Fable 3 - Xbox 360 and PC Game Review

On a console drowning in shooters and generic action games, there is but one saving grace to the Xbox 360. The Fable series. While it never gets the same attention as Halo or Gears of War (mostly because it requires actual thought to play) it is a series that has managed to achieve something rarely seen on the Xbox or Xbox 360- it's highly original and its not about tea-bagging your opponents into submission. Now we have Fable III...

To be serious, the original Fable was pretty much my only reason for eventually buying an Xbox. The only other exclusives I wanted to play on the console were Jade Empire and a potentially imaginary third game. While everything else on the console was terribly mediocre- the original Fable was a great, unique experience with its morality system and sense of humor. The first Fable didn't live up to the hype built by its creator, but it did give me a reason to hook up Microsoft's big, ugly console. Trees may not have grown in real-time, corpses might not have stuck around forever, and a heck of a lot of content was nowhere to be found- but it was a fun game.

When the Xbox 360 launched, like many, I was disappointed by the console's idiot fan-base, shooter-filled game library, and unappealing exclusives. It was Fable II and its promises of co-op, deeper gameplay, and all sorts of enhancements that got me to finally buy a 360. Nowadays my 360 mostly collects dust- aside from the occasional hour of Fable 2 or Burnout: Revenge. Is Fable 3 a good enough reason for me to unhook my Wii and PS3 for the 360? You know what? It is. Very much so.

When you start the game off, you'll find a very different opening compared to that of the original and the second Fable. You're a prince or princess this time around- as opposed to before when you were an orphan and a starving orphan respectively. But that's not the only difference. Fable 3 takes a more cinematic, relaxed approach in comparison to its predecessors Instead of looking up and seeing your castle burning down or being shot out of a window, you're instead greeted by... your butler and a royal friend of the opposite gender.

You spend the first hour of the game in a fairly engaging tutorial that serves to introduce you to the gameplay and pretty much convince you that your older brother needs to die. This is my Albion. Speaking of Albion, the fictional nation in which the Fable series is set, has made a significant jump. The world has reached the industrial revolution- smoke-spewing factories, rampant child labor, and the gap between rich and more has never been so apparent. Set 50 to 60 years after Fable 2, it's a great and logical step for the series. Somehow I suspect the next Fable will be a prequel to the original- perhaps set in the Old Kingdom. If not, the developers might have a hard time reaching another interesting time era without getting too modern and losing the fantasy element. Though, that's neither here nor there.

As usual, it is up to you to tackle this problem head-on. After your brother forces you to make a very cruel decision, you and your only two followers flee the castle by a secret underground route. Along the way you gain the starting powers of a hero (otherwise known as 'fireballs') and learn what you'll have to do. You must stage a revolution- rebel against your brother. A very ambitious and intriguing premise- but did Lion Studios pull it off right?

Before I go on, I should say that the opening was a bit disappointing when compared to Fable 2's. In the last game, you were really pulled in- the childhood prologue set the tone for the rest of the game and quickly introduced you to the ins and outs Albion. This time around its hurt by the pacing and greater emphasis on shoving the story in our faces- as opposed to letting us grasp the scope of the tale for ourselves. I imagine the hand-holding was done for the short-attention spans of the 360 audience, so I can't really fault the developers too much.

Even so, it was a solid hour or two before I really began enjoying myself. All in all, retaining the child prologue would have been a great idea and was a real missed opportunity. The hero this time comes across as being less developed and lacking in much of a background- that is, besides being sibling to Logan the jerk.

Now that that's out of the way- back to this revolution. It is now your job to gather followers to your cause. The game is filled with people that need your help and that will offer their loyalty to you if you prove yourself to them. You'll trick chickens, protect the innocent, commit silly acts, take revenge, and seek out treasures all in the interest of gathering allies. The game seems heavily inspired by Little King's Story for Wii and the Three Kingdoms & Warring States historical periods Koei bases many of its releases upon. If nothing else, it really draws you in. You gather followers for your eventual revolution and eventually have to either keep or break your promises. Despite the depth presented, the main story is disappointingly short. Like the original Fable, Fable 3 was clearly rushed and many sections and story elements should have been fleshed out. The game leaves a number of interesting concepts, like the final enemy, almost entirely unexplained.

I won't give away anymore of the story- instead we need to talk about the gameplay. The single player features remain largely the same with combat practically unchanged. Your hero does talk now and your in-game options have been expanded, but that's really all that's worth mentioning. The big additions went to co-op, a good decision. In the last game, co-op was the highlight of the experience with only a few blemishes. Most have been polished out, thankfully.

