Welcome to the World of Albion, and Welcome to one of the best RPG's ever Real Score: 9.5
Fable 2 is taken place 100 years after the events of Fable 1, and since then the world has gotten bigger, more corrupt, and more adventurous. Fans of the first will notice places like Bowerstone, and Oakvale that were in the original Fable. However both have Drasically changed. Bowerstone has become mega-big spliting up into 3 different distict (main, Old, and Rich) The town has tons of different shops to see and buy from, with varying pricing, depending on how events you have done, or what others have done. On the other Hand Oakvale has turned almost unrecognizable. The whole town as flooded some years ago, destroying all the buildings, shops, and land. Not only that the place has been cursed with the undead walking the area. Its very depressing to see the once little village not only be destroyed in the first game, but no totally abandoned in the 2nd.
Fable 2 story is about either a little boy or girl who is very poor, however a certain event that happens one day changes the character's life forever. Now the man responsible must pay, on his way he find a much bigger problem and he needs to save the world of Albion from destruction. The story itself is generic to say the least. In fact i actually enjoyed the first Fable's story maybe a tad bit more. I don't want to spoil too much of the story, since that is something each player will have to do later on, however all i can say is that it gets the job done, but don't expect an epic story like the one in Mass Effect or MGS4. But it does its job.
One of Fable 2 biggest plus would be its combat system. If you remember in the old game, you would have to hit L and R to switch between your weapon, then another button to use it.. Same goes with Magic (also having a meter). This time the game has been streamlined for the better. Now the system is one button controls either Magic, Ranged, or Close Ranged Weapons. its kinda hard to explain but basically it makes switching from one combat system to another much better and easier. Fable 1 i would mostly specialize in one way to make the combat a bit more easier on me. This game really should be commended for this innovation, and i see many games in the future emulate this same format, because it works so well.. pulling off an itial magic spell, then switching to your sword, and taking out the bandit running in to attack with your gun feels so great.
The original Fable was very tiny in that each town felt like one tiny tiny village, even the biggest town in the was extremely tiny. Towns have now been expanded a great deal and feature all different qualities that make each one different. Along with buying from these shops, you can also buy ANY shop or house in the entire game.. nothing is not for sale, even a castle.
One of the best new characters besides you, is your new sidekick, your dog. The whole world of Albion is filled with bland boring cookie cutter characters who have no real personality, however your dog is the most realistic character in any game i have ever played, at least most realistic animal. Your dog can do all sorts of things, he can help you fight in battles, he can help you find treasures, he can help you find buried items, and he can do tricks! or play catch. In the old game (once again) you were always alone in your missions, no 2 player, no campaign, except some expensive hitmen who were not worth it.. Your Dog is always by your side and makes the missions a lot more fun. when your away from your dog, the sense of loneliness, and sadness is very noticeable. Your Dog is the coolest character in game. Hands down, he is better then any kid or wife you have in the game, because he feels like a real dog, down to every detail. I give this game the award for Best Dog of the year! :)
The Whole idea of owning everything in Albion becomes the bigger goal in the story that will take a lot longer then the fairly short 10-14 hour story mode. Money is a huge deal in Fable 2. Its what gets you all your fame in fortune. No longer are you paid for doing quest, all your money must be earned. Making money can be done in many different ways. 1 is the most obvious choice, get a job boy! some stores have positions open where you can work doing little mini-games to make money. Places like a Blacksmith, a Bartender, Woodcutter, a Assassin, and many others as well. You can rank up each up to 5 times, each time making you better at that certain job. However this is not where the player is going to be making his money.
That is a whole different area, its the Real estate market. Real estate in Fable 2 is also a very cool and interesting part of the game. once you have enough money from working you can buy a house and rent it out and make a profit. Now depending on how nice you are, how the economy in the town is, and how good the house is will make you more or less money. You can be an evil corrupt ruler who buys everything and jacks the prices up making everyone loose money, making you the "Rockefeller" of their time. You can be nice and lower prices, making you less money, but make the people happy. Since you can buy anything, and since you make money every 10 mins (i think) even when the console is off, you start to see a snowball effect. You start off with a little shop, which turns into you buying the big clothing store, which leads to you buying the Bar, which leads you to buy every piece of land in that area. And then all the other towns, pretty soon you will be able to own everything, buy anything your heart desires, and not even worry about money. Thus becoming absolute ruler of Albion.
