ultimately become. You get to choose if you want to play as a boy or a girl.
The characters have a lot of depth, for example, they can be good but cruel or evil and kind. There are limitless choices and consequences. The player’s moral choices are reflected in how they are treated by the villagers. They react differently if you have a bad reputation. Like in all role playing games, the characters evolve as the game proceeds. Your attacks get stronger, you learn spells that are more powerful and can afford equipment according to how much gold you have.

Unlike the original game where quests were rewarded with gold, fable II requires that you get a job to earn it. If you own a property or a shop then you keep earning gold even when your Xbox 360 is off! It is estimated that you can buy everything in Albion for 100 million gold. You can get married, have kids and buy a house. The characters can have as many relationships as they want and affairs with as many villagers as they can seduce. But your actions will have consequences and you will probably end up with nasty skin infections.

 One very interesting character is the puppy you will rescue in scene one. It later becomes the player’s faithful companion, sniffing out treasure, growling at your enemies and lending a helping paw when battles get out of hand. The developers clearly spent endless hours studying pooch behavior. It’s surprising to see so much character depth in a dog which kind of becomes the player’s sidekick

The game begins with you being dumped on the streets of a town called Bowerstone with your sister Rose. After begging for some coins, rescuing a puppy and cranking up a magic music box, you are suddenly summoned by the mysterious Lord Lucien who murders Rose and then comes after you.

Ten years later, you are a teenager with a single purpose: vengeance. The tale starts from the streets and after completing dozens of quests ultimately results with the player as the savior of planet Albion.

The combat however is a bit disappointing especially for battle hardened fans who won’t find it challenging enough. There is a button each for melee attacks with a sword or knife, long range attack with a gun or crossbow and magic. It feels like the enemies are not trying to hurt but more like annoy you. The attacks have very limited action and just pressing the button performs several actions. Its not as challenging to battle a whole gang as in other combat games and tends to annoy some people afterwards.

Even though the plot is a mixture Harry Potter, lord of the rings and every epic fantasy that exists, it doesn’t seem unoriginal but feels like it just belongs to that theme which we all just love so much.

The game is fully dynamic where you can roam the land freely and not follow a set quest path if you want. If it looks like you can go there, you can go there! The most striking feature is the setting of Albion. The landscape changes from day to night as well as from season to season. The developers went as far as to individually animate each of the roughly 120,000 leafs on the trees! A player can interact with anyone they see and it’s possible to enter every building, castle, cottage-- you name it. From the cobbled streets of poor district bustling Bowerstone to the grim aura of Wraithmarsh relating it to its haunting tragedy, each town has its own unique tale to tell. The winding side streets, dilapidated houses, illuminating torches and absolutely stunning graphics make it nearly impossible not to be drawn into the world of Albion. A tale you just gotta tell!