No longer are you a generic henchmen without your dog, you can now play as your actual character when Player 2! Each player gets any item found buried or in a treasure chest as well as a steady stream of gold for your co-op buddy. There's much, much more to do in co-op this time around. You can get married, enter a business partnership, and gift each other. Put simply, Fable 3 does a lot of things right with its multiplayer. When playing online, you're no longer confined to the same screen- you're free to go your separate ways as long as you stay in the same zone.

The visuals have been heavily polished and look great for the most part. The camera will sometimes keep you from seeing how nice the game looks, but it won't ruin the experience. The voice-acting catalogue is expansive with the NPCs being extremely varied with all sorts of fresh dialogue. The humor is intact for the most part and the writing is top-notch. Unlike the somewhat detached previous titles, the story in this one feels much more cohesive. The downside to this is that you feel less like you're writing your own story (the entire basis of the previous games) and more like you're following the script with occasional ad-libbing.

This brings me to my first major complaint. While a fantastic experience in general- the game is hurt by being less of an RPG and more of an adventure game. This alteration seems to have been made to appease the extremely RPG-unfriendly 360 audience. Much of the depth and nuance is gone thanks to this direction change.

For example, in previous games you had to mix up your combat style in order to level up your different abilities. You couldn't slash your way to better gunplay nor could you shoot your way to more powerful magic. In the place of RPG stats and structure, we have a path of treasure chests that can be unlocked for new and improved skills. It doesn't break the game, but it does bring down the required skill and strips the game of some of its charm.

If it shares one thing with past Fable entries, its the wealth of glitches. There's already been an 'infinite gold co-op' glitch discovered and some game-ending glitches have reared their ugly heads. Like all software releases from Microsoft (see: Vista), the game was not tested nearly enough and will probably become reliant on a steady stream of patches. Some of these technical problems (stupid AI, getting stuck, button registering, etc) can't be ignored.

A lazy but clever decision was to pretty much eliminate the weapon system of previous Fables. No longer do you have to track down merchants in the hope of getting a new weapon- instead your Hero's weapon will grow stronger and change design based upon your actions- a new variable to play with in the series. Like to kill lots of innocents? Get ready to see blood dripping from that blade. Like hunting down the forces of the undead and evil? Boom! Demonic aura all over your blade or hammer. On the one hand, it was done to eliminate the need to develop different weapons for the player to acquire- but they do give a good explanation. As the developers say, many gamers simply gravitated toward the biggest, strongest weapons in the game. True- this was the case.

Winding this down, there are a pair of other complaints that I need to voice. The Sim-like interaction system of the previous games has also been reduced. Rather than walking around with a wide range of expressions to make use of, you're instead tied to a paltry pair or so when in a conversation with someone. This is annoying for two main reasons. First, it gets rid of much of the choice-gameplay as compared to the other two games. You'll mostly have the choice of 'shake hands' or 'belch' and the occasional dance or hug. It's a serious drawback and it comes across as the developers being lazy again- or I suppose they could have been holding the hands of typical ignorant 360 fans.

The last complaint worth voicing is about the menu system. In what the developers thought was a stroke of genius, the menu system has been almost cut-out entirely and replaced with an HQ you reach by pausing. Here you can run around and change clothes, toggle game options, change weapons, and so-on. It's hit or miss, really. The large, active map of Albion is great and extremely useful. However the overly lengthy process of customizing your character because of the annoying pause system is an unwelcome change. This time it's less out of laziness and more to eliminate reading and menus. Again, an audience-conscious decision.

Fable 3 has a lot- and I mean a lot of content. There's always something to do and this review has barely scrapped the surface of the game's options- especially after you overthrow your brother and become king/queen- it is at the point that the game really shows all it has to offer. Like before the choices of good and evil are before you and your dog is the beloved companion it was before- albeit with a little less attachment considering you didn't rescue this one as a stray.

While I wouldn't give Fable 3 a perfect score, I'll say this. It makes me glad I own a 360. Fable 2 was much more ambitious, bringing many great new elements to the series- the dog, the quest trail, co-op, so-on. Fable 3 really just serves as a continuation with the only innovation being in the co-op. It's a great game that stumbles in a few areas, but otherwise dominates the admittedly terrible 360 RPG library. Now excuse me while I kiss the Albion sky...