Along with the money aspect of the game, the game is also huge on your family. Getting a family not only impacts the player, but has a huge part at the ending of the main story. Like Fable 1 you can either marry a man or a women, and live with them. You can also have unprotected or protected sex, and then have kids. Having children also like buying things opens up new quest, that would not be available before. Also having a better house, and more money will also make your family happy. You can also be a cheater having sex with anybody who is up for it, and thus risking the chance of getting caught with another women, and loosing your family, or getting a STD, which you can spread around to other people in your town. Getting an STD won't kill you, but will give you gross marks all over your face/body. Its another cool small detail the game has to offer.
This game also offers Offline and Online Co-op, however it ultimately falls short of what you expect. The biggest problem is not that it can only be with one other person, is that you can't bring your custom character to there world.. which is very lame. The whole point is to show off your character to others, not play as a default guy.. very lame.. I hope this gets fixed, but not holding breath on it.. overall this would be the biggest disappointment from fable 2 because of that one aspect
Like previous games the whole Character customization is key making your character unique and different from anybody else. Each character can come in all different sizes, shapes, hair colors, clothing (which is no longer makes a difference in battle, so that eliminates everyone wearing the same armor) Based on the choices you do also changes your characters look. Also what you eat, and what you wear. All clothes (which is surprisingly limited, thank god of DLC) can be altered with different colors. Also the weapons you choose also change how your character personality. So my character will probably not look the same as yours.
Speaking of Weapons, you get a good variety of different types of weapons. You have Ranged weapons, such as Pistols, Crossbows, Shotguns (forget what they call it) Blunderbuss i think.. and rifles. As well as close ranged such as Katanas, Swords, Axes, Hammers, etc.. There is a good amount of selection here and once more depending on your play will change the weapon you play with. Not only that you can also add augments to each weapon, giving it different abilities, further customizing your character..
Along with Physical Weapons, Magic is also key.. there are your standard Fire, Electric, Slow Time, etc.. but now you have some unique ones such as Push, Raising the dead, Rage (makes them fight each other) and others. Like i said there is no Magic bar, so experimenting different spell combos is much easier, and fun. You want to be the Fire God, go ahead, Max out your fire power and burn all your enemies who even give you a bad look..
Overall i could keep talking about this game with all the different things you can do and how fun the game is. When talking about RPG's its rather short, but the game is very replayable, giving players incentives to make different choices and have different personalities in your character. Its one of the best Games of 2008 and It finally brings that vision of choose your own adventure idea a little more closer.
Breakdown
Gameplay: The 1 button system makes this game extremely fun, the gameplay would have to be the strongest parts of the game since its so fun to kick some ass! although its very easy, you can do through never dying, and zero boss fights in an RPG is very strange
Graphics: They are very beautiful, now they are not better then some games, but the art and look of the game is very nice The world Lionhead Created is very beautiful, watching the sunset while playing the game is a thing of beauty Sound: There are so many different voice work in this game its amazing, depending on what you do will spawn different dialog for different characters, plus sound effects and Music are awesome. Best song is definitely Temple of Light Aka menu song
Value: With one DLC already Out and more to come (another in May) the game is looking to expand even more. But even without DLC the game is decently long with tons to do.. Sidequest, money missions, multiplayer etc.. well worth the purchase
X-factor: is also the biggest strength of Fable 2, without a doubt there are some flaws in the game, however something about the game make them all go away, maybe its just because the game is fun as hell, and can suck you in and take many hours of your life.. It can't really be explained why, it just is
Overall: Fable 2 is hands down a must buy for all Xbox 360 owners, and people who like RPGs. This is one of my favorite series of all time now, and Fable 2 finally becomes what the first Fable was suppose to be, and that is a very, very good thing