Fable has been hyped from the moment its name was first issued from Peter Molyneux’s lips. Not only would it be unusual as an Xbox-exclusive RPG, but it would be characteristically over-ambitious - containing numerous unique flourishes. Fable was set to give the player a complete freedom of choice in the way they went about exploring the game world – Albion, tracking the whole expanse of the character’s lifetime, with every action in between contributing to the appearance and nature of the main character.
Now Fable has finally arrived, and we’ve given it a couple of run-throughs, but the question is - is it everything it was cracked up to be back at that initial pitching stage? When SPOnG spoke to Peter Molyneux himself, back in the beginning of March, he had suggested the main quest would take an average player approximately 30 hours to complete, but with an estimated 100+ hours of gameplay for the most involved. Almost as soon as the final code hit American shelves, impatient Xbox fanatics were stripping the cellophane off this eagerly anticipated RPG, firing it up and thrashing through the contents with fervourous expectation, trying to debunk this claim with a mischievous air of smugness. Indeed, so keen were some, that as soon as the day after its release, various reports had surfaced on the Internet claiming that Fable could comfortably be completed in 9 hours.
In that case, Fable would truly have lived up to its name. Fable (noun) is not only a ‘story about supernatural, mythological, or legendary characters and events’, but some would argue that it’s also ‘a false or improbable account of something’ i.e. this isn’t the enormous revolutionary game Molyneux promised. That leads on quite nicely to the third definition of Fable, ‘a short story with a moral, especially one in which the characters are animals’. Well, there aren’t that many animal characters, but against the 100 hour claim, this is a short story. And the moral, as reluctantly admitted by Peter Molyneux himself is that talking up a game for ages and ages before under-delivering is not a very good idea, leading only to disappointment.
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Comments
config 25 Oct 2004 14:16
1/3
I haven't played the game, nor am I likely to given that I don't/won't have an Xbox.
Still, after reading this review I given to thinking that most of the criticism leveled at Fable has been completely unfair. It sounds like a right old jape, not unlike GTA in it's footle-em-up nature.
Come on Pete, where's the PC version!?
I demand to be allowed to footle.
Still, after reading this review I given to thinking that most of the criticism leveled at Fable has been completely unfair. It sounds like a right old jape, not unlike GTA in it's footle-em-up nature.
Come on Pete, where's the PC version!?
I demand to be allowed to footle.
fluffstardx 27 Oct 2004 17:22
2/3
Having now finished the game, i can quite honestly say that GTA3 is a good comparison:
You finish it by doing the missions, but you play it for the world.
The endings are a trifle disappointing, the length of the game doubly so. But oh, the stuff you can do...
I've fought a Mountain Troll using naught but a stick and won, sniped Bandits from watchtowers, married mayors, been adored by the townspeople, feared by the townspeople, kicked chickens, played blackjack... the list goes on and on.
The story is AMAZING- but the length of it pales. The much-rumoured addon disc is a much-anticipated thing for many who finished the game. I just hope it forces you to make a new character to play it, rather than taking the behemoth you have by the end into it and ruining it.
I also hope that, just for once, they add the option to be female, thus allowing my wife to even the score a little. After all, i can be chased through the streets by women with marriage proposals; where is the option to be a mighty heroine, followed by men?
Overall, i'd say... 7.5/10. At most.
You finish it by doing the missions, but you play it for the world.
The endings are a trifle disappointing, the length of the game doubly so. But oh, the stuff you can do...
I've fought a Mountain Troll using naught but a stick and won, sniped Bandits from watchtowers, married mayors, been adored by the townspeople, feared by the townspeople, kicked chickens, played blackjack... the list goes on and on.
The story is AMAZING- but the length of it pales. The much-rumoured addon disc is a much-anticipated thing for many who finished the game. I just hope it forces you to make a new character to play it, rather than taking the behemoth you have by the end into it and ruining it.
I also hope that, just for once, they add the option to be female, thus allowing my wife to even the score a little. After all, i can be chased through the streets by women with marriage proposals; where is the option to be a mighty heroine, followed by men?
Overall, i'd say... 7.5/10. At most.
SPInGSPOnG 27 Oct 2004 19:49
3/3
fluffstardx wrote:
Overall, i'd say... 7.5/10. At most.
Dude, 75% is a pretty good score, on a strict statistical bell curve.
Of course, if you mean 7.5 in Edge-world, where every big advertiser's games get 11-out-of-10 then 7.5 is not so big a deal.