Overview
When I first learned about the first Fable, released on the original Xbox way back in 2004, I was told, in no uncertain terms, that it was the best game ever. Once the Fable finally hit shelves, I saw a friend of mine reading the manual at school. I asked him what the game was like.

“Eh,” he said. “It’s okay.”

True to form, the original Fable was an okay game. It was neither terrible nor spectacular—just okay. But why, then, would so marginal a game ever be touted as the “best game ever?” Hype, of course. Hype born mostly of a single man: Fable’s creator, Peter Molyneux. Because the original Fable failed to live up to Molyneux’s almost obnoxious ambition, many people felt disappointed with the product when they finally got to play it themselves.

Enter the sequel: Fable II. Like it’s predecessor, Fable II arrives amid a storm of hype. Molyneux, again, rose up to tout his game’s perfection—this time conspicuously informing us that he was doing his best to avoid over-hyping Fable II, as he over-hyped Fable II. Now that Fable II is here, gamers are once more faced with the question: does this Fable live up to the hype, or will it be as disappointing as the previous entry?

Fable II is a good game. Allow me to repeat myself: Fable II is a good game. It’s fun, it’s amusing and it’s charming. Does it have its flaws? Yes, quite a few, and they do detract from the overall experience, but, in this case, that’s okay because the parts of Fable II that work well, work marvelously well.

Keep in mind that simply declaring Fable II to be a good game doesn’t quite answer the question I posed earlier—does Fable II live up to its hype? The answer is no, it does not. There is no shame in this failure, because, as many of us realized some time ago, this failure was an inevitability. Who do we blame the hype on? An egotistical developer? Wry marketing executives? Well, yes, but we gamer also share in the blame, because for as long as we continue to buy into marketing hype, we help to perpetuate it.

The hype machine is particularly unfortunate in the case of Fable II, because it will cause a great many people to ignore a rather delightful game, that is a good deal more fun than those who bought into the hype will ever be able to admit. Fable II may not be perfect, but if you can live with imperfection, you owe it to yourself to give the game a try—it is a great deal of fun.

Gameplay
Fable II is an action-RPG, which generally means you spend most of your time running around whacking things with a very large sword that is, by no means, some sort of Freudian phallic metaphor. Fable II manages to alter the rather generic hack-and-slash gameplay by seamlessly incorporating two new elements, magic and ranged attacks, to a more dynamic hack-and-slash-and-cast-and-shoot gameplay. Switching between melee, ranged and magic attacks is all very fluid and well-animated. You won’t see anything too impressive, but the visual effects are still quite nice.

Experience in Fable II is earned by gathering brightly-colored orbs that living creatures exude upon their demise. You can either embrace tedium and around to each and every glowing sphere, or you can hold down on the right trigger to suck all of the balls to you at once. The swirling lights look kind of cool, but it seems as though it would be more efficient for experience to be collected automatically. Forcing the player to collect experience orbs is pretty archaic by today’s standards, and can quickly become tedious when you’re trying to focus on killing things.

Combat targeting can be a bit iffy. Basically, your target is selected automatically depending on the general direction of the left analog stick, so choosing a precise target in the middle of a group can be rather difficult. The targeting is serviceable, but it can sometimes be annoying. Sometimes, though, it can kind of be cool—when using magic, for instance, if you do not move the left analog stick at all, you’ll be able to use an area-of-effect version of your selected spell instead of the typical ranged version.

Though fighting hordes of enemies is fun and fluid, the basic controls behind the simplest of tasks—walking from point A to point B—are clumsily implemented. The best way to describe the movement mechanic is to say it’s more like floating than walking. You’ll tilt the analog stick one way, and wait a moment or two for the character on the screen to move according to that tilt. It feels more like you’re guiding your character through the world, instead of directly controlling an avatar. It can take a while to get used to the movement mechanics, and once you do they’re not all that obtrusive, but they do act as a constant reminder that the controls to Fable II are not quite as tight as they ought to have been.

Albion, the living world you inhabit in Fable II, is a game unto its self. You can interact with the various characters by a variety of selectable social interactions—dancing, farting, blowing kisses, etc.–and by completing quests. Most quests can be completed one of two different ways, a good way or an evil way, though at times it’s not entirely clear which path is good and which is evil. This ambiguity is actually a lot of fun, as you can find yourself doing something that seems noble, only to find the situation blow up in your face once you’ve completed the quest. The humor in Fable II is pervasive, so no matter you do, you’re likely to see some funny moments. One of the first quests in the game involves bringing a letter from one lover to another, without the girl’s wife finding out about it. The two lovers seem to be genuinely in love, so it’s only right to hide the relationship from the mother, right? Well, once you bring the girl her lover’s letter, she promptly gets into an argument with her mother—and soon the man joins in, only to find himself arguing with the girl he wanted to marry. All with quirky British humor, of course.

