Hi!
As I have mentioned in a previous entry not too long ago I got a new X-Box 360 Slim when my old one RRoD'ed. The guy who sold it to me managed to convince me to buy the package deal with two extra games - Halo: Reach and Fable III. Since I don't have anything to play right now, I decided to at least give Fable III a chance and check it out.
Fable III is an RPG that takes place in a fantasy world called Albion (an anagram of Albino perhaps??). It says in the intro of the game that it takes place in the age of industry, but when playing the game it becomes apparent that it's really about Fable III being steam punk rather than fantasy. At first I thought this was a bit of a bummer, because I prefer straight-up high fantasy to steam punk, but the latter works fine in Fable III. This is a fantasy-skewed steam punk where there still is a lot of magic and melee combat involved (I don't know about you, but did they really use swords in combat after the age of industry had been introduced here on Earth?).
The game plays pretty much like any other RPG. You are a man or woman on a quest to bring the people together to overthrow the evil dictator who rules the kingdom, this person also happens to be your brother. You hack and slash through monsters to level up. I didn't realize it until I had finished the game and saw the credits, but this actually is a Peter Molyneux game, which makes a lot of sense when you think about it. As you play the game you can decide to go on all these strange side quests, like interacting and becoming friends with NPCs. You can also marry people and have children... All for an extremely mariginal gain, it's just thrown in there. There are also many choices throughout the game to determine whether you are good or evil - which I suppose change the ending, I've only finished it while being a goody two shoes.
I think Fable III was a nice experience, not something you write home to your parents about, but perfectly fine all things considered. The graphics are of varied quality, the characters for example look so-so. I get that they are supposed to be at least somewhat stylized, but their textures and models look only slightly better than those found in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess which is an old game by now. The enviroments look awesome though, probably the best I've seen in a game so far actually. Normally I'm not a huge fan of RPGs outside of Zelda or Pokémon, but they did a good job here of mixing it up with hack n' slash and it also has some good voice acting by who has to be John Cleese among others. My main complaint concerns the story and pacing of the game. It's hard to say too much without spoiling it, but when you think the game is going to be over, a deus-ex-machina-like revelation occurs and you have to continue playing through a seemingly pointless and strange final portion of the game. They could've handled this part better for sure, but it's just a minor annoyance in an otherwise nice game.
Laters!
