By Jason Nimer
Well, I did it. I finished Fable II, the long-awaited sequel to the original
Xbox's action RPG bestseller. That is kind of starting at the end, though, isn't
it? Let me backtrack for a moment. Fable II on the Xbox 360 was my first true
foray into the Fable universe; my experience with the first was a few fleeting
moments of play at a friend's house where I remember thinking, "Diet Zelda? Just
one calorie, not enough Zelda." Incorrect or not about the first, I went into
Fable II completely fresh-faced and with no reservations about what I was about
to experience. About 20 hours later, I see Fable II for exactly what it is: a
flawed RPG with some fantastic elements, some tedious and flawed ones to match
and an overall experience that just can't seem to decide on a direction.
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Before you flip out, Fable II is not a bad game in the least. It just isn't
the world-changing experience it, and incidentally, the first game, was promised
to be. Fable II places the player into the ambiguous shoes of a young child who
will eventually become either the world of Albion's greatest savior or most
dastardly villain. As you no doubt already know, Fable's hook is that the
choices you make throughout the game affect your character, the world around you
and the game's story and plot progression. Right from the start, your behavior
will lay the groundwork for what is to come. As cool as it sounds on paper,
these choices often boil down to simple A or B, good or evil, with very little
room for ambiguity. Even with the game's numerous neutral decisions, and creative
players' attempts at mixing up the good and bad, it all seems to lead to one of
three results: The good, the bad, or the yawn-inducing middle ground. The fact is
that other games, like the recent Fallout 3, allow the player much more room for
choice and infinitely more varied results. And the choices in other games often
feel truly good or sublimely evil; Fable II has you collecting STDs (not a typo)
and charging high rent to accumulate bad karma. Ooo…. I'm terrified.
Even though the good/evil choices can be boring and the story hinged on them
is a paint-by-numbers RPG yarn that was lame 15 years ago, the gameplay and
exploration do make up for a good bit of it. Fable II plays and controls a lot
like a 3D Zelda game with no viable enemy lock-on. This might sound like a shot
against Fable, but like I said in my earlier review for Dark Sector (a game that
copied Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War almost exactly), if something works,
where is the harm in copying it? Getting around and fighting in Fable II all
works magnificently, and the game will only be spinning in your 360 for about 30
seconds before you have mastery over everything.
The only aspect not faithfully copied from Zelda is the lock-on system. In
the 3D Zelda adventures, locking-on to an enemy or object allowed the player to
move a full 360 degrees around it. In Fable II, you can lock-on to enemies and
objects, but the 360-degree measure of freedom is lost. Instead, you are
tethered to the enemy or object with virtually no options except attacking or
approaching head-on.
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