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Note: It’s taken me a little while to get this through, but I took the liberty (and it was my pleasure) to play it through more than once to feel that I had absorbed all that Fable II had to offer. I’d also like to let it be known that I will not be comparing Fable 2 to Fable in the majority of the critic points; it will be its own game and reviewed as such. So, without further ado, here are my thoughts on Fable 2…

Cause and effect — it’s something we live with every hour of our lives, be it small causes and big effects, or vice versa. But in Fable 2, it’s something your character lives with every hour of their life. It’s ironic, seeing as players enjoy the peace of mind in video games when they know consequences is the farthest thing to preoccupy themselves with. In Fable 2, it’s been made interesting. Although it’s sometimes slightly gimmicky, knowing that it’s really all just branching paths, there are a couple moments that really shine and force you to reflect on your decisions and truly recognize the consequences of your action.

When you combine the choices you make in Fable 2 and consider the moral alignment of them, it will define you as an evil character or good character, whose either pure or corrupt. Personally, it seems a little strange and unfitting. You’re a Hero, your basic duty is to save the world; but it’s fine to have massacred several innocent townsfolk, or help the same caliber of villain that you’re, in the end, trying to overthrow. My personal preference is Good, even though my first playthrough was deep evil, deep corrupt — which got old very quickly since everyone hated me, feared me, and ran away from me. That’s completely up to the player, and I’m not here to tell you which is better, since they’re both balanced and playable.

Gameplay is delicious and manipulative. There are so many ways to play Fable 2, and all of them are fun. The way you play can be in every way different from that of your friend’s, but equally as enjoyable. Peter Molyneux was actually very accurate when he claimed that combat would be simple enough for the casual player, and deep enough for the hardcore player to enjoy in unison. It’s not anywhere as deep as, say, Devil May Cry, but for the better; allowing you to worry more about which way to execute instead of how to execute.

Death in Fable 2 is done in somewhat of an interesting, if not very forgiving way. The orbs that build up on the floor from having killed or attacked surrounding enemies is lost when you die, and you are scarred. Permanently. I’m not sure (and doubt) if the scars alter the social aspects of the game, but I highly doubt it. It’s more of an aesthetic perseverance, but if you honestly couldn’t care about scars or embrace them, death is simply a temporary nuisance, seeing as you stand up 5 seconds after dying with a full bar of health. I find it spectacular, seeing that forgiving punishments for failure is a rising trend in more and more contemporary games. Large setbacks are nothing more than an annoyance when you’re just trying to enjoy something without being smacked in the face by developers for screwing up. It’s like paying sixty dollars for something that might punish you if you make a mistake.

A large, expansive world, clad with 13 different zones, secret caves, branching paths becomes a little daunting. Its aided by a handy golden path that directs you to an objective — however, if you did want to check your map, it would be in the start menu. That’s not so bad, but it grows annoying quickly having to open and reopen it just to see if you’re going towards an area that isn’t mark-able for the golden path. It’s not just not having a minimap on your play screen (when there’s so much readily available space), it’s just that the menu is sluggish. Lionhead drops the ball here, seeing as there’s so much interaction with the menu, but so little enjoyment interacting with it.

With a main story that spans merely 12 to 14 hours, it’s easy to become disappointing if you’re just looking to finish the game without being bothered by side-quests. But if you’re into taking your time and enjoying yourself, doing and experiencing everything Fable 2 has to offer, you will be satisfied. Since Fable 2 has several ways to play it, you’ll find yourself wanting to play through it more than once with alternate skills, personality, alignment and of course, make different decisions that will ultimately weave the type of person your character is.

Social aspects in Fable 2 are charming, but unless people back then truly became excited by a simple river dance or thumbs-up, they’re completely unrealistic. Nowhere is it in any way a challenge, but a mere series of expressions in order to woo the opposite (or same) gender, to eventually marry, or have relations with. In fact, if you went into the more good or pure angled alignment, everyone will fall in love with you so it’s not even a matter of how to, but who to. They could have gone deeper with it, but it’s fun regardless.

Marriage and bigamy also is a large portion of Fable 2’s social play. Certain aspects in your game begin to change depending if your married or not. You don’t have to be married or have a child to experience everything there is to see; it’s really a small bit of difference.

Bright, green, and cartoony visuals and art direction make everything severely more gleaming and interesting. Foliage is outstanding and detailed, buildings look fantastic, and landscapes are pretty. All of it runs on a fairly consistent frame rate, with an occasional slow down randomly (strangely not depending on the amount of on-screen activity). All of what I’ve said is very true, but mostly from a farther perspective. When you get right up to most of the textures, you can see the blemishes. It’s really unimportant though, since you’re never really looking at anything that close for any plausible reason.

Whether you buy into the hype of Fable 2 or not, fact is that it’s not perfect. It’s a fantastic game that makes you think twice before you do something you might later regret, wrapped in a fun story and heaps of bonus content. It’s a game you’ll find yourself wanting to play more than once, in different ways, and playing past the ending. Social communication might be strange and unrealistic, but it’s over weighed by the arsenal of play styles and other redeeming features built into this beauty of a game. I would recommend anyone who’s even in the slightest way interested in Action/Adventure/RPGs to buy this one. And if you’re not, at least rent it. It’s fantastic.

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