Project Ego
Written: Mar 17 '07 (Updated Mar 17 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Addictive, Graphics, Sound, Fun
Cons: A bit short. Not as revolutionary as hoped for
The Bottom Line: While it doesn't live up to it's hype, what could? Fable is still a fun game
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| flash-hammer's Full Review: Secret of Evermore for Super Nintendo (SNES) |
Fable is a game that seemed to be in production forever, under the working title of Project Ego, it seemed to float between platform to platform as consoles came and went in the time it was in production. When it finally did arrive, on the Xbox, it was following, quite literally, years of hype, hype that may well have crippled it. The man behind it, Peter Molyneaux, claimed it was going to be 'The best RPG ever', which may be quite a heady claim, given that I hate RPGs, it still doesn't say much to me, but seeing as Bioware's Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic games were starting to draw me closer into this whole 'liking RPGs' mindset, and Fable looked like it worked along the same lines, I figured I would give it a go at some point. I waited until I could pick up a copy for 12 quid preowned, and got stuck right into it.
Fable is an action RPG where the player can make decisions that affect the outcome of the game. You can be a straight laced good guy, or a bend-the-rules nasty type. To be perfectly honest it's Jade Empire set in a different time period. In fairness, I'm sure Fable actually came out before Bioware's masterpiece, I can't quite remember, but even if it didn't, it would be foolish to claim Fable copied it, given that the game was in some stage of development when the Bioware staff were being born, but that's really what it felt like. It should also be noted the Good/Evil system was first encountered by this gamer in another Peter Molyneaux game, the kind-of-cool but disappointing Black & White on the PC.
The plot is set in a Fantasy medieval time, although it still has a very British feel to it, with all of the characters adopting various variants on English, Scottish and Welsh accents, and uses of traditional British words. Like "arse". Anyway, the plot follows a young, nameless, boy who lives in the small village named Oakvale, which comes under attack from bandits one evening, with only him left as a survivor. Rescued by Maze, a Wizard of the Heroes Guild, the boy is taken into the guild and trained to be a hero, taught the three disciplines of attack, melee combat, archery and Will(magic), before being unleashed into the World to find his path in life.
To say much else would give away the plot, which may not be hugely original, but it does have some fairly nice twists to it. If there is one complaint I have, it's that your personality doesn't quite affect the plot as drastically as in Bioware's similar games, and apart from the last decision you have to make, I really couldn't see how the game could go Good/Evil in a drastic fashion.
I mean, while a lot of decisions you have to make, such as telling a woman her husband is cheating, are pretty clear-cut, there really aren't many opportunities to fall into the middle, you are either straight-up heroic or evil. No decisions gave me slight Evil points, levelling me at around the middle, I ended up a perfect hero.
Still, the plot kept me interested enough to keep playing, so it is pretty good. The game is possibly a bit on the lean side, with me completing it, after taking part in a good few side-quests, in about 10 hours, but for as long as it lasts, Fable will keep you playing. It's very addictive.
The gameplay follows the path blazed by Jade Empire, in that just because it's a Role Playing Game, it doesn't mean it's forced to use a diabolical turn-based combat system, with Fable controlling not unlike your average Beat 'em Up or Adventure game when it comes to combat, with an attack button, a choice of two types of weapon to draw, or the ability to unleash magic, as well as a block/dodge and a guard-breaking attack. You also naturally have a variety of items to collect, from health potions and food to various types of weapon and armour.
Speaking of that, if there is one thing I do like about the game, it's the ability to customise your character's appearance fairly well. At least, you can change his haircut, clothing and give him tattoos. I would have liked the option to select a hair-colour for the character, but still, it's better than nothing.
One complaint I have that is both aesthetic and gameplay related, is the time system. The game tells you how long you have been playing in real time, as well as game time. However, I aged about 10 years in 4 Game Days. While, in a neat move, if you overuse magic you age prematurely, I hadn't done this, I rarely used magic at all, and I found this quite irritating.
