Platform: Xbox 360

Rating: 7.9  |  0 User Reviews  |  Send to Friend

By Scott Hesel

You know the old saying:  Try to please everyone, and you end up pleasing nobody.  Fable II dangerously skirts the line here, reeling in the difficulty level and streamlining the combat system in order to appeal to novices, while expanding the deep sandbox world and its requisite character development that made the original Fable such a hit.  The new combat system is intermittently fun, such as when your character is roaming the country and fighting random pockets of bandits. Overall, however, it really amounts to little more than button mashing, and quickly gets tiresome in the storyline missions, where you face wave after wave of enemies.  The plot is too short and easy (you can’t even die), and the story seems to end just as you’re getting going.  Finally, the map is awful, and it really denies you a sense of place in what is otherwise an extremely lively universe.  Fortunately, the sheer ability to influence the world around you, coupled with the excellent atmospherics, make Fable II a decent sequel despite these “action-RPG for dummies” flaws.   Without revealing too much, there are ways you can change the world of Albion that are both startling and subtle, and each town and city feels lived-in and vibrant.  At its best, therefore, Fable II doesn’t recall an RPG, but rather the Quest For Glory series for Sierra on Next-Gen steroids.  Like its distant Sierra predecessor, this title produces a rich fairytale world with a real vulnerability that dupes you into believing that its very livelihood depends on your actions.  If you believe that games are a form of escapism, then that’s all you can ask for in a title.  Now, about that combat system…

Game Play:  7.5

Controls are responsive, but the moves are limited and repetitive.  Changing magic spells in combat is nigh-impossible.

Graphics:  9.0

Rich and colorful, with an undercurrent of menace.

Sound:  8.9

Superb orchestral score.

Value:  8.4

There are many ways you can influence Albion, and this makes up for the disappointing story.

Overall:  7.9

A flawed, but worthy sequel.      

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