Other than good or evil, there are to additional (equally opposite) factors at play: purity and corruption. Whereas good or evil actions are the typical black-and-white moral choices most RPG gamers are all too familiar with, the purity and corruption element is a bit more subtle—but not by much. Both purity and corruption are measured by how players use/prioritize things like money and health in the game world. Eat a lot of fatty foods, you’ll become corrupted. Stay healthy, be pure. Buy all the shops in a town and jack up prices? What do you know, you’re corrupt again. All four factors (good, evil, purity, corruption) effect mostly your character’s appearance, as well as how other characters in the game react to your hero. There are a few quests where you can see some far-reaching consequences that drastically alter the shape of Albion, but such instances are few and far in-between, and all tied directly to the game’s main storyline. The main storyline itself is a pretty enjoyable fantasy romp that will net about 10-15 hours, if you blast straight through. If you take the time to explore all of the content on the disc (side-quests, mini-games, social interactions, economic domination, etc.) you could easily spend 50 hours or so on a single playthrough—and there’s plenty of incentive to play through the game multiple times to get a taste of both the life of a hero and a villain.

Money is a big part of Fable II. A huge part. Albion’s economy is nearly a character unto itself. The player’s reputation effects how well people like you, and that in turn effects the prices of property, and every single structure in the game is a piece of property that can be bought, sold, or rented out. You can buy shops and change prices—buy a tavern and make beer free, and you’ll soon find yourself in a town full of drunkards. Don’t have enough money to begin your economic conquest? You can get yourself a job. Granted, the jobs are all extremely tedious and dull—press A to win kind-of-dull—but aren’t really necessary, as Albion’s economy is always playing, even when you are not. If you buy a house and rent it out to a person, you will earn a set amount of gold every five minutes. If you’re earning 10 gold every five minutes, you can turn off your console for 5 hours and come back to find that you’ve accumulated 500 gold. Managing your wallet is a lot less tedious because of the always-on economy, and that alone makes shopping for various new outfits, weapons and items a lot more enticing.

Finally, I’d like to hit on the customization aspect. When you start the game, you’re only able to choose your character’s gender. The early parts of the game will see fairly generic character models. Once you’re out in the world, however, a whole new universe opens up. There are a plethora of hairstyles to buy, not to mention tattoos, weapons and clothes. What’s more, you can dye any article of clothing or hair to nearly any color you could want, making the variety of possible character model’s very nearly endless.

The big flaw in Fable II’s mechanic is the dialog system. Other characters in the game do not speak to you, they speak at you. It can often be hard to tell the difference between an NPC talking to the player and an NPC talking to another NPC. The player character can only interact with other characters via various gestures, so all of the dialog is one-way. There’s not a whole lot of depth to the interactions, despite the large quantity and variety of social interactions. You can either make someone love you by farting, or make someone hate you by farting. Or dancing or singing or growling. Either way, it’s a very shallow system that makes the game world feel very artificial, and a whole less enthralling than it ought to have been. Sure, you can marry and have kids, but you’ll never be able to say a single word to your family.

A lot of the hype surrounding Fable II involved the dog, so I would be remiss if I were to avoid mentioning the canine element. The dog can be named by the player, though the name effects nothing, and can be somewhat customized with a variety of dog colors. As you wander Albion, the dog will sometimes sniff out little treasures hidden underground, help you fight, or spot treasure chests. The dog is easy to follow or ignore, and works well as a helpful element of the game that never becomes obtrusive or irritating. You can either notice the dog or not, as much as you want to, which is good, because the dog will always be with you.

Finally, the most questionable element of Fable II is the navigation system. There is no mini-map on the screen (the only item consistently on the HUD is a small health bar—there is no magic power gage in Fable II) and the few maps you can find in menus are pretty hard to decipher, and pretty useless. The game displays a glowing golden trail (breadcrumbs, Molyneux called it, though the shiny pinpricks of light look nothing like bread) toward wherever the player needs to be to continue the current quest. This is a nice, unobtrusive thing, but since most of the areas in the world are fairly linear, you’ll soon realize that each time you come to a path diverging from the golden trail, it probably leads to a treasure chest, gargoyle, demon door, or some other spiffy thing.

There are a few flaws, mostly stemming from imprecise controls, but for the most part, Fable II plays like a charm. The moment you pick up your controller and start roaming the wilds of Albion, you’ll be hooked. Yes, there are problems, but it’s still a fantastic experience that every gamer ought to treat his or herself to.

Story
Cliched and predictable? Wrong. The best word to describe Fable II is, “archetypal.” The fact that, less than an hour into the game, your character is referred to as a, “hero,” should be a dead giveaway that Fable II isn’t going to be breaking any molds with its story. You can either be a storybook hero, replete with golden aura and halo, or a storybook villain, with spindly black horns sprouting out of your forehead, and peasants screaming in terror when they see you.

The problem with Fable II’s storytelling hinges mostly on the player’s lack of identity. It’s typical for western RPGs to allow the player to imagine his or her character as whoever he or she wants that character to be, but that doesn’t work as well in modern games as it did back when most characterization was handled through text. Because your character cannot say a single word, there’s essentially zero characterization. You can either be a faceless bad guy, or a faceless good guy, but either way, you’re in for a very impersonal experience. If gaming is ever to emerge as a new form of storytelling, that’s going to have to change.

