Fable III Review (360)

The king is dead…long live the King!

Welcome back to Albion fellow Traveller! Seems like ages since the wonderful Fable 2, and is if to show this, Fable 3 begins 50 years after Fable 2. You choose to play as either a prince or princess, and that’s all the character customisation we get to start off with. It looks like you play the youngest son/ daughter of the hero from Fable 2.

if you loved Fable 2, then you are gunna adore Fable 3

Your older brother is the current monarch and he has been ruling the kingdom with a rod of iron. He finally goes too far and starts killing off the peasants. So it’s up to you to lead a revolt against the tyrant that your brother has become. You ablely assisted by your trust butler, Jasper, and your mentor Sir Walter. The first “training ” level does not give you any actual weapons, but while you escape the castle, it appears that you are also a Hero like your Father was, and you can use magic.

The rest of the first half of the game centres around you drumming up support so you can form a revolution to bring down your brother, and replace him with yourself. As with previous Fable games, how you act reflects how people react to you. As the game progresses, you obtain a melee weapon and a ranged weapon, as well as magic. These can be upgraded by time, and the best upgrade happens when you get to dual weald spells, a neat option that is a first here. Mixing fire and wind, produces a spell that sweeps up enemies, flings them around in a whirlwind, and burns them at the same time- most excellent. Once you are successful with your revolution, the second part of the game sees you as ruler of Albion, giving you some serious decisions to make, but I’ll not be spoiling the plot for you. You have to find out for yourselves.

One major update to the series is the inclusion of the Sanctuary. With a single press of the start button, you are physically transported to your secret hideout, manned by Jasper. This is where you try out any new weapons you find in the game, and also swap clothes (or even just dye the ones you have. You can also access the xbox live and co-op options from here, and also use the large desktop map to fast travel to any region in the game that you have already visited. While here you can also check your trophies.

Fable 3 seems to take nearly all the niggles from the previous games, and fix them. The player interaction is more intuitive, and conversations are easier. Side quests keep you going, and help improve relationships, and there is a road to rule section, that allows you to upgrade your stats, but not doing so in the traditional way- this makes it seem like fun, and not something that feels geeky! Like previous games, as well as treasure, you can increase your fortune, purchasing real estate, and renting it out, or by taking up a job, of which my personal fave must be Lute Hero.

Graphically, the world of Albion seems to have changed since the last outing, with the advent of the industrial revolution. The voice acting is spot on, including Steven Fry, John Cleese and Simon Pegg. Zoe Wannamaker also returns as the voice of Theresa.
This is a first class video game that is total class from the production, to the graphics. The humour is still here, so if you loved Fable 2, then you are gunna adore Fable 3!