Fable
- August 13, 2004 14:01 PM PST
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Remember Fable? Well, it?s finally coming out. We played it for a while. Impressions lie within. Join us, won?t you?
Oh God, not another Fable preview?but wait, before you turn the page, we actually got to play the game for more than five minutes and can finally address some of the questions you?ve doubtlessly had over the game?s four-year (!) stint in the spotlight. Gather ?round and listen for a spell, won?t you?
Project E-what?
First off, the game is gorgeous; the level of character detail you?ve seen in screen shots isn?t a lie. The voice acting is top-notch, witty, and oh-so-British, and the soundtrack (some pieces by movie composer Danny Elfman) absolutely soars.
The gameplay is very mission-centric and more actiony than you might have expected (or hoped). It works like this: At the ?Hero?s Guild,? where you were raised as an orphan, you take a mission?go kill a giant wasp, go find a fizzy bumpwhistle, etc.?and warp to where the mission takes place. Once in the mission, markers on a mini-map point out where the next important thing you should check out is waiting while waves of enemies stand in your way.
The sheer number of real-time commands can be overwhelming?combinations of triggers and buttons bring up different attacks, and the directional pad is constantly changing to offer context-sensitive activities like digging up a grave, flirting with a stranger, or giving a command to a solder tagging along. The learning curve is high, but once you figure it out, you can pull off almost anything you would in a regular RPG without ever having to access a menu.
Despite the action bent, the RPG-style character development stuff is woven organically into the fabric of the game. Killing monsters earns you general experience, but using specific attack styles (swords, bows, fireballs) earns you specialized experience that you can spend on new skills in each of the three main arts?strength, skill, and will. How you play really does dictate how you grow, and countless custom ?cross-classes? (for lack of a better term) are possible.
The Game To End All Games?
All the cool features you?ve heard about are in there, and, as it turns out, they?re actually cool: Sims-like social gestures, dark side/light side choices (one particularly evil thing to do: kill an entire town, then buy all the property and put everything up for rent to earn big piles of cash), earning fame and renown. Renown is almost another form of currency?getting people to cheer for you by brandishing the head of a notorious monster isn?t just a nice little gimmick.
So is Fable gonna be worth the wait? Some may be disappointed by the actiony mission structure, but otherwise all signs, incredibly, point to yes. Our wavering faith has been steadied?it?s creative, different, and smartly designed. But four years is a long time to ask people to hold their breath.
