Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 4:22 pm
The big selling point of this game is that your actions determine the storyline and how the world reacts to you. That's not really true.
Fable casts you as a kid who gets to watch his family die, and then grows up to be a hero. In the developer's eyes a hero is good or bad.
The visuals are mediocre, after all, this is an X-Box title. Areas and characters look alright, but nothing really stands out as interesting or different. Its all actually very bland. One of the most hyped visual is that of your character as he becomes more evil or more good. Unfortunately, the affect doesn't live up to the hype. The differences between good and evil are literally things like halos or horns, flies or butterflies around your character, a slight glow or a red aura. That's about it.
One thing that hurts the visuals is the terrible camera control. You'll find yourself trying to adjust it throughout the game and you'll never get a great shot of yourself or your surroundings unless you position yourself just right.
The sound is there. Nothing special, nothing bad. One effect reminded me of a Godzilla monster though...
The story is a great concept, but poorly executed. Think Conan with a touch of Excalibur, kinda. However, the developers don't really spend a lot of time fleshing the details out. Its more like a very blunt telling of a story without any specifics. Books are in the game to fill you in on details, but they're hardly encouraged and only mentioned once. Plus, they don't really fill in the details. Each book is only a small paragraph long (1-2 sentences).
The gameplay itself is standard hack and slash, think Diablo from a behind the character perspective. Casting spells is kind of cool and the effects are nice, but the controls are really stupid. Spells, items, and expressions are done with combinations of triggers, buttons, and control sticks. Each having more than one function and it works decently, but in a fast paced game, its just too much to focus on. I found that lightning was really the only spell I ever needed. I don't know why anyone would play through the game as a character heavy on the magic unless you were bored or anal about mages.
Back to the much hyped evil/good stuff being affected by your actions. Doing things like punching people, destroying property, killing guards/civilians, stealing, etc. will give you evil points which help you grow horns. Helping people, killing bad guys, etc. will help you get a halo. No matter your actions, people still do business with you and you're allowed everywhere. They'll just be ruder or nicer. It doesn't even affect the overall game. The final moment of the game, you get to decide how to end it, so you can see the bad or good ending, no matter how you played the game.
Other things in the game are property buying, marriage, tons of mini-games in bars and little mini things the developers put in like trying to impress as many people as possible with trophies in a certain amount of time, etc. NONE of this has any affect on the game, but it can be fun.
Oh, and I should mention the game isn't tough and there is healing EVERYWHERE. Nor is the game long as I beat it within a week. Nor is the game non-linear. Sure you can go off the beaten path, but the world is really small and you can't go far.
This is not worth a purchase, but it is worth the rental. You won't find a lot to do after its over, but Fable is entertaining while it lasts, it just doesn't live up to its hype.
5 out of 10.
Fable casts you as a kid who gets to watch his family die, and then grows up to be a hero. In the developer's eyes a hero is good or bad.
The visuals are mediocre, after all, this is an X-Box title. Areas and characters look alright, but nothing really stands out as interesting or different. Its all actually very bland. One of the most hyped visual is that of your character as he becomes more evil or more good. Unfortunately, the affect doesn't live up to the hype. The differences between good and evil are literally things like halos or horns, flies or butterflies around your character, a slight glow or a red aura. That's about it.
One thing that hurts the visuals is the terrible camera control. You'll find yourself trying to adjust it throughout the game and you'll never get a great shot of yourself or your surroundings unless you position yourself just right.
The sound is there. Nothing special, nothing bad. One effect reminded me of a Godzilla monster though...
The story is a great concept, but poorly executed. Think Conan with a touch of Excalibur, kinda. However, the developers don't really spend a lot of time fleshing the details out. Its more like a very blunt telling of a story without any specifics. Books are in the game to fill you in on details, but they're hardly encouraged and only mentioned once. Plus, they don't really fill in the details. Each book is only a small paragraph long (1-2 sentences).
The gameplay itself is standard hack and slash, think Diablo from a behind the character perspective. Casting spells is kind of cool and the effects are nice, but the controls are really stupid. Spells, items, and expressions are done with combinations of triggers, buttons, and control sticks. Each having more than one function and it works decently, but in a fast paced game, its just too much to focus on. I found that lightning was really the only spell I ever needed. I don't know why anyone would play through the game as a character heavy on the magic unless you were bored or anal about mages.
Back to the much hyped evil/good stuff being affected by your actions. Doing things like punching people, destroying property, killing guards/civilians, stealing, etc. will give you evil points which help you grow horns. Helping people, killing bad guys, etc. will help you get a halo. No matter your actions, people still do business with you and you're allowed everywhere. They'll just be ruder or nicer. It doesn't even affect the overall game. The final moment of the game, you get to decide how to end it, so you can see the bad or good ending, no matter how you played the game.
Other things in the game are property buying, marriage, tons of mini-games in bars and little mini things the developers put in like trying to impress as many people as possible with trophies in a certain amount of time, etc. NONE of this has any affect on the game, but it can be fun.
Oh, and I should mention the game isn't tough and there is healing EVERYWHERE. Nor is the game long as I beat it within a week. Nor is the game non-linear. Sure you can go off the beaten path, but the world is really small and you can't go far.
This is not worth a purchase, but it is worth the rental. You won't find a lot to do after its over, but Fable is entertaining while it lasts, it just doesn't live up to its hype.
5 out of 10.