It’s time to return to Albion for Fable III, where child labour is on the rise and a dastardly king rules the lands – what’s a hero to do? Begin a revolution.
The Fable series has always been one of the most curious and ambitious franchises in modern gaming, partly due to the reputation of developer Lionhead Studios’ creator Peter Molyneux. For every over-enthusiastic pre-release proclamation from Molyneux, one camp quivers while another merely rolls its eyes. Thus, one of the most surprising aspects of Fable III is that despite the title helping players sow the seeds of revolution, its gameplay succeeds through evolution and creating the tightest, most player-intuitive instalment of the series thus far.
Set over fifty years since the events of Fable II, Lionhead’s latest finds players in the midst of an industrial revolution in Albion, with child labour rife and the city in the grip of reviled leader King Logan, brother of our protagonist. After a lengthy but enjoyable chicken-packed opening sequence, players are suddenly thrust into a life-altering moral decision within the first half hour of play, a decision which we’ll admit had us downing our controller and staring at the screen before reaching a decision. Make no bones about it – Fable III’s storytelling grips from the very first hour and does not let up.
In fact, such is the narrative thrust of Fable III, we found ourselves bothering less with procuring property or even buying a house or raising a family – after all, it’s the Bowerstone Castle we’re really after, so why not crack on with exploring the landscape and winning over the lands of Albion to our cause? Perhaps it’s the inclusion of a voiced protagonist or perhaps better drawn characters (with Simon Pegg’s Ben Finn and Stephen Fry’s dastardly Reaver a hoot), yet we never found our interest in the Fable III storyline wavering, which is quite a change from its relatively slow-paced predecessor.
This is Logan. You will hate him
Aside from a burst of urgency in the storyline stakes, the fundamental difference players will notice is that everything in Fable III has been streamlined, to the point where aside from saving your game, there are no menus in the entire experience. John Cleese instead takes the role of royal butler Jasper, who runs The Sanctuary, a cunningly-disguised menu of its own, where players can visit the main map to fast travel or alter active quests or visit one of four rooms to change their weaponry, appearance, begin co-op sessions or view in-game achievements.
Some could argue that The Sanctuary and it’s ‘chambers’ are merely Playstation Home-style sub-menus all their own, and certainly some aspects (changing quests, swapping weapons) could be better served in real-time menus, yet our time with Jasper and the extremely detailed in-game map never felt like a chore. Having said that, The Sanctuary is not the only aspect of Fable that has been tweaked to hide its RPG roots – levelling up now involves traversing the snaking path of the Road to Rule.
Simply put, each town or village that players visit in Fable III is done with the core intention of winning over the locals and recruiting formidable allies from each land for your eventual rebellion against King Logan. Simple tasks (interacting favourably with locals, fighting in dungeons) yield guild seals, which, when a certain amount has been reached in each village, will allow players to continue the storyline, but not before visiting the aforementioned Road to Rule. Some of the higher-yielding quests are particular highlights, as they tend to alter the reality of your adventure; whether you’re trapped recreating a playwright’s work or embarking on a home-made quest after being shrunken to a miniature size.
Cleverly, each portion of the fog-blighted supernatural Road to Ruin path is punctuated by a gate, with access permitted once you have levelled up. With each gate (which eventually leads towards Bowerstone Castle, a nice touch) you can spend your guild seals on treasure chests contained inside, with new spells (expensive), rankings for your blacksmith/weapon/pie-making skills (also expensive) or gestures available. You can even combine spells if you open one particular chest.
As ever, expect some stunning visuals throughout
Presentation is another highpoint of Fable III. The first visit to Bowerstone Industrial in particular is a breathtaking sight, filled with tall, imposing brick factories and sullen children confined to a life of labour. While some gamers may clamour for the cheeriness and lush of Fable II’s greens, we challenge any player to hold that opinion once they’ve traversed the extremely dark, near-hallucinogenic desert land of Aurora. Easily the highlight of the entire Fable III experience, the mind-altering consequences of an ill-advised exploration of the land’s dungeons evoke the Scarecrow sequences of Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Sadly, no Fable title can ever be perfect and once again, the series’ lack of challenge is persistent throughout. There was no one occasion in our playthrough when our character died, and very little health potions were taken too. Simply put, Fable III’s combat, barring a fun mortar attack on the undead, lacks variety and will never have players sweating. It must also be said that the decision to barrage the player with ‘waves’ of attacks for nearly every combat challenge grows irritating and appears to serve little else aside from padding out the title’s completion time.
Finally, without going into much detail, we must pay homage to Lionhead’s decision in not just allowing players to take the throne, but to then continue the storyline afterwards with an ever greater threat. This is an absolute masterstroke. While many games would ready its end credits once player’s have reached their initial goal, Fable III challenges players to run a kingdom, live up to ambitious promises already kept to newfound allies and deal with an impending, inevitable danger. Similar to Mass Effect 2, players will not be able to simply change their mind at the last minute and fundamentally alter their ending, and not every ally is going to live happily ever after.
One of the reasons why Fable III’s pre-launch hype has been relatively muted is that unlike its predecessors, this Fable is not promising life-altering gameplay gimmicks or spouting overzealous PR statements that perhaps betray a lack of confidence. With Fable III, Peter Molyneux and Lionhead Studios have created a streamlined, tighter gameplay experience and as gamers, our reward is time with the greatest Fable adventure yet.
Format: Xbox 360, PC (TBA 2011); Developer: Lionhead Studios
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