Late to the Party: Fable II review

When you’re thinking about some of the most recent RPG games for the Xbox 360, you have to think about Fable II being on that list of games then. Being out on the market for almost a year now, Lionhead Studios has also revealed their plans to continue on with their tale next year in the release of  Fable III.

Developer:Lionhead Studios
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Genre: RPG
Price: $39.99

To look at Fable II, you have to look back to the beginning and the first games of Fable or Fable: The Lost Chapters, for the ground work a bit then. Well, you can play Fable II with out even playing the first game if you really want, I mean they do take place about 5oo years apart from each other after all, but I’m someone that finds the value in checking out the earlier versions of a game and getting a feel of where things have come from.

If you look around, you can pick up the first game still in some places and its at a fairly reasonable price. You can even go as far as purchasing it online from the Games on Demand section if you like, but this is not the expanded Lost Chapters version of the game. After playing through the first game, you will see that Lionhead Studios has made a number of improvements over the past 4 years now.

To mention just a few of these improvements, we have to list being on the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live to start with here, earning or recieving Achievements for playing the game and now the addition of online Co-op right at our finger tips. All of this has to make for a better gaming experience over the first games?

Well lets take a longer look at more of those good improvements to start with now. The Xbox 360 and being Live enabled makes the wonderful world of Albion a real joy to explore and play around in with friends. Graphic wise this game is beautiful and stunning to experience, from those incredible sunrises, sunsets, rainy conditions or even snowy lands; the game has just about every element you can imagine a hero might face.

Either visiting the shores of Albion’s coast or climbing the high mountain sides to explore various cave systems or the huge forests of Albion. Only now your not stuck to those simple pathways you might have found in Fable: The Lost Chapters. If you feel the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, then hop on over and check it out for yourself. You’ll find in Fable II, that there is a lot more to see and explore around Albion and its all spectacular to view with the naked eye. 

 

So how about a possible 1350 points you can earn now just for playing the game? Well this has to be one of those areas I’m not as happy with in the game. Yes I like that you can earn points from playing a game, but with Fable II, 43 out of the possible 66 to earn, can be done simply while watching a friend complete those  tasks.

Wow, thats well over half of them and all available by taging along in someones game or having them along in your game. Some of these are what I like to call negative achievements. For example a friend and I were in the same game and he decided to take a 2nd wife, next think I know I’ve earned the Bigamist Achievement. Oh that’s just great now isn’t it?

I find it funny that  a number negative achievements are available to earn, coming from someone who likes to play the good guy in games. But not only did I loose my choice to take a wife to begin with, I was tagged with the Bigamist for hanging out with one I suppose.

That brings us to so many other areas in the game. for example you have the ability to decide if you want to be good or evil as well as corrupt or pure at heart. The game is an RPG after all and so your part of Albion now and get to interact with the various AI through out the game. Take a husband or wife and raise a family if you see fit… or simply watch your friend do these and reap the rewards so to speak.

So achievements are here in the game, but in no way are they perfect in my mind. I even experienced some what of  a glitch when one of my characters decided to start a family and the Swinger Achievement unlocked. Wait a 2nd nobody else was in the room or taking part in this act, how is that possible then?

Its clear Lionhead has created a game filled with lots of choices here from good to evil and they even steer you to becoming somewhat evil if you like and will not hold back in letting you know that the recent act you performed makes you out to be a jerk and if you’re cool with that, then go ahead and continue acting like a jerk then.

Seeing that so many of these can be earned by a friend doing these, well then you must have guessed its the co-op that makes this all possible. Sure its fun to play in friends games or have them join your game. In fact you can even earn a lot of gold as a henchmen in a friends game now, so thats a plus right? Sounds good to me in that aspect, just keep in mind it helps to hire your friends as well from time to time.

But co-op is not pefect by far, the camera handling makes the game a pain at times. Unless your friend sticks to your heals, you’ll find out really quick the limitations as one of you goes left and the other goes right and you only have so much screen to work with. Its a shame that such a wonderful place limits you in co-op mode and keeps you both tied at the hip so to speak.

Lets look back at the earning gold some more now. You can also purchase properties that earn gold, like a Tavern for example and the cool thing is it keeps track more or less how long you’ve been away and makes sure to add that gold when you return. But that is not the only way to earn gold you can even earn gold from those wonderful game masters in what is called the Pub Games.

 

Now here is where Lionhead was a little more innovative and combined two games so to speak. Available in the Xbox Live Arcade is the standalone Pub Games and this gives you all three of the game types found within Fable II, best of all any gold you earn outside of Fable II in the Pub Games can be transferred or tied with your in game hero. That means you can simply play the Pub games and later make use of all that gold you’ve earned… or lost just the same.

A clear favorite feature for most fans of  Fable II has to be their addition of a companion and one that takes the form of none other than Man’s best friend. The dog is your guide in many ways to finding treasure around Albion and in letting you know about approaching danger. The dog can be hurt as well and its amazing the power this can hold over you, seeing that dog limp and wimper along after you for help. Unless you want to be a total evil character, your going to save your Dog.

The map for the game is not the best for games, but the use of the golden bread crumb trail comes in very handy in pointing you in the right direction. You can fade this out or turn it off if you like. I personally think you’ll get lost with out it and find it works fairly well. You can also select fast travel to various areas you’ve already visited now and that works out nicely as well.

Lionhead has made a pretty nice RPG when all is said an done, sure I’d love to have seen somethings handle differently, but for the most part its leaps and bounds better than the previous games. Now with Fable III coming out in about a year, I wonder what they might do differently and improve upon. We’ll have to just sit back and wait for Peter Molyneux to tease us with more news from Albion in the meantime. (B+)

Robert Owens