Fable ||| is the kind of game that will have you creating a
depression in your couch so large it may actually engulf you. This is the one
true power of all greatest of video games. The great thing about Fable is that
the protagonist has just the right mix of personality and vagueness that makes
it the perfect mould for any prospective player to really see themselves as the
character. Unlike Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, whose main character Ezio was
so vapid most people have a hard time even pretending they want to be him,
Fable ||| allows you to immerse yourself in the world of Albion like a Duck to
a bread crumb. Isn't that what great games are all about, the character? (Sorry
C.O.D players, guess you're shit out of luck.)
Fable ||| kind of picks up where 2 left
off. You arrive in a less than ideal version of Albion. Your mother, or father
(depending on which gender you select at the start of the game) was the last
hero of Albion and you are one of her/his children. Now your evil sibling has
become a tyrant and rules over Albion with an iron fist the likes of which no
peasant comments come close to vilifying enough. You are the naive pampered
prince or princess of Albion and when you discover your brother has gone mad
and the decisions he has been making you decide to confront him.
There’s only one thing going to come of an
underdog royal ousted by their sibling, that’s right, a struggle for power. I
won't put too many spoilers in but the game is split into two main parts, the
first your journey to oust your brother from the throne and usher in a new era
of peace and kindness and all the good things, because that's the kind of ruler
you would be wouldn't you, everything will be peaches. Until the second half
arrives and with it a twist so emotionally frustrating you'll find yourself
jumping out of your couch depression and yelling at the screen. If any of you
played Fable 2 I liken it to the end scene with the dog. It's that heart-wrenching.
The game has all of the staple elements
that make fable so playable, the immense capacity to wander with the ease of
quick travel if you aren't in the mood to roam. The comic characters juxtaposed
with the plain tragic. The longing transvestites, who you'll marry, mixed with
the dark deeds you secretly hope your lover will never discover. But these
things have been done in the previous Fables, the tried and true at the heart
of what we all play RPG's for, what has Fable 3 really brought to the table
that hasn't been thoroughly digested already? The answer to that is not much;
the combat is pretty much identical all be it slightly easier once you have levelled
up your magic to the point where you just hold down B before limply removing
your thumb to enjoy the decimation of wave after wave of hollow men.
You can use melee or magic and despite it
not being all that necessary I found myself using a mixture of both just to
increase the difficulty and to give myself the illusion that I was playing a
game that required me to use more than one button. The game has some
interesting areas too, particularly the desert called Shifting Sands and its
city of Aurora. This is where the second half of the game gets interesting as
the kingdom of Albion faces a great threat from across the seas and you must
begin to make some hard decisions on how to deal with it.
Ultimately Fable 3 is an exquisitely
playable game with an ending that crashes abruptly to a halt with all the
subtlety of a faked orgasm.
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