October 26th 2010 saw the release of many big titles in the gaming world. Having had the chance to sit down with a few of them I've finally gotten around to reviewing one of the more anticipated titles, Fable 3. The third iteration in Lionshead Studios' trilogy promised to be bigger, better, and bolder. It boasted new mechanics such as "touch" which allowed you to interact with the in game characters in whole new ways. But does it manage to live up to the hype? Just a warning, there will be spoilers.
Story
Fable 3 picks up fifty years after the end of Fable 2. In this new game you are granted control of the prince(or princess) of Albion, the son(or daughter) of the hero from Fable 2. Your brother the king, Logan, is ruling the kingdom of Albion with an iron fist. The townspeople have become fed up with his tyranny and begin to revolt. Due to some rather dire circumstances, your trusty friend Walter escorts you from the castle as you begin your quest to become a hero and usurp the throne.
Through the main quest line you find yourself gaining support from underground revolutionaries and disenchanted soldiers. The story takes a turn when you visit a foreign land, Aurora. This sand filled continent houses another group of citizens bent on the removal of Logan as king as well as an evil creature that has devastated their land. Along the way you'll have to make certain promises to these people to rally them behind you.
When you return to Albion you will band together with your comrades and start the uprising. Yet another unexpected twist occurs when Logan willingly gives up the throne while warning you that the dark creature from Aurora will soon be arriving in Albion, thus justifying his tyrannical rule in return for building a proper army and defenses for the country.
It is then up to you as king to make the tough calls to protect the people while also keeping them satisfied. Will you be a benevolent king or just as terrible as Logan? Keeping your promises to those who joined your revolution could result in the deaths of millions. Choose wisely.
Graphics
Let's be honest, this game is gorgeous looking. The texturing and lighting is very well done. Characters, particularly the women, look fantastic and the industrial period garb is recreated flawlessly. The continent of Aurora is equally as amazing with its sprawling desert and sun drenched wasteland.
However there are some graphical hiccups. As I said before, the women look great in this game. Very well modeled and textured. The men don't have that same luxury. They come across very bland and expression-less. For a game that is all about interaction and character expression that can be a bit of a problem.
The 360 also shows a bit of its age this time around. While Fable 2 was a big game with expansive environments, it managed to process this information efficiently and without issue. Fable 3 looks great but you will definitely get some moments where the game will start to chug along before it evens out again. There are also some clipping issues throughout the game. It will not break the game for you but these things are definitely noticeable enough to the naked eye and even the casual gamer which I have observes while watching a friend play.
Gameplay
Lionshead wanted to do something revolutionary in this game. Thy set out to let players interact with the game world in a whole new way. In order to do this they came up with an entirely new game mechanic called "touch". With the press of a button you would be able to hold hands with a character, lead them, drag them, or even carry them.
It is quite nice to take your in game wife by the hand and stroll along with her, or even walking through the market holding the hand of your child. Agog the other end of the spectrum you will be afforded the chance to drag criminals back to prison or volunteers to the mine to work. It is definitely an interesting mechanic. Though it seems like they could do more with it. Provided the series continues I would like to sees them further explore this mechanic.
The controls are pretty much the same from Fable 2. One button controls your magic, one for melee combat, and another for ranged weaponry. The combat itself has not been changed either but it does seem a bit slower. The fact that the controls are very responsive helps to balance that out, unless you run into frame rate issues in mid-combat; then it can get a little tricky.
Lionshead also took the task of streamlining all the information that was tucked away into menus in the previous game. Instead of getting a list of options when you pause the game, you are taken to the Sanctuary. Here you are able inspect all aspects of your character progress with visual representations instead of lists. Also in the Sanctuary is your map for which you can survey your land and select your quests or micromanage your property. Having all that information laid out in front of you instead of hidden away in menus and lists is far more intuitive and much easier to keep track of.
Sound
First and foremost this game boasts an excellent cast; from John Cleese voicing your butler, Jasper, to Michael Fassbender voicing your brother, Logan. They all do fantastic jobs with their parts, but there are some drawbacks. For one, Logan isn't as integral part to the story as you may think and so you don't see him much. Jasper is your butler and tends to your Sanctuary. Unfortunately there is a glitch where Jasper completely stops talking and thus you are deprived of the quips voiced by Mr. Cleese. Meanwhile, the music and sound effects remain your standard Fable affair though mixed extremely well. They really help build upon the visual atmosphere.
Closing
In the end Fable 3 is a well crafted gaming experience but I personally feel it falls a little short of its lofty goals. The main story clocks in at about 10 hours without doing any side quests. This is pretty admirable and longer than Fable 2. However you aren't left with much to do after you have completed the end game.
While Fable 2 extended its life with a plethora of great side quests, Fable 3 seems to fall short in this regard. A lot of the quests come across as tedious work instead of being engaging. There is also a problem with the bread crumb trail disappearing at times which can hamper the trip to your destination.
Third, this is a good point that was brought up by a female friend who loves this series. This series has always been about choice. The problem with Fable 3 is that a lot of the choices have no bearing on what happens later in the game. Sure, some of the choices have a bearing on your alignment but what happened to the choices that had an overarching impact on the story? Also, it would be nice if they expanded their character expression sets. Many other games that allow players to play as men or women don't force the female characters to perform the same actions set for the male characters. While Lionshead did go through the trouble of changing dialogue to reflect your character's gender, the animation sets remain the same. Hopefully this is changed at some point as this series continues.
Lastly, the story is very good but the experience is short lived. Lionshead remarked how becoming king was not going to be the end of the game, you would actually have to maintain your kingdom. It is here the game really stumbles as this portion is only fifteen percent of the overall experience. It would have been nice to see some longer lasting effects to the bigger decisions you have to make as well. Lionshead introduced a lot of great ideas, I just hope they build upon and fully realize them in the next chapter.
(I'll be using a scale from 1-10 from now on)
Final Score: 7.5/ 10
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