On October 26th, Lionhead Studios finally released the third game in their premier franchise. Fable — a story of high expectations due to the grandiose promises and almost revered words from director Peter Molyneux.
Twice I got fooled by the hype from Peter himself and twice it didn’t live up to my expectations — but they do say the “third time is the charm” and it appears that, for once, they’re correct. This third game actually came close to my expectations; not completely but damned close.

As the child of the previous ruler (gender depending on your saves from Fable 2) you are forced to set out on an epic adventure to save Albion from tyranny. Unlike the other two games in the franchise you don’t start as a child but as a young prince or princess who has to travel the world in search of allies to start a revolution against your older brother, King Logan; the ruthless and hated current ruler of Albion. Once again, your choices will define whether you will be good or evil and the people and the world of Albion will change accordingly. As usual, you will play the role of the Hero of Albion, and you have a long road ahead of you, gathering allies for the revolution that will place you on the throne.

The path to rule and the overthrow of King Logan is but the first part. Once you become the ruler you have to make hard decisions in a Kingdom that is now on the verge of annihilation, and now your choices have even deeper effects. I played through the game twice in the first weekend after its release and I have to say that I was amazed by the huge differences in the world and how its people react to you. Well done, Lionhead — well done. I tip my hat at thee. For the first time in a game I have actually hesitated and felt bad for some of the decisions I made as a ruler.

In the fifty years since the storyline of Fable 2, the world of Albion has gone through an industrial revolution and has changed a great deal from the world we came to know and love. Places you used to know have gone through some big face-lifts. Bowerstone now has an industrial quarter and some of the villages have disappeared while others have been introduced. The caves have become more extensive and can get very confusing since there is no minimap. Prepare to get lost trying to get to that elusive chest. There is also a new continent that you can get to some ways into the story, but it doesnt add much to the game except for a few quests, a new environment and a flower picking achievement. Personally I didn’t enjoy that part of the game at all. It looked dull and was boring to run through.

The new experience system is a bit odd but it works. Everything you do earns you Guild Seals which you can use to open chests on ”The Road to Rule”. Anything can be bought from those chests — from work levels to new expressions to dyes and of course, levels of close, long range and magic combat — and since you can get to the Road whenever you want from the Sanctum, it is easy to earn up some Guild Seals to get you those new things you want or need. However, new chests only become available when you move further along the story, so you can’t start your financial empire immediately. You need to get through certain aspects of the game before you can start buying houses and shops — or you can just join up with someone else who already has those chests opened and start a shared business with them to earn you some quick gold. When in a business relationship with another player you share both income and costs for everything you buy in the game.

The graphics look great and the interactions with other people are a lot better than in previous games. The dancing and hugging expressions, to name a couple, feel a lot more real than they have done before. Noises during sex will still make you shudder, though, and the first time I tickled my kid I burst out laughing at how adorable it all was.
You can get married in the game, either to NPCs or to other XBox Live players. Also, you can have as many spouses as you want. I’d advise against having sex with one spouse in another’s bed though, because the NPCs apparently have some sense of decency now, and frown on such actions. I did so and it was a bitch trying to make amends with both wives — so I just ended up killing them instead. It’s great being King.

Combat-wise the game is almost ridiculously easy and since there are no best weapons to hunt for, I often felt it was on the border of being boring to enter combat at all. The fact that you no longer have a health bar makes it even worse. All you have to do is avoid damage for a few seconds when hurt too much and you will be fine again, so gaining the achievement for never having been knocked out during the entire game is not very hard. The new magic system in which you can mix two different magic types is pretty neat, though. Nothing like stunning your foes with lightning while burning them with fire at the same time. I used magic a lot while playing this game.

There are fifty-one different Legendary Weapons, but only twenty-six of those spawn in your particular world. The rest have to be traded or given to you by other players. Every such weapon is upgradeable by completing tasks — such as killing a number of wolves and balverines to increase damage against those types of foes, as well as more social ones, like earning a set amount of gold from doing jobs or seducing a certain number of people.
A couple of weapon tasks really caught my attention — like the one where you need to have group sex and the one where you have to have sex with fifteen males. If you play a male character that obviously means you need to have gay sex fifteen times. A very brave move and I applaud Lionhead for implementing this.

There are no menus what so ever. Instead there is a ”Sanctum” to which you can instantly travel from any point during the game (except cut scenes) and where you will store all your weapons, clothing, money, gifts and achievements/trophies. To greet you and explain things is your loyal servant — voiced by John Cleese, who can be a bit annoying because he keeps telling you there are new things to buy from XBox Live.
I did enjoy the walk-in closet and the weapon racks that take the place of the tedious old menus that took forever to look through when you needed a certain item. A few things that I miss are a ”repair all” button for your building empire and the possibility to give an entire costume to a friend without having to flip through the closet for every single item — but the fact that you can buy and repair everything from the Sanctum map is great. No more running around like a headless chicken to buy new properties.
The Sanctum map is quite brilliant. You can do anything through its interface: buy and repair buildings; travel anywhere you have been before instantly; check to see how many keys and garden gnomes there are in each area or check up on your families. It’s very easy to use and quick to reach.

Another thing worth mentioning is that Stephen Fry does the role of Reaver brilliantly once again. That man is a genius!

Outside the Sanctum there is no aid in knowing where you are. I wouldn’t have minded a mini-map of some sort to be able to get your bearings, or maybe just a compass so you can avoid walking in circles.

The new, enhanced co-op play is much, much better than it was in the second game. You now bring your own hero into the other person’s game and you are not attached to it in the same way anymore. You have to keep to the same area but you are free to explore that area without having to stay close to your host. Battle of course gets even easier when you are two people cooperating.
The downside is that quests you complete with your host don’t transfer over to your own main story, so you will have to complete them again. If the host enters their Sanctum you go with them as a ghost, though you do have the option to enter your own Sanctum instead. The upside is that you do get the same Guild Seals your host earns from the quests you complete, so you will have an easier ride on your own Road to Rule.

All in all, Fable 3 was not the greatest game I have ever played, but it was definitely worth the hours I spent on my two playthroughs. No regrets here — worth the money. Got all the achievements, except that crappy weapons trade one.