Of course, the charm of Fable II isn’t what the story is, it’s how the story is told. Humor is the hallmark of Fable II—and the side quests you’ll find by the barrel in your travels offer tons of things to laugh, giggle, and even cluck gleefully at. People are crazy and do silly things—and Fable II holds little back. The story is amusing, archetypal, even, but it’s nothing new, and the lack of player interaction can make it a somewhat shallow experience. Still, though, it’s entertaining all the way through, and certainly does an expert job of weaving you into the fairy-tale world of Albion.

Audio
Absolutely spectacular. The music in Fable II is stunning, and does a great job establishing the fantastical setting of the game. Often, you’ll feel yourself drawn into the world and the fairy-tale story, even as you do something mundane, like proposition a streetwalker. It’s epic, it’s grand, it’s a real treat to listen to.

Character voices are a bit bland—everyone speaks with a very subdued British accent, so most lines are delivered with very little emotion. Everyone speaks at the same speed, too, which I can only imagine was purposeful, so that no one could possibly be confused by the accents. Unfortunately, this makes dialog a bit bland, and makes the world seem a good deal less realistic than it could have been.

The general sound effects are pretty serviceable, and nothing more than what we’ve come to expect from games. Swords sound like swords, guns like gun, and fireballs sound like fireballs. Of course, with the grand soundtrack playing in the background, everything you hear sounds great simply by the company.

Graphics & Presentation
The opening cinematic to Fable II is beautiful. I’d call it one of the best CGI intros I’ve ever seen in a heartbeat. But the moment the CGI stops and the in-game graphics take over, Fable II looks decidedly dated. The art design is cartoonish, and though a great deal of detail went into designing character’s faces and extremities, the game camera rarely, if ever, zooms in close enough to see those details while playing. From the distance the game keeps you at, most things look a bit generic and dated. You can temporarily move into a first-person perspective by pressing (and holding) the right bumper, which you’ll find yourself doing almost constantly in an effort to actually see the people who are speaking to you.

The animations can be a bit choppy from time to time, which heightens the general feeling of playing a game that doesn’t look as good as it should. The famous Fable II dog, however, is exceptionally well animated—he looks and acts virtually the same as a real dog would be, if not more so. There will be times when you just stop everything you’re doing to watch the dog roll around in the grass, which is something I’ve never quite experienced in a game before.

That’s not to say Fable II doesn’t have some spectacular moments. Sunrises and sunsets look absolute spectacular—all of the lighting effects are stunning—and some areas are a real treat to explore. The problem is that most areas are fairly small—forests rimmed with giant cliffs that blot out the horizon are especially irritating—and so there’s really a whole lot of to explore. Some areas, however, can be a real treat to hike through, particularly if you move off the oft-beaten path. Certain characters and monsters look really insanely cool—and the amount of different diverse people you can be, fat, thin, bald, mohawked, is really bloody cool.

Every once in a while we’re treated to some really spiffy, detailed drawings (2D cutscenes with narration) that look really cool, and also heighten the feeling of playing through an old hero myth, or, you know, fable.

Now, I’ve already mentioned that there’s a TON of stuff to do in Fable II. And for most of the things you want to do in the game, you’ll need to be accessing the menus—here is where we find what I, personally, see as the single greatest problem with Fable II: lag. Each menu takes a few seconds to transition, and when you couple that with the somewhat sluggish movement control, there are times when Fable II can seem positively unresponsive. It’s a shame Lionhead didn’t spend a little less time on mini-games and a little more time on tightening the controls and menus. If Fable II were a more responsive game, it could very easily have been the best game of the season.

Final Comments
If you go into Fable II expecting it to be the greatest game you’ll ever play, you are going to be sorely disappointed, and you’ll only have yourself to blame. If you expect to see something revolutionary—or stunning—you’ll also be disappointed. And, if your not careful, that disappointed can quickly turn to spite, and you may soon fine yourself moving along an absolutist line of thought that dictates that, if Fable II is not the greatest game ever, then it must logically be the worst game ever. Don’t feel too bad about it; it’s a trap all-too many people fall into these days, with so much marketing going into games months and years before the day of release. You may want to consider kindly abstaining from the Internet, however.

I won’t tell you to remove any expectations about what Fable II will be before playing—as Peter Molyneux has suggested—but I will tell you to, perhaps, alter your expectations for the game. Fable II is a fun, light-hearted adventure (despite some darker themes) with a fun, light-hearted method of play. To expect anything else is, frankly, ridiculous.

There are a ton of things to do in Fable II. Many are fun, some are not. The social interaction is diverse in expressions, but ultimately a very shallow device the perpetually keeps the player removed from the vibrant fantasy of the world—which is a shame, because the gunpowder-age fantasy genre is pretty sparse, the only other western RPG I can think of to enter similar territory was the old PC game Arcanum, released several years ago. The world of Albion is interesting, and very big, with more things to do than most players will find time to do, full of quirky characters and dry wit that make the game an exceptionally enjoyable experience.

Fable II is a ton of fun to play, and can soak up a lot of time—and all of that time will be filled with fun. Now, tell me, what more needs to be said?

Score

B+