FORUM

From a technical standpoint, the graphics and music are both top notch. The games only real negative in this category is that, more often than not, combat and controlling the character can feel a bit detached and clunky. While combat itself is rewarding, with the ability to switch between melee, magic, and ranged almost instantaneously to keep bad guys on their toes, actually controlling your character can be a frustrating occurrence. You will be plagued by the occasional cheap death, but thanks to not actually being able to die, you won’t have to worry about losing anything more than some experience points if you bite off more than you can chew. In the end, your enjoyment of Fable II will hinge on what is important to you in this type of game. If you are looking for an engrossing story with loveable characters, this might not please you. However, if you are looking for an impressive gameplay experience with tons of replayability, I could not recommend Fable II more. While it may have, once again, fallen short of being a classic, it is a large improvement over the first game despite its numerous weak points.

Despite not living up to some of the promises made by Peter Molyneux during its production, Fable is a great RPG and one of the standout Xbox titles. The freedom to play as a virtuous hero or a vile hellion is reason enough to play through this title twice and as short as the main quest is, that isn't nearly as demanding of a request as it would be with some other RPGs. A year later Fable: The Lost Chapters was released which featured an additional chapter with a new area and enemies at the end of the game along with some additional side quests and minor features. For the tenth anniversary an updated version of Fable: The Lost Chapters was released as Fable Anniversary for Xbox 360, which was a bug riddled mess on its initial release. It has been improved somewhat through patches but playing Fable: The Lost Chapters on the original Xbox is the recommended way to go if at all possible, though any RPG fan should experience this title in some capacity, even if Fable Anniversary is the most realistic option. Fable II was a well done follow up and the less said about Fable III the better.

Officially titled the 'Battle Armored Dragon Assault Strike System' (B.A.D.A.S.S.) the creature puts his comment is here brethren to shame. Equipped with a 'Terror 4000 Cannon' and titanium plating, the dragon is as invincible as any child of the 1980s could imagine it to

The most iconic dinosaur of all , it should come as no surprise that the T-Rex is making its return and had a big spotlight in the trailer. Called just "Rex" in the first game, the T-Rex in the trailer looks to be slightly larger and equally as clumsy. It also features some stylish furs on its neck and along its spine, perhaps in an effort to create a more realistic representation of the beast. That said, scientists still don't know exactly what the king of dinosaurs would have looked like, so this is still just a best gu

Sadly, I can tell you right now that this game suffers from many of the same problems the original Fable had. The in-game economy is still woefully simple, the plot and many of the characters still lack depth, and the world of Albion in all its glory still feels like it was laid out with anything but feng shui in mind.

NPC reactions is an area where Fable probably could have benefited from some more tweaking, since early on in the game no one takes the hero seriously, but after playing a few hours the player is likely either the most beloved or feared resident of Albion. The citizens of Albion are superficial as once the fame came in so did the opportunity to take on a spouse or three. Fable was progressive in terms of marriage, allowing the player to take a spouse of the same gender and engage in polygamy. Well, maybe polygamy wasn't accepted in Albion since there could only be one spouse per town, so these multiple partners weren't exactly legit. They ended up leaving me anyway since I never spent any time with them or gave them gifts, but considering how difficult and time consuming it was to actually take a spouse to bed, they seemed to be more trouble than they were worth. The main purpose spouses served in Fable was when playing as an evil character, killing them would net so many evil alignment points.

There were many secrets to discover in Albion, which was necessary to pad out the game. The main story campaign was short by RPG standards, so having optional side quests and secrets added value to the title. Demon doors would have treasures such as legendary weapons if you could solve the riddle to open them and there were many silver keys scattered across the land they were needed to open silver treasure boxes. They may have have fixed this in the subsequent reissues of Fable, but in the original Xbox version there was a glitch to get unlimited silver keys. This worked by getting a key, doing a hero save but not a world save and then load the file. The character will have the key in their inventory and the key will be waiting to be collected in its original spot.