Fable (Xbox)

Lionhead Studio’s have been at Fable for some time now. Indeed Fable, under another title that was then code named Project Ego has been in development even before the Xbox was launched. Why the long wait?

Peter Molyneux. The mans name alone gives some insight into the lengthy development riddled with delays. It must be said that Molyneux is an avid and devoted game developer with such a passion and love for all his creations that to label some of his more outrageous game concepts “overly ambitious” may at times seem somewhat understated. A potent mix of enthusiasm and penchant for pushing the artistic and technological boundaries in software development has provided Molyneux with the credibility to assign as much time and tools as required by Lionhead Studio’s. Microsoft has provided this in the hopes Molyneux can produce something truly special for the Xbox. An RPG like no other. A world as yet unseen on any gaming platform. The world of Fable.

Fable. A myth, a story passed down from generation to generation, its intricate details lost in translation. Indeed that is exactly what Fable is. The saying “No fable is ever the same” is exactly the motto Molyneux strives to provide.
 
At present the ability to provide in game AI rivalling that of a human opponent or friend can only be described as rudimentary. Blocked by a set of simple “rules” by which the game world revolves the player only ever has a superficial level of freedom. Ever played a game and thought “geez I wish I could do this, damn that would be cool!” Perhaps come up with a brilliant plan of conquest only to find the boundaries of the game simply forces you to complete the task the one way, the only way. Admit it, your probly also the sort of person that spent hours jacking cars and attempting to run over innocent pedestrians in Grand Theft Auto. Indeed the gamer has themselves come up with some ways of providing in game entertainment that was never actually intended by the developer. Well, this is exactly what Fable is all about.

RPG’s are well known to provide the player a level of freedom, to accept missions that in no way affect the main quests outcome. To wander freely from town to town talking to the townsfolk, maybe even killing off a few NPC’s here and there to steal their gold and treasures. Its been a long time staple of the RPG genre and its evident throughout Fable, however Fable offers the closest and most believable world yet to grace a video game. Infact the game openly tempts and encourages you, perhaps even mocks you to try the less than obvious means to an end. Each decision however will come at a cost. 

KoToR introduced a system of Light and Dark, Good and Evil. Why go out on a mission to collect someone elses bounty in return for a small portion of the profit when you could just keep the lot? These are the decisions players were invited to try in KoToR. An honerable decision scored you light points, a dishonerable decision dark points. This works much the same way in Fable but to a far greater extent. 

As the story unfolds your characters demeanor and actions shape his physical appearance. Continually performing good deeds will see your hero grow into a warrior of  true distinction, a man of great spirit and physical attractiveness, woo’ing the ladies, adored by townsfolk and able to express sorrow, forgiveness and love. Perform bad deeds however and your characters appearance will show him for what he truely is. From the innocent little boy will grow a Demon of feared reverance. A horned Demon with glowing red eyes and pale complexion sneering at all who pass by. Men, women and children will fear your presence, shopkeeps will plead with you not to steal from them, guards will watch you intently. These appearances will affect the way you interact with townsfolk, wether you are renown for good gestures or bad, wether you are applauded and loved or isolated and feared.

How does one grow to be so evil? If you have a wild imagination, easily. Bored of being the little guy in town, feel you should be telling them what to do? Maybe you should be the local Mayor? How do you get elected to such a position? Well if you were so inclined, you could marry the mayors daughter. That would get you into a nice and cosy position. Still not the most powerful person in town though are you? Maybe knocking off the mayor himself, shortly follwed by his daughter to inherit the town is the best way to go? Maybe you could run through the town killing all the men, marrying their widows and buying up the estate?

Married? In power but spent all your money getting absolutely sloshed and puking down at the local tavern? Simply get a few shopkeepers drunk and while their in a drunken stupor rip them off blind. Cant marry? Not attractive enough for the ladies then maybe getting them a little tipsy and offering them some gifts might be just the way to get into a womens panties…..errr heart.

Never has anyone one title offered such freedom. There are a multitude of ways in which to obtain that which you want, so long as you realise that some of what you are doing is morally sub-par, but thats half the fun.

This level of freedom is in some ways a double edged sword however, for the main quest, possibly even including all sub quests is incredibly short by RPG standards. Think 10hrs of play on the first run through. Yes, that short. However this is where the freedom comes in. It is possible, between buying real estate, renting, marrying, playing pub games, bribing, murdering, vandalising, kicking chickens, farting on women, puking at the local bar, giving the finger to the guards, sneering at children till they cry or even giving a prospect bride the “COME ON!!” pelvic thrust of sexual indecency; to spend hours without even looking at doing a quest. Indeed the afforementioned doesnt even scratch the surface of whats on offer to do in the Fable world. Adding more longevity, if you have completed the main quest embracing an angelic presence, maybe its time to go down the path of evil? Or vice versa. For the ten or so hours completing the main quest, its possible to spend anything up to five times that coming to grips with every little option available for you to exploit. Indeed simply slicing your way straight through the guts of Fable is to deny yourself the bulk of the gaming experience.

As technically impressive as Fable is in play, its graphically not up to the same standard. Indeed Fable looks good however theres a number of flaws here to prevent it from supplying gamers with the level of eye candy they might normally expect. As a whole Fable just doesnt better its competition Sudeki for looks. The character and world models are solid with some brilliant particle effects that does put Fable a cut above other xbox titles. However, one of the main problems plaguing Fable graphically are textures. Fable has some of the worst textures gracing the xbox console. Granted for the most part your never really close enough to realise this, anything shown within 3m of the hero looks incredibly blurred. Even more intriguing however is the hero’s clothing. Taking your top off to show some incredibly well textured tattoo’s is pleasing only to have the beautiful body art covered in what looks at best, armor that was painted using an oil canvas. Some textures look sub-PS2 standard which is a very rare thing on xbox. Wether intentional or not however these short comings are masked by the ‘bloom’ effect used so frequently throughout the title. Bloom is the effect of softening and over exposing where the light hits any surface or image and while this at first looks to be rather excessive, it really does look quite amazing once the player has warmed to its effect.

If you have hung on this far without running out and buying Fable your either broke or lack the imagination required to possibly forsee the mischief / heroics you are able to unfold through the titles story. If two players were to sit side by side and play Fable through its main quest, the Hero’s appearance, the towns reaction to him and all that the Hero has achieved throughout his life would be vastly different. The level of freedom is unparalled and the sheer possibilities this game offers make this title worthy of purchase.

Graphics: 4/5 – Some parts look spectacular, others look decidedly average.
Sound: 3.5/5 – Good, but not great. The musical score is brilliant if somewhat over used. English accents can become grating.
Gameplay: 5/5 – Wanna do it? Then do it. Dont wanna do it? Just go kick some chickens.
Longevity: 4.5/5 – Very short main quests. Those with a good imagination however, will find unparallel levels of replayability and enjoyment waiting to be discovered.

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