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When Lionhead Studios announced a secondary release that would extend the gameplay of Fable, I know I wasn't the only one who rolled their eyes in disbelief. Was I disappointed that the action roleplaying game was being re-released? Of course I wasn't, because this gave Microsoft a chance to sharpen up the visuals and add a little more depth to an already amazing game. What I came to find was that not only did they not clean up the graphics, but what small amount of content they added wasn't nearly enough to make a brand new title.
The game of Fable is one that has never been done before. You venture through the body of your Hero, taking on his scars and his inner demons to a very physical point. Lionhead Studios did a fantastic job of putting you in this kid's shoes as he's raised to become a hero in Albion. You're trained with both a melee weapon and a ranged weapon while also having the option of magic. This is common in games and usually you'll find one major attack to adopt and use it like a crutch, so when an enemy comes along that takes a certain discipline to defeat; you're overwhelmed. The story of your hero is the true gem of this game though, so you almost feel as if building up combat multipliers is just a chore to get to the next cut-scene.
What this game lacks in actual meat, it overflows with choices. You can bulk up your hero, cut his hair and even cover his body in various tattoos that affect how the townsfolk view him. Women will fall in love with you, men are soon to follow and wherever you go, people will either hiss or cheer at the mere footsteps you bestow on their land. It's honest in how it's shows repute and celebrity, which is fantastic. Say you get caught stealing, and not by some "Eye in the Sky" AI, but actually by being viewed; a small eye shows up letting you know how many people are close enough to see you stealing. When people catch you, the guards will chase you down and you will be kicked out or pay fines until they've finally forgotten.
The choices and tasks are what give this game it's brilliance, because the Lords of gaming sure didn't shine down on this title with the love of graphics. The eyes are always off-set from the faces of the townsfolk. As if someone plucked them from within their skulls and just lazily dropped them back in. Getting stuck in one of the crazy graphical glitches is way too easy because they spent more time designing hairstyle cards than smoothing out the edges like they should've. A fault? No, just too much too soon from a quick-to-market company like Microsoft.
While I could sit here and complain about the repetitive action and the bastard child of a graphics system, there's not a thing to complain about when it comes to control. The gameplay is almost second nature, due to the flexible key mapping adjustment and the ease of use of the mouse. The camera has it's faults, but that goes back to dealing with graphics. A good example of this is you'll see a woman standing over to the left when entering Bowerstone South; move the mouse quickly towards her face, and her skirt will come off to reveal two unfinished legs. The mouse was quick to respond to the sudden action, but the graphics couldn't keep up.
Thinking back, the title would definitely play a lot easier on a console where the abilities of an engine are capped off for the Xbox. It doesn't matter what kind of graphics card you have, what kind of sound card you possess because every console is the same. If I were to want to test out the ultimate experience of Fable and venture through the world of Albion, I'd stay far away from the PC version and slip into the Xbox. Consequently, the original Fable is half the price of this newer copy and you'd get a guaranteed hit rather than pay fifty dollars for a couple new chapters and no real seen improvements. I loved the first go around and I enjoyed the second, but there's not enough of a difference for anybody to get excited over this extended version.
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