Player’s Club: Fable II reviewed
November 4, 2008 at 4:55 pm by Garrett Martin in A&E
Fable II
Released Oct. 21
Xbox 360
Developed by Lionhead Studios
Published by Microsoft Game Studios
The concept of choice in video games is tricky. Does free will really exist in a situation where every possible decision has been programmed in by another person? Fable II wants to say it does, and the game impressively presents an illusion of meaningful decision making. At heart, though, no matter what the player chooses, he or she is merely treading down one of many branching paths laid by an overworked team of programmers and game designers. That doesn’t make Fable II a failure by any measure, but knowledge of the fundamental lack of free will does run somewhat counter to a large part of the game’s appeal.
But let me back up a bit. Fable II is a new action-adventure role-playing game (or RPG, for short) available for the Xbox 360. RPGs are about immersion, allowing players to become intimately involved in worlds more fantastic than their own. Fable II initially does an excellent job of sucking the player into the land of Albion, a fantasy version of pre-industrial England that feels like a cross between Middle Earth and something from a Monty Python skit. Over time the seams become increasingly more obvious, though, and for a variety of reasons that immersion is impossible to maintain.
Take the game’s socializing system. Your player will meet hundreds of non-playable characters throughout Albion’s many towns. There’s a decent range of expressions you can use around these characters, such as dancing, whistling, giving a thumb’s up, and other such actions. Make a friendly or entertaining expression, and the townspeople will like you. Eventually they might like you enough to follow you around endlessly, and even beg you to marry them. This is fascinating at first, but quickly becomes annoying— they won’t leave you alone. Plus they repeat themselves constantly, saying the same 10 or so phrases over and over. This spoils whatever realism the game attains. Annoying villagers can be scared away with other expressions, or even killed, if you want, but those actions lead to an equally limited number of outcomes.
Still, despite becoming a nuisance, the social interaction is mostly a point in Fable II’s favor. My dude took a wife, bought a nice house, became a father, and is now the leading shop owner in his home town. He’s a successful businessman of action who will not hesitate to smite any asshole who tries to screw with him. The lifestyle simulation aspect is genuinely satisfying, despite the inherent limitations of the social interaction engine.
Fable II probably sounds like Animal Crossing at this point, full of home making and friendly chats. But it’s primarily an RPG, so there’s a ton of questing to be done. It’s a very streamlined and straightforward process, though, with a simple combat mechanic and an option to skip directly to the location where each sub-quest begins, rather than having to fumble about the countryside looking for the right cave or group of highwaymen to attack. The difficulty is very forgiving, and so Fable II is a wonderful option for gamers who love adventure but hate having to restart after dying. The actual game play might be too easy for more serious or tenured gamers, but the overall experience is varied and unique enough to still appeal to the hardcore.
Back to choice, then. Many of the decisions you make in Fable II impact both your character and his surroundings. Towns can flourish or die over time, depending on your actions. Your player’s appearance can gradually change from normal to beautiful or demonic to match your personal morality. Angering or helping certain non-playable characters leads to serious repercussions in the future. Decisions are felt, but only in prescribed ways. Yes, you can determine the development of Albion, but every outcome is laid down by the designers. It’s highly nuanced, sure, but despite its emphasis on morality and free will Fable II remains linear. Still, although the game might fall victim to its own outsized ambition, it remains engrossing and impressive.
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