The original Fable followed an unlikely child who grows up to be the world’s greatest hero. Still set in the world of Albion you follow another growing hero in his quest for vengeance against the murder of your sister. If you have played the previous game you will no doubt recognize some of the towns and villages which still exist. One of the new features you will instantly see is that you now get to choose your gender. Even with this new addition to the game people who have played the previous game will see that the story line is very similar in the events that you encountered in the first game. This is slightly disappointing that there are points which are almost exactly the same as in the previous game, but luckily the new locations and the shear scale of some areas more than makes up for this.
Although the main story line does seem short and could have been made into something much grander, there are still many side quests and long missions to keep you occupied long after you have completed the game. Even if you completed all side missions you can still do more such as get married, have kids, buy shops to increase you revenue etc. As with the previous game the main feature is you can progress to be good or evil and the story and dialogue will change accordingly. Depending and which path you take will determine how people will react to you and even what you can unlock.
One of the more interesting new features is that your hero is accompanied by his faithful dog. Your dog’s main ability is that he can help you find buried items. It’s very helpful for finding some spare cash. He can get very irritating some times when your dog smalls something, runs off and you have no idea where he’s gone. Your dog can be trained to attack fallen enemies which can quite handy in finishing off unwanted foes, but don’t think for a minute that he’s invulnerable. He can get injured quite easily and it can become very tiresome having to keep healing you dog as he limps and whimpers making you feel as guilty as possible that you let him get injured. This can become an inconvenience especially in the middle of a big battle.
Another look forward to feature is the introduction of guns. That’s right you can now blast pesky Hobbes and Balverines to oblivion. A step up from the bow and arrow from the first game you now have a more of a choice of guns such as pistols, rifles and blunderbusses. Other styles of weapons have now been added to fit the new era for which you roam such as the cutlass sword. But one thing that has been removed is armour. You know no longer have to worry about what you where because of defense points you can now buy/find items of clothing and where what ever you want purely for style.
If you are one of those gamers who are getting withdrawal symptoms from playing Fable 2 instead of Halo 3 then you in luck. The limited edition of the game contains an exclusive Master Chief armor outfit, weapon and hero title. Other extra items can be unlocked in the Fable 2 Pub Games which can be downloaded from the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace.
Fable 2 does include an offline and online co-op system. If you play online you will notices floating orbs flying around you, these are other gamers who are currently playing game with whom you can trade and talk with. You can even invite people into your world as a second character. Unfortunately you can’t enter another player’s universe as your own hero but must select from a small list of default hero & villains you can play as. This is very disappointing but does make setting up a co-op game almost instant and which make it a lot quicker than most games.
Overall this unique game has greatly surpassed it predecessor with it new features graphics and weapons. Although the overall story of the game could have been much better once finished the free roaming can begin and the worlds your oyster. The co-op function needs some tweaking to better enhance the game play of that mode but you can still enjoy hours of addictive sword slashing, gun shooting fun with friends.
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