able is a hack'n'slash fairy tale for the Xbox that follows an orphaned adventurer on his quests through a fantasy world, choosing between the paths of good and evil as he does so.
The game is set in the world of Albion and opens with the unnamed main character as a young boy on his first quest: to buy a birthday present for his sister. As is the case through out the game, he has several ways of accomplishing this. He can follow a noble path, finding a girl's lost teddy bear or defending a boy from a bully, or he can follow a darker one, beating up the bullied kid and helping an adulterer cheat on his wife.
Decisions made at this stage of the hero's life carry through into the future, as raiders attack his hometown and his family is killed, and he must choose how to go about avenging their deaths. He is aided by an adventuring guild that takes him in, trains him and then—once he graduates—provides him with jobs that take him to every corner of Albion. These jobs are standard fantasy-hero fare: escorting traders through monster-infested swamps, saving a village from besieging raiders and competing with other heroes on rival quests. How the hero performs these quests—or even if he does—affects his alignment. Committing good, heroic acts causes the hero to gain angelic traits and powers, while performing evil ones causes demonic characteristics to surface.
The game is played in a real-time, third-person perspective similar to what players would find in a Legend of Zelda game. The controls are rudimentary and stress arcade-like button-mashing over the more complex fighting routines of Dead or Alive or Virtua Fighter, but still retain some depth through extended menus used for interacting with other characters.
As with most RPGs, the main character gains experience during his wanderings. Much of this experience is of a general kind, but the character also gains experience based on what he does best—players who stress fighting will find their physical experience increases, while those prone to using magic will discover their will experience growing. Experience is used to by enhanced abilities, such as greater strength and endurance, better social skills and a variety of offensive and defensive magic.
Competing against its own legend
Fable is the sort of game that demands two ratings: one judging the game against its hype, the other on its own merits. Development of the game began in 2001, and early on its designer, Peter Molyneux of Black & White fame, announced numerous innovative features, including a world that would grow older along with the main character and allowed for hundreds of hours of gameplay.
Over time, reality set in, and features were dropped, but the hype remained. Those who were expecting genre-redefining effort from Fable cannot help but be disappointed by it. Yet those who were ignorant of the hype, or who can put it aside, will find Fable to be an enjoyable RPG with a high degree of customization, some innovative features and a few notable—but not paralyzing—flaws.
Fable's quests are straightforward affairs, but they can be made more challenging by taking "boasts" before beginning them. Boasts are essentially bets on the player's own prowess—those feeling particularly cocky can choose to fight with their bare hands, forswear armor, or refuse to use magic. Other possible boasts appear depending on the quest.
There are numerous customization options. Players can choose from a variety of haircuts, facial hair and tattoos for their character as well as a wide selection of armor and weapons. The character's uniqueness is further supplemented by incidental scars picked up during adventuring, as well as his gradual aging process. Players can interact with the game's inhabitants through a number of different "gestures," such as an evil laugh, a giggle or a glare. This leads to The Sims-like interactions, such as romantic marriage or trembling fear.
Combat isn't particularly complex, but it can be challenging, particularly when trying to get an ever-higher "combat modifier," which only grows when the main character is able to hit opponents without getting hit himself. The higher the modifier, the more experience he gains.
The game looks beautiful, with wondrous lighting and water effects, but unfortunately this comes at a price: With a lot of characters on screen the game can slow down or become jumpy. While they may look expansive, the game's maps are relatively small and linear, leading to short but frequent load times between areas. Fable's good-vs.-evil theme is one of its major claims to fame, but aside from pleasing or terrifying villagers, it doesn't have much impact on the game's missions. Similarly, while at first glance there's a lot of side actions for players to take—such as getting married or buying a house—there's not much to do after this has been done. Players can choose to get "intimate" with their spouse or rent out their houses, but quests and the larger story are unaffected either way.
Some of these shortcomings feel like early objectives that were developed, but then scaled back, and fans that expected them will be disappointed. And yet the game remains a heck of a lot of fun even with these flaws, and folks looking for a laid-back yet still challenging role-playing adventure would do well to check it out.
I got the sense from reading the early reviews of this game that people were obsessed with completing it as quickly as possible. While it probably is possible to beat Fable in 12 or 14 hours, rushing through it misses many of the nuances that make the game so much fun to play.
— Ken
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