Fable 2 Review

Who will you be? You choose to be the savior or the scourge of mankind in Fable 2. You begin your adventure as a young street urchin, dreaming of one day living in Fairfax Castle; then one day, a traveling merchant offers to sell a magical music box that grants one wish for five gold. This is where your story begins. Five gold coins to grant one wish. In a life where food, shelter, and safety are unreliable- can five gold coins really change your life?

The Good:

- Dog. A loyal, faithful companion that will follow you wherever you go. It will fight alongside you, it will guard your house, it will be your best friend. Where nobody else dare go, he will go. Care for him, teach him tricks, console him when he's scared. If you love dogs, this guy will wreck any neo-pet you've ever overfed.
- Real estate. You can buy just about every building in the game with enough money, including shops and stalls. You can live in these houses, or rent them out for income, as will you gain income from the stores you own (as well as a discount when purchasing). You generate income even when the game isn't on, and automatically updates your gold when you log back in the next time around.
- Polygamy. Definitely new in gaming. You can have multiple husbands and wives. You can have multiple husbands and wives of different sexual orientation. You can even have orgies with them. Condoms are for sale at most general store vendors. You can also dabble in necrophilia. Sortof. I must say Fable 2 definitely pushes the envelope when it comes to adult considerations, more-so than any other mainstream game out there, at least.
- Earning money is easy. There's a lot of sales and shortages going on in Albion, and an entrepreneurial player such as yourself can purchase in time of large sales to resell during times of major shortages for huge sums of profit. That's always good. You can also pick up jobs like blacksmithing, bartending, or woodcutting to make money. Obviously the more you do it, the more money you make. Plus it doesn't really require any thought, except for the whole timing thing.
- Experience potions. For hefty sums, you can actually buy potions that will grant you experience points. Neat for those skills that you never use and never plan on but think are fun to have simply because you have nothing else to get.

The Bad:

- Main storyline. Short and terrible. If you are looking for a story with depth, go play something else. If you are looking for a story that will last you a while, go play something else. If you are looking for a story, you really might as well go play something else. With a main questline that will last you less than full day of play, and even less fulfillment, I have no choice but to lay the storyline of Fable 2 in the section of the Bad.
- Action RPG. While the genre of "action RPG" has definitely been expanded thanks to Lionhead Studios, there is still a major lack of variety here in terms of "action." In a game where a player repeats the same action repeatedly (such as attacking), Fable 2 does not deliver an enjoyable experience for the amount of fighting expected in an action RPG. In terms of equipment, theres a variety of 5 melee and 5 ranged weapons to choose from, with even fewer classes of weapon rankings. In terms of skills, "new" skills you gain through leveling for melee are... blocking, stronger swings, and finally- counterattack. Ranged weapons, also known as "dexterous styles," have even less to offer. The first rank allows you to roll (dodge), second rank allows you to aim generically at a target rather than just firing from the hip, third rank gets you zoom, and finally at the fourth rank you finally can sub target a body part or weapon you want to hit. All these things you can do from the get-go in MOST games, or in cases where you don't, do not require ridiculous quantities of levelling to be done to be able to do. Magic gives you a little bit more variety, but you soon find yourself using the same 2 or 3 skills at most over and over. That's a great RPG.
- Saving sucks. You get an individual save slot for each character you make, but everytime you progress with that character you must override your old save- and autosave is automatically on. So you can't go back and retry different choices, generally. Which really blows.
- Co-op, and lack thereof. You can join a friend or vice versa in Fable 2, as a henchman. You get equivalent skill points and gear as the Hero, but really- you're still just a henchman. I think everyone was expecting to you know, have two heroes join forces. But no, you're really just a henchman. You still keep all the experience and loot you pick up (assuming your friend will share), but still, you are a henchman. I'm sure some people would pay to be the sidekick, but for the rest of us, we'll stick to our heroes.
- Customization. A limited number of ways to customize the way your character looks, as well as their build. Since there is no armor available in the game, and clothes do nothing mechanically speaking, the only saving grace here is that there are a fair amount of clothes to go around (and you can dye them a variety of colors).
- A lacking soundtrack. Roleplaying games usually having a good variety of music, but surprisingly Danny Elfman and Russell Shaw did not deliver here. Not their best work, and not the most fitting for the game. Others may think otherwise, but this is my review, and that is my assessment.

Overall:

Peter Molyneux has tried to push the boundaries of the RPG genre, and indeed in some places he has done so with Fable 2. Fans of the first may very well enjoy the sequel simply because the offerings are very similar, but for the rest of us, the finished product simply failed to impress. For those interested, keep in mind that Fable 2 is an action RPG, not a traditional one. If you haven't played the first Fable or are simply not familiar, I suggest renting before buying here just so you know what you're getting into.

- Jack