If there is one praise I will sing, that may seem minor, but when playing the game, it adds life to it, because it's fun getting side-tracked and doing all these silly little things, is the way you can interact with the non-story related characters. You can get a wife, buy a house and do all sorts of neat little things like this, which makes the game more fun than it's main quest is. Sadly I never really saw any opportunity to have enough money to buy a house until quite late into the game, when you aren't given as much chance to chill and swan around, it's one core quest to the next.
You see, there are two types of quest, the core ones that are relevant to the plot, and side quests that only act to boost your experience and so on. The latter are optional, but it's advised to take a few on, to keep your stats up. You have 3 areas to level up, Strength, Skill and Will. When you defeat enemies, you earn not only general experience points to upgrade yourself, but also, depending on which type of attacks you use, special Strength/Skill/Will points. You get to choose which skills, within the 3 categories, to upgrade, which naturally affects what type of attacks you are most proficient in, although finding a nice balance is probably more advised than going all-out master in one style.
Yet that brings me to another negative point. If you perform too many of the side-quests, your character becomes a beast, and the last boss really isn't all that challenging at all.
To be honest though, I really quite enjoyed Fable, which is testament to both it's story and gameplay. The controls are tight and easy to master, with my only complaint being that the lock-on often targets the wrong thing, the combat engine is fun, and there are a solid variety of enemies to fight and side-quests to get caught up in. I mean, the game isn't flawless, and the fact that I had played Jade Empire beforehand really did hinder my enjoyment of it quite a bit. At times this game comes accross as the poor-man's version of it, but at the same time, had I played this game first, I probably would have found it a whole lot more awe-inspiring, especially if it had been released as a launch title for the Vectrex or whatever the hell it was actually first conceived to be on. Sure it's Good/Evil system is disappointing in comparison to it's rival games, but it's good enough to work, and Fable kept me addicted for as long as it lasted.
Graphically speaking, while the game may not exactly be on par with Tecmo's Xbox games, it certainly doesn't disappoint, with lush and detailed enviroments, and while the character models aren't exactly realistic, I don't think they were intended to be, as they have their own unique and style to them, although they are well realised and animate smoothly. All of the areas of the game have a unique look to them, and the game is one of the few I've seen that actually comes up top in terms of water effects. So while you probably won't be blown away by the visuals, when you take into account the sheer scale of the game, it's hard not to be impressed with how well they have been executed.
The sound is also of a high quality. The soundtrack is a perfectly fitting score that just oozes fantastic medieval atmosphere. Sweeping heroic themes, creepy music for the Deadwood area...all the music hits the mark very nicely. The voices, with their British tint, made me think of another Xbox game, one that I haven't seen anyone compare to this one, a fun shooter called Armed & Dangerous. I have heard some complaints about the voices, but I found them fine, and thought it added a bit of unique character to the game, with few voices sounding the same.
When all is said and done, most people's biggest problem with Fable is that it didn't live up to the hype. To be honest, I don't think there is any pleasing some people, I mean, can you honestly say the PS2 lived up to it's hype? No, and while Fable's makers were very guilty of hyping this up to astronomical proportions, proportions it could never have lived up to, it is still an engaging and fun game, that I would recommend to RPG fans, and those who liked Bioware's games in the genre. While I do regard Jade Empire as being a better, game, the Fantastic Martial Arts story it had suited my tastes more than this one, but it isn't to say I didn't like Fable. I'm quite glad I didn't buy into the hype surrounding the game too much, because the way I played it, not really expecting all that much more than a good game, meant I wasn't really all that disappointed with it. Sure I would have loved it to be the best game ever and so on, which it simply isn't, but that isn't to say it isn't worth owning, especially for fans of RPG/Adventure games.
Review also posted at DooYoo.co.uk
Recommended:
Yes
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flash-hammer
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