Fable Review

Overall Rating

Graphics
Sound
Gameplay
Character interaction
Storyline

Too short
Respawning of baddies

Fable - In my opinion, this boasts the best graphics of any XBOX game and is by far the most advanced. It has everything you want from an RPG/action game from little details like having a shave, kicking chickens about and getting drunk with locals in a village pub to awesome battle sequences and stunning weapons. It's pretty sad but you do get a thrill every time you can afford to buy a better type of glove or find an upgrade to your sword whilst digging about in some graveyard.

I chose to be a nice guy and ended up with white hair, bright blue eyes and a halo (with what I thought were butterflies hovering over my head). Every action, garment you wear and your appearance influences the way bystanders view you. Brilliantly amusing touches such as people cheering you as you walk by just compounds the experience. And as you grow in renown, by undertaking quests and buying names for yourself (everyone shouts Chicken Chaser at you if you don't buy a name), folks will literally fall in love with you.

The quests themselves are pretty straightforward and only really become taxing very near the end. Killing goblin-like monsters in a cave to save a kidnapped boy, protecting a farm from bandits and escorting merchants about are all good fun though. Some aspects of the game are pretty dark and one part made a little tingle creep up my spine.

Before I bought the game I was slightly put off by the fact that you start off as a small boy and have to perform mundane tasks such as finding a teddy bear but I soon found out that boyhood only lasts for a little while and then the good bit kicks in. I got used to the controls fairly easily and the level up system is pretty similar to Star Wars KOTOR.

Here is the big But... It is far too short! It totally lets the game down. You feel like your half way through when it all abruptly ends. It's as if the designers ran out of ideas or funding. It really did annoy me. Don't let this put you off however, it is definitely a must have game, even if you only play it all the way through once.

I have completed the game and to be honest, I am pretty useless at any type of videogame. I'm pretty sure that the last game I actually finished was Super Mario Bros 2 on the NES! So it isn't exactly a Metal Gear.

After all the hype I was massively disappointed, but not with the overall game itself but by the fact that it just seems half complete. Maybe they will bring out an add-on to lengthen it by at least another 20 hours?? If this is the way they're going to make games from now on, I'm never leaving the house and will be fed through a tube!