Fable, a franchise built upon ideas of immense ambition and realms of magnificent fantasies, has delivered yet another flawed adventure in the form of Fable III. Another Fable game that made claims and promises far superior than it could fulfill but still managing to be charming and amusing in its silly manner. Fable III brings many new ideas to the table but fails at trying to implement them in a more blended way. The game claimed its strength in some of the most unnecessary aspects it introduced while disregarding all the fundamental issues of the series. Where the previous entries in the series took us on epic journeys through dream-like lands filled with adventures and endings of grand conclusions, Fable III starts off as grand as ever but instead of evolving into a single conformed journey it has been dispersed into little trips to various regions across Albion in pursuit of followers.
Fifty years have passed since the events of Fable II and the age of industry has arrived upon Albion where the rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer. The kingdom is being ruled by a tyrannical king named Logan who also happens to be your elder brother, son of the Hero from Fable II. Albion is in a miserable state and the people are desperate for a hero to lead a revolution. With you being the prince or princess of Albion, things were going pretty smooth in your life until Logan’s corrupt morales forced you into making a harsh decision by putting life and death into your hands. Things change after that and you vow to avenge for what Logan made you do and so starts the uprising. The game does an amazing job at portraying the industrialized age of Albion where wealth is power and the poor strive for a better living. You will see the wealthy elites dressed as pompously as ever whereas the poor will walk around with their heads hung low.
To lead a revolution you are required to gather followers and build an army strong enough to overthrow Logan’s rule and claim the throne as your own. Accompanied by Sir Walter, your mentor and Jasper, the servant you travel all across Albion to meet with leaders of different regions and in order to win their support and the support of their people you will be required to carry out various tasks to prove your worth. After successfully earning their trust you give your word to the people that things will be changed once you become King or Queen – the typical promises potential rulers make before taking control and its really upto you after taking the throne whether you want to fulfill your promises at the cost of the kingdom’s treasury or just be a scrooge and enjoy a room filled to the ceiling with gold, pretty realistic if you ask me.
Fable III clearly defines the “Good” and “Evil” choices leaving little room for making a decision based on a player’s own moral understanding. Since being “evil” is clearly at odds with the character of the Hero it is safe to say that this is just another aspect of the game that has been made overly easy. For the later part of the game where you become the ruler, Fable III does an exceptional job of depicting decision-making. Becoming the ruler does not mean everything will go unicorns-and-tea-parties, but instead the choices you have to make during that period prove to be extremely challenging. As you will find out that in a year’s time a terrible threat will strike Albion and if you have not set up strong enough defenses for your nation’s survival – I wish you good luck ruling an empty kingdom. Fulfilling the promises you made to the people means you will be sacrificing that gold piled up in your kingdom’s treasury, but you can always be a selfish jerk and break your promises, afterall that’s what leaders do but then there’s your popularity at stake too. This segment of the game was extremely well thought-out but lasted only for a really small time.
Something that is really characteristic about Fable is its humour and Fable III is full of the absurd and the ridiculous. Only in Fable will you find an evil baron kidnap a princess and hold her in an evil tedy bear factory or demonic fire-spitting chickens trying to kill you or royal decisions being made in a chicken outfit or have a classic case of black children from white parents. Fable is british humour at its best, well actually its bloody brilliant.
Coming to combat, it is exactly the same as it was before with each button assigned to melee, ranged and magic attacks however this time round, the game has been completely stripped of its RPG elements as you will no longer be collecting experience orbs nor will there be a health bar on the screen. The experience orbs have been replaced by guild seals which you will collect by completing quests, killing enemies or interacting with the people of Albion. These guild seals open chests located on the “Road to Rule” which is a mythical path that mirrors your progress throughout the game. These chests contain weapon upgrades, socializing techniques and job wages – sort of. This new feature of “Road to Rule” is divided into ten portions which open up as you progress through the game.
Speaking of new features, the Sanctuary is a completely new and unique idea implemented in the series. Managed by your trusty butler, Jasper, the Sanctuary is what you may call a visual representation of the menus. Pressing the start button no longer takes you to a dull and ugly menu navigating through which is nothing less than finding your way in a labyrinth. This time menus got a complete overhaul, the Sanctuary consists of several rooms and an interact-able map in the centre. The armory is where all your weapons are kept so in order to change or equip your weapons you must enter the Sanctuary and then the armory where your weapons will be all categorically displayed. Similarly the clothing room has rows of mannequins with all your outfits, a trophy room with all your achievements and a LIVE room showing yours and your friends’ online statistics.
However there is a fine line between simplifying and dumbing the hell out of a game. The expression wheel no longer exists and your interactions with the citizens consist of random "good", "bad" and "rude" expressions. Another thing is that you can only interact with one NPC at a time and perform the same monotonous expressions over and over again. The golden trail still does not work properly and the NPCs have a real tendency of bumping into you. I wouldn’t really touch the subject of difficulty because Fable has never shown any regard for difficulty and we are fine with it – I actually completed the game without even getting knocked out once. Perhaps Lionhead never heard the saying ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, because it seems they spent most of their time implementing all the ideas Molyneux came up and its upsetting because Fable III took many small steps forward but a massive step backward.
Value/Worth: 7
Fable III is unique and the portion as a ruler is the defining factor for this game. There is a lot to do here, you can do side-quests, unlock locations, become a business magnate or just start a family and have fun.
Graphics: 7
For a game running on such an old engine, it looked pretty decent with colourful scenery and a beautiful world. However character designs still look quite ugly and there is massive lag in cutscenes and crowded areas.
Sound: 9
Superb. A brilliant voice-cast with the likes of Sir Ben Kingsley and Stephen Fry combined with awesome sound effects, Fable III really excelled in this department.
Gameplay: 8
The combat plays the same and there is still the same variety of enemies. You can buy properties, start families, do jobs and perform numerous other tasks so its core Fable and its great.
Overall: 8
A good and intriguing story with some brilliant moments but it could have used some more days in the oven.
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