Gamer Vantage First Look - Fable 2

Everyone who has ever loved RPGs and owned an XBOX has likely played Fable. Even those who do not fall into that category have likely heard of it or seen someone playing it. Personally, it ranks as one my favorite games. And so, here we are, looking forward to the release of it’s highly anticipated sequel - Fable 2.

For those few who were left out of the loop, Fable was an RPG where you started gameplay as a boy looking to earn a few gold to buy your sister a birthday gift. But, by the end of the day, your life was in shambles, your parents murdered, your sister kidnapped, and ended with you being ‘adopted’ into the Guild of Heroes in the land of Albion. As you literally grew and aged, you could complete quests, explore the land, and every choice you made not only affected you good/evil reputation and public opinion, but even affected your look.

This alone was enough to sell me on the game. And while short, and shipped with far less content than originally promised by developers, still made my top list. Everything that Fable was, and wasn’t, Fable 2 looks to deliver.

So, why don’t we jump in and see what it has to offer.

From released information on the game and footage of such - and a little digging around on the internet, we learn that your childhood starts off in a bleak and disturbed Albion centuries into the future… and it begins with no less of a heartbreak. All I’ll tell you though, is that you start with being the target of bird droppings. You also have an older sister who dreams big of things that will never come to pass for a couple of street kids such as yourselves.

Your first quest in the game as a child is to earn five gold coins to buy a supposedly magical box which grants one wish to the person who opens it. On your way to earning these gold pieces, you beat a bully senseless (who is abusing a homeless dog) and so make the dog a life-long companion.

Upon completing this small quest line, your sister makes a wish to live in Bowerstone Castle… which is granted. Too good to be true? You guessed right. The man who seems to be in charge of things at the castle proceeds to shoot your sister and none-too-kindly knock through a window that’s quite high up.

And so begins the main story arc of Fable 2 in which you seek to avenge your sisters death.

Interested yet? I am.

The combat system works much the same from the original Fable, but with tweaks and additions that make it much more interesting. Such as button combos are exactly as you would expect them to be from the title, but you now have the addition of ranged combat in the form of firearms. As well, the magic system as been revamped to introduce a leveled attack system. This means that the longer you press the button, the stronger your attack. Even more interesting is that there are no longer radial and direct attacks, but that each form of magic can be either. If you target an enemy, you attack them directly. If you chose not to target an individual, then your magic radiates from you to strike anyone and everyone within your range.

But the redesigned towns are the true marvel of the game. Townspeople AI is much more advanced as you would expect with the XBOX 360 to date. Every individual has a distinct and separate opinion of you based upon your actions towards them. You can even have a statue of yourself placed in the towns for people to either appreciate or loathe. But a more interesting feature is that if you chose to harass a town to much, not only will the guards attack you, but it can even get to a point where they will hunt you across the entire face of Albion.

So, as you can see, this is the game to wait for. Look for it in October as well as our review of it then. And remember that you found it right here on Gamer Vantage.

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