Fable III Review

9.0

Review Score:

It’s been two years since Fable II’s release and it’s safe to say there’s a lot of anticipation and hype surrounding the series’ return. Fable III was set to be one of the biggest and most immersive RPG experiences we’ve seen for years, but did Lionhead pull it off?

Fable III is set fifty years on from the events of Fable II. The last monarch, your Hero in Fable II, has died and the kingdom of Albion is left under the charge of Logan, your older brother. Logan is a tyrant and is ruling the people of Albion by fear. You’re soon thrown into the game and within minutes Logan is forcing you to make an extremely tough decision. With the aid of Sir Walter Beck and the castle’s butler Jasper your Hero escapes the castle in search of allies to join the revolution and overthrow Logan for the throne.

From the start of the game you’ll notice that the streets of Albion have become dirty and downtrodden due to the ruling of Logan. You’ll also notice the main difference with our protagonist is this time around he has a voice and a purpose; your Hero must save Albion – not only from Logan but from complete destruction.

The plot of the game is much thicker than any other Fable game and its combination of high budget voice actors and beautiful environments work together to create some immersive and gripping sequences. From the start of the game you’re thrown into severe decisions and it’s made clear that the story is stronger than ever before this time round. Although that’s not to say that personal progression takes a back seat – the focus on your character’s own progression is still as prominent as before and there are plenty of upgrades and satisfaction to be found in improving on your personal stats.

The main game’s plot follows a fairly standard template for the first half as you travel from place to place in search of allies, performing tasks to win their favour and then moving onto the next area. Everything you do during Fable III will earn you followers and really emphasises the idea of becoming a powerful ruler.

Progression takes place in the form of The Road to Rule which you travel along as you progress through the story unlocking new abilities and stronger weapons by spending guild seals. These seals are earned by completing quests, exploration and being friendly the townsfolk.

There’s been no expense spared with the voice acting in Fable III with the likes of Stephen Fry, John Cleese and Simon Pegg lending their talent to the game – some people claim this isn’t necessary within a video game but I can honestly say that the voices lent to the game did wonders for the atmosphere and it was fantastic to hear voices I was familiar with through and through the game – and having John Cleese assisting you through the game was utterly brilliant. Alongside the stunning visuals of the never ending detailed world, you’re provided with an Albion that feels more real than most game worlds. There’s a real magic to the world and from the chatter of villagers to the beautiful score the world really feels alive and has a sense of purpose.

The combat system from Fable II is pretty much unchanged with melee, magic and ranged attacks returning – each assigned to their own button. This also means that combat once again mainly consists of button mashing with limited weapon combos. Magic, however, has been altered slightly in that each spell is a gauntlet and you can only equip two gauntlets at one time, so you’ll have to go back to the sanctuary to switch which spells you have enabled like you would a weapon. This also allows you to combine two spells to weave one spell that is much more effective and also, undeniably, looks awesome. There’s very little penalty for dying and once again this somewhat removes any form of challenge from the game – you’ll lose your progress towards the next guild seal and you’ll gain a few scars but within seconds you’re back in the fight and have knocked over nearby enemies. This tends to make for some fairly dull and tedious battles.

Something else that was rather disappointing is the lack of variation within weaponry. Unlike Fable II’s large array of weapons, you have a handful of self-upgrading weapons that improve as you play through the game, for example by defeating 100 Hollow Men, your weapon will gain a bone handle and become more effective against Hollow Men. It’s great to watch your weapons take shape as the game progress but I couldn’t help but feel like this was undermining one of Fable II’s strengths in that you were constantly searching for bigger and better weaponry.

The expression wheel present in Fable II has been removed and replaced by a contextual list of options when interacting with a character, these options are limited to your relationship with that character and once again feels very limiting to the player. However, there are still plenty of great features from Fable II that have been further improved and have greater impact on the game. You can still become a property magnate and buy and sell houses to your heart’s content.

The game’s story takes some time to get started but once it begins to thicken it becomes apparent that Lionhead have focused on the story this time round and there are some truly unforgettable moments that shine and really show the game has moved on from Fable II.

The game’s world encourages exploration at every possible turn, there’s plenty of collectables to be found including dusty tomes, rare flowers and the gargoyles from Fable II have been replaced with something a little more humorous.

As the story progresses you’re inevitably crowned king and are forced to make some huge decisions that can have some extremely severe repercussions.  You also have the choice whether to keep the promises you made to become king or whether to betray the people and rule as your brother did in tyranny. What really impressed me here was the lack of black and white choices, what seems the right choice may not have the ending result you quite hoped for. There were plenty of moments when I had to pause and think about the decision thoroughly before choosing it. For once Molyneux stuck to his word and you really do have the power to rule Albion as you wish. While ruling as king you’re given a daily to-do list with tasks to complete as time moves forward and approaches a rather drastic climax – the use of set tasks and a time limit really adds tension to the game and for a moment I almost felt like I actually had a kingdom under my rule.

It’s hard to go into detail as to just why the plot is so immersive and brilliant without spoiling things but it’s the moral dilemmas you’re constantly faced with which will keep you hooked. You may have made one choice but was it the right one? Could you have done things better?

The ever flawed online co-op mode from Fable II has seen a huge overhaul and now allows to players to play the game with their own character and abilities (and even their own dog!). You can interact with other players a great deal more than before including marriage, having a child together and even forming a business partnership. There are still a few restrictions and things that could be tweaked, but overall it’s great fun to fart and burp your way through Albion with a chum.

It’s clear that Lionhead have finally come forward with an incredibly strong plot line to bolster Fable’s already impressive roster of gameplay features to create an unforgettable package. Whether it was the stunning environments, the brilliant voice acting or the severe choices I was forced to make – Fable III won me over at every possible chance. I can say that without a doubt, Fable III is the game to play this winter.

NXT Score: 9/10

Pros

• A stunning endless world with a real buzz to it
• An epic plot line that will have you really thinking about the choices you make
• A vastly improved online co-op mode

Cons

• The combat remains a little tedious and dull
• The character interaction is somewhat limited

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