Fable 2, the Succeeding Successor, or the Oddball Offspring?

Fable 2 is one of those hit and miss games: set 50 years after the prequel, Fable 2's storyline has managed to live up to it's reputation. The “what's happeninz'” (as delicately said by The Big Geez [read my intro dammit!]) within Fable 2 is a very wide expanse of diverse and independent quests, with a catchy plot allowing for hours of gameplay at once. Unfortunately, with all much anticipated games, Fable 2 does have a few drawbacks, as mentioned later in this post.

The Graphics and “look” of the many landscapes is an awesome prospect, even with the “cartoon-like” (perhaps) style of the people. The effects of the water and the general landscape is pure eye-candy, and once you see it, you'll wonder what the hell they want to achieve for Fable 3 (will there be?). The atmosphere in game is also very peculiar, such that you actually care for your actions the first time you play the game. Instead of thinking, “I'm going to be an evil bastard all the way through”, it's more “this is so evil, even though it is a bunch of pixels”. Which leads nicely onto my next point.




The much anticipated Dog of Fable 2, very much a selling point for animal lovers (not like that! >.<), is another prospect of the game. Only 5 minutes into the game, you'll see what I mean. I actually felt like jumping into the game with a sawn-off shotgun and shooting that bully kid in the face: without giving too much away, that's all I can say. You'll know what I mean when you play it. Whenever that mutt gets hurt, or whenever a choice involves him, the choice will be most likely towards that little 4-legged chum who helps you find treasures and quests: “where would I be without him?”. Nowhere.

Once again, the non-speaking character has been brought back, with gestures including gesticulations and grunts, ranging from “Vulgar Thrusts” (Pelvic thrusts to all us normal people), to “Come Back to My Place”, which explains itself, and will be a big hit for all you sex manic gamers out there (dirty, dirty people!). This is very much a flavour of the old Fable (the gestures, not the sex manic gamers) but largely improved: families, houses, estate empires, kids, marriage, love, hate, fear, fun and the rest of it. It can be largely annoying however, with a good character, to be loved by absolutely everyone, who all ask to marry you: in a similar respect, evil characters will find that their quest target or gift giver will run away as soon as they come into view.

The quests within the Fable universe are still as fun and seemingly pointless as ever, but unfortunately, there never seems to be enough to do after the main questline. You can only complete the Crucible, commission statues or donate to the Temple of Light so many times before that never ending quest gets annoying in the quest log. To give the game credit, the quests that are there are catchy and give you the old sense of must complete, but there isn't enough of them to keep you happy for long. In addition, certain ways of playing the game cause glitches, 2 of which happen to stop the games completion. Other glitches cause your much wanted quest rewards to magically disappear (watch out Lady Grey!).

Overall, Fable 2 is definitely a game worth buying: looking past the very few glitches and the sense of rushed work give a beautiful insight into a universe of Heroes, magic, impossible creatures and awe-inspiring landscapes that another game may struggle to replicate. And one last thing: thank god for a game that at last puts the emphasis into looks and weapons, rather than using armor! Thank the gods, god or whatever.