Fable promised to be the game to end all games. It was heralded as the next evolutionary step in gaming, but if not that, definitely the greatest RPG of all time, and a game that would take hundreds of hours to complete. All of those claims by themselves are a lot to swallow, yet sadly it’s none of these things. It is however a prime example of what can happen when an overrated development crew is a victim of the hype machine, especially when they bring it on themselves. A project that begins with a modest name like “Project Ego” is one that has every responsibility to deliver.
"Fable nearly drops the ball with the most basic of design aspects. "
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Fable nearly drops the ball with the most basic of design aspects. First of all, combat is kind of a pain in the ass, not to mention way too easy. It actually kind of feels like an off color version of the 3D Zelda titles. You’re given a multitude of ways to attack, since you’re given the choice to use melee weapons, long range weapons (read: a bow), or magical attacks, and it’s good to have this kind of diversity. Basically, you’ll lock on to your enemy, and decide which way to take care of them suits you best.
The melee attacks are your standard mash-until-you-need-to-block-then-mash-again type of fighting, which works well in a brainless way but is far from revolutionary, and maybe even a little clunky. The ranged attack is likely the most innovative way to attack. How long you hold down the button determines how hard the bow will fire the arrow. I really liked how the tighter it got, the more the controller would rumble, feeling like your character is straining to hold the bow string. Magic works just like the others: you just lock on, and fire blasts or whatever else you’re capable of at the enemies. The problem is combat isn’t any fun. Later in the game when your character is able to take on everyone and everything, its fun in an 8-year old Superman kind of way, but it just really missed the dynamic flair and rewarding sense that other entries into the genre have captured.
Enemies are also a pretty big disappointment. Combat never really fleshes itself out, and after you learn how to dodge their attack pattern, the enemies don’t seem to do anything intelligent. It’s getting to the point where A.I. is important in games, and more so than some other details, like how Betsy at the Inn feels about you and your tattoos. While some provide a small challenge, there really isn’t anything thoughtful about combat.
One aspect that combat goes far and above in is how it affects your characters development. If you favor melee attacks, your character will become massive and muscular, like a barbarian. This will also increase your strength, allowing you to pick up heavier things and use heavier weapons, thus doing more damage. If you favor the ranged attacks your character becomes taller, and lither, resembling that of a thief. This works well if you wish to play the game in a stealthy manner. Should you choose to favor magic, your character ages at a greater rate, looking wiser than his years.
These seemingly cosmetic character traits are anything but, and reflect how you play the game, and how the game plays with you. Like I said, if you just want to play the game by waltzing through towns by smashing everything with your giant legendary axe, you can. If you choose to sneak into peoples houses and steal things from them, you can do that, too. It’s really up to you. It also changes how people react to you, which can be quite amusing to see. If you’re playing a hulking creature of malevolent evil, the townsfolk will run from you, and sometimes even beg you for mercy. In direct contrast, if you’re a character of ultimate and undoubted good women will swoon, and people will cheer. Also depending on your alignment, prices in shops will go up or down. Nobody wants to sell potions to a terror inducing muscle-head.
Interaction with townsfolk goes beyond this though. Like any Action-RPG you’re able to talk with nearly all the characters in the game, and some as you’d expect will be more useful than others. Some will offer you quests, some will offer pointless dialogue, but you’re able to treat them how you please.
"If you don’t like the way that guy is whining about his wife, lob his head off, just be prepared to deal with the town guards..."
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If you don’t like the way that guy is whining about his wife, lob his head off, just be prepared to deal with the town guards; be prepared to pay fines depending on how much damage you’ve decided to cause or fight until death, or until you leave the town. If you feel bad for the guy who can’t make it past the bandits with his cargo, help him cross the threshold and you’ll receive a reward. If you like that woman (or god forbid that man) get them into bed, and marry them. Then if you’re evil, kill them and sell the house. You’re also able to make gestures towards people, which include farting, waving, laughing, arm-pumping… you get the picture. Sometimes the reactions are funny, but it’s generally less fun than it should be since the menu system in this game is so counter intuitive.
The menu system is mostly accessed with the D-pad. It’s fairly clunky and even unresponsive. You press right to go deeper into the menu, up and down to select, and left to go back out. It’s really not a very good system, and gets frustrating. Pressing start will take you to a traditional main game menu, and pressing back will take you to the traditional in game menus, like stats and equipment pages. It’s just all laid out awkwardly, and unnecessarily so. Its basic faults like these that turn Fable sour.
The presentation suffers the same faults as the game play. The game’s environments are sized fairly large, and are fairly open, but it seems that Big Blue Box tried too hard to fit in too many graphical effects which fits the tone of overambition that runs throughout the game. Did we need swaying grass, butterflies surrounding a good character, and sunlight filtering in through the tree tops when the animation is quirky, and the character models are uninspired? It seems that instead of getting the basics correct before adding the innovation, the developers put the innovation in and then tried to make it work. Sadly it didn’t. The only thing I really like about the art direction is the town structures, and the texture sets they used to build them. Otherwise graphically the game is very distracting.
The voicing is probably split between A-grade and ear splittingly terrible. The characters that sound medieval are great, well acted, and in character, but the characters who sound obnoxiously British sound exactly that: obnoxious. Mostly it’s the townsfolk, but they’re the brunt of who you’ll be speaking with, and even if you’re the most angelic good guy around, you’ll at least target them in temptation of hitting them. The score however is great, and was created by famed composer Danny Elfman (Beetlejuice, Spiderman etc.). It’s grand, scary, motivating, tense, and imposing in all the right places.
"Simply being playable is not acceptable for what was supposed to be the greatest RPG ever..."
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The games length is also an issue. While the game could theoreticaly last someone dozens upon dozens of hours by playing though each alignment and unlocking everything, the main quest will last an average player anywhere from ten to fifteen hours, and I’m being generous. It’s actually kind of a blessing, since the story is bland, boring, and is mostly hogwash. You never feel anything for your character, even when you consider his situation; he has no personality. Note to Peter Molyneux: real fables succeed because of their awesome characters; this one didn’t have one. In the effort to make the character as close to the player as possible, you had to strip it of any creativity you had to offer, and it definitely didn’t reflect the player as planned. Besides, most players play games to escape reality, not to see themselves reflected.
With so many features removed and so much average gameplay, Fable is ultimately a failure. Simply being playable is not acceptable for what was supposed to be the greatest RPG ever, and it has instead become a source of ideas for the next ambitious developer to try their hand at that outrageous claim. Enter only if you expect something slightly groundbreaking, with a fair share of problems, and enough boring parts to put an ADD afflicted chimpanzee to sleep.
