The original Fable promised too much and was unable to deliver according to expectations. Thankfully Fable II is a much-improved sequel that is not perfect, but it is a great RPG on its own right. You play as the Hero in the world of Albion. Unlike the Albion of the original game, 500 years later in Fable II, the Heroes have been killed or died out as the regular folks revolted. At the beginning of the game, you play as a young Hero and you witness your sister Rose get shot by Lord Lucien and you are left to die when a kind gypsy takes you away and nurtures you back to health. As you become an adult, it is up to you to get rid of the evil Lucien and take your revenge.
How you get there is a pretty linear as you follow the storyline’s main missions to enlist other Heroes to the cause and ultimately kill Lucien. What is impressive is the things on the side that you can do. Just like the previous Fable, your actions have consequences on how others perceive you. For example, if you steal too often and kill villagers at random, they will consider you more evil than good. There are few sidequests that force you to choose quickly what kind of character you want to be: do you kill a woman to get her precious stone? Or do you let her have it and get lesser reward but be good instead? Social interactions are very limited but important as well: you can command social actions such as dance, play the lute, scream and even invite over someone for sex to gain a villager’s love. In return, you may marry them, move in to a house together and create children. Another benefit of causing villagers to fall in love with you (or to hate you) is that they will give you gifts, and if they are store owners, they will give you a great discount on their wares. The game is pretty flexible in this aspect as you can marry a woman or man, only have children when you sleep with the opposite sex and of course, if you don’t use condoms, you may get STDs. Seriously.
This pretty fleshed out world is full of bandits, hobbes and other monsters to kill. The combat system in Fable II is streamlined as well featuring just a few buttons: melee attack, range attack, magic attack and block. Using melee is pretty straightforward and timing your presses correctly will start a chain for faster attack. As you upgrade your range attack, you’ll gain the ability to zoom and to subtarget your enemies. There are standard magic attacks such as fireballs, throwing knives, slowing time down and raising the dead: each magic spell has 5 levels and the longer you hold on the attack button, the powerful your spell will be. Rounding up the combat is the requisite experience system (kill enemies to collect experience orbs, or buy experience potions), food and potions (eat food to heal yourself but be carefuly since you’ll gain weight) and treasures. There are lots of treasure chests in the world and some you’ll have to dig up from the ground.
One of the best ideas in the game is your dog. He will warn you when enemies are nearby, he will bark when he detects hidden treasures and he will even help out in your attacks by mauling knocked over enemies. Although his movements aren’t always natural and there are some collision detection issues, the dog helps you greatly on your journey.
In the end, the game isn’t perfect but it is a great RPG with plenty of things to do. The main quest is a bit on the short side compared to other RPGs on the system, but plenty of things to do on the side makes it a great investment of your time.
Rating: 89%
Buy Fable 2 from Amazon
