Though Fable 3, successor to two hugely successful games, is dramatically glitchy and victim to some slightly clunky gameplay the storyline is genuinely quite fun. With its ‘seize the kingdom’ campaign you will be sat at the very helm of Albion as its monarch, and who can say no to that? The game itself has a short storyline but lots of side quests and places to explore. There are several irritating little gameplay features though that cannot go unmentioned, for instance, the interaction with NPCs in the game has deteriorated to that of childish one on one dancing and playing 'patty-cake' with individual people, among other things. The map system is fairly awful; a large, interactive 3D map is manageable but there is no way of telling where you are at any given time which leads to much frustrated running about, looking for noticeable landmarks. Finally, the ending of the game basically requires you to have a great deal of wealth if you want to have a 'good guy' ending but making this wealth is time consuming and extremely difficult, no matter how many properties you own. This often leaves gamers having to plug in a controller and leave the game on idle so enough gold can accumulate before the 'point of no return', not exactly an ideal gameplay feature.
The graphics are extremely similar to the last title making the transition almost seamless and the new combat is definitely improved; bringing new features to magic and elevating the status of melee and ranged due to the new legendary weapons. This Fable is, as usual, peppered with great British irony and humour which elevates it to the status of one of the most successful comedy adventure games on the market. The dialogue, quests and storylines are both amusing and interesting with genuinely memorable characters like Chesty ; a demonic, static chest, and Brian; a neurotic garden gnome collector who’s blighted by obscenely insultive runaway gnomes. The importance of decision and morality that is previous in all Fable titles is now more important than ever as you’ll soon be responsible for the lives and happiness of hundreds of thousands of citizens. Whilst Fable 3 is not as good as the previous titles it still sits as a decent sequel for those looking for a quirky but entertaining game that leaves just one, final question; how will you rule?
Score - 7/10
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| Preferably with the crown on. |
