Fable 2: The Best Mediocore Gets
good doggy
Set in the world of Albion 500 years after the first installment, Fable 2 looked to improve upon the first in the series in many ways and happens to come up short, way short, on a lot of the key elements that made the first game so great. Though, with all of the shortcomings of true greatness in the game, your reviewer still could not put the game down.
Come along for a tale of amazing mediocrity…
The game starts out with a small tale of hocus pocus via a magical music box. You, and your sister, must do a series of deeds to gain enough gold to purchase the box. This starts the game off well with showing of it’s superb production level and introduces the morality concept right away. The player is given the chance to make a couple of decisions very quickly that align him good or bad yet not affecting the ultimate outcome. Will you destroy the beetles or the freight? Help the guard or the bad guy? A nice setup indeed.
After the story moves along some you are soon on your own with the exception of your new companion, and possibly the best feature of the new game, your dog. The dog is a great addition and helps to eliminate some of the annoying things from the first Fable. The dog is a very capable sidekick and assists you in finding buried treasure, forewarns you of enemies, does tricks, and even finishes off wounded baddies later on in the game. Advancement occurs via books that can be purchased or found as you go about your journey. It’s really a great addition, though I think there is room to do even more either by using other animals or making the relationship even more valuable. Still, also very nice.
So, here you are lost with just your dog and you’re just a weeeee lad when some mystical blind person comes along. I suppose your hero did not know not to follow scary looking weirdos who like magic boxes. Really, the point is that the story is fairly trite. There is some magic, you lose your family blah blah weirdo pops up and you save the world. I think Peter Molyneux probably just has some screwed up formula for writing the games and throws it all into a custom TI-89 app and puts it on a projector while the meeting room is sawing logs.
As you get through the game the story is continually weak, trite and just kind of draws out. Fable 2’s story is a completely weak rehash of Fable and it really does not pull you into the game. This is a major disappointment since I thought the story was at least “pretty good” the first time. So what about the rest of it?
Many things have been revamped in this game starting with the menus. With the previous game it was very easy to buy 100 potions and set them to the D-Pad to use as you go. Not in this game, nope, not at all. The D-Pad is automatically controlled and it is pretty pathetic. The game does not know that you want to remain skinny to pick up the chicks so it will just throw whatever fatty food you have when you need to heal instead of celery or apples. Trying to get drunk? Have fun going through the menu every stinking time you want a brewski. It was just not well thought out and is a huge waste of time, especially since the menus become very slow as you accumulate items. I like the idea of automating it somewhat but why take away the personalization? Isn’t this game all about “Who will YOU become” and putting the player in control?
Speaking of the advertising line, “Who will you become?” it is quite misleading. Not that I thought I’d be playing The Sims or a Barbie game but I really felt like there would be a lot more character customizations. As it stands, most of the hairstyles are not great and there are not many tattoo’s. The most disappointing part is that there is very little variety of clothing. Instead of a lot of different items to wear you get to dye them different colors. OH BOY. On top of this there is no longer armor. The clothing in the game is 100% vanity and that is a damn shame. The coolest looking stuff in the first Fable was the armor and it could really help your character out. Not only that, but it’s a Holy Frackin’ fighting game. What kind of idiot hero would not be able to figure out they get more protection from a steel plate than a T-Shirt? This part of the game is easily terrible and it really did not have to be.
One very good thing changed is money and commerce. Pretty much every building and shop is something you can buy in the world of Albion. This is a nice touch and can be a whole side quest for the player. I very much recommend buying it all up because you will be gaining about $13,500 in roughly 5 minutes later on in the game. By then you will have so much bank it is pretty dull. You will get discounts from the shops you own and you can always just take the cash from their drawer as you pass through town.
In addition to buying shops you can take up a job like Blacksmithing or Woodchopping. These little side jobs are a decent way to make some money at the beginning of the game but I would wager most people will leave them alone as they buy more properties. The mini game is okay to start but it feels like, well, work! There is not much to it and really does not add to the game. I thought a player might get a strength bonus for Blacksmithing or a Charisma bonus for Bartending but instead it’s just a nearly worthless addition that will be forgotten about and is generally un-enjoyable.
Like in the previous game the Hero can marry. It’s a little different this time because you can also get STD’s, have kids, and get divorced! This is actually a nice touch to the game since there are supposed to be consequences to your actions. It is kind of neat to see your kid running around town and constantly getting gifts from your 5 wives. You will be required to buy a house for each wife/family and you get bonuses from the bed you sleep on. Some beds will simply make you more attractive while others, later in the game, will allow your health to regenerate. Hit up a 3 some for some easier points on your Gamerscore.
btn mash ftw
Range weapon play has been improved by allowing the player to quickly pull out a Pistol or Crossbow and take some shots or increase their damage by extra aiming. Pistols are a really great addition that most people will like. Ranged weapons is an area where the game really shines.
That brings us to Will, or magic. It was a pretty big deal in the last game and is talked about a lot in this one, it is just, unfortunately, not even necessary. There are only a handful of spells and I only found myself using one constantly, raise the dead. To cast a spell you have to charge it to a level with each level taking longer to charge. You are completely vulnerable during this time so hand to hand combat is almost always more practical. Raise the Dead is a nice spell to cast before moving into an area that is full of enemies. All in all, the Will in Fable 2 feels pushed aside, left for dead, and unwilling to get back up.
The biggest and best part of this entire game is the overall production level. Lionhead Studios has done an absolutely fantastic job with this game. Yeah, there are glitches, but the game LOOKS fantastic, SOUNDS fantastic, and is buttery smooth while playing. It’s hard to say Fable 2 does not rival some movies for how believable the world is and it comes close to Bioshock’s level in overall polish within the environments. Playing through made me think they really wanted to up the ante with the production level and somewhat forgot about the playability.
When you finally finish your quest you will have a choice to make that will determine if you get money, keep your family and dog, or other people are brought back to life. I would keep the dog so that you can still find treasure. The game will let you continue on and will throw a couple more quests your way but nothing immensely interesting.
Why do I keep playing? I’m not really sure, I have a lot more complaints than compliments but it is actually a pretty enjoyable game overall. It is just too hard not to sit here and point out how great, on a whole other level, the game could have been since it was just so close. Assuming there will be a Fable 3, I hope they can rectify some of these things but I will still be pre-ordering either way.
Options: 4/10
Not really very good here. The menus are slow, the automation is not great, and the controls are not configurable.
Production: 9.5/10
Excellent. Fix the glitches and it’s a 10.
Graphics: 8/10
Very good and appropriate for the World of Albion.
Sound: 8/10
Again, very good. Sometimes the people are hard to understand but overall the music and effects are very well done.
Gameplay: 7/10
The game is very smooth running but with limited combat options a 7 is pushing it.
Difficulty: 2/10
A terrible failure for the game. I really think a trained monkey would be able to beat it. It is just TOO easy.
Replay: 7/10
I think most will play through once as good and another as bad if they enjoy the game.
Overall: 7.5/10
Fable 2 is an overall enjoyable game that fell too short of greatness.
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Tags: Fable 2, Game Reviews, Lionhead, Xbox 360
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One Response to “Fable 2: The Best Mediocore Gets”
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December 1st, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I’m having a helluva time getting into this game. Most of your criticisms are very apparent and utterly true from very early on. I thought it was me at first, since I never played Fable 1, but the menu and item system in this game is torturous. I understand it’s a challenge to try and balance all these things, but for krissakes, WAY too much thinking just to be able to use items and perform simple actions.