While beautiful and definitely charming, the gorgeous world of Albion has grown boring and small.
But now... On to the review. I'm being totally honest here...
Fable III is a broken, disjointed game. I hate to say it. It pains my heart to disparage Fable, but it's true. This game sucks. It's not just more of the same... It's a mess.
Let's start with the story. The whole game is a result of the relationship you have with you psychopathic brother who happens to be the king. In any sensible society, his policies would result instantly in the castle being stormed, and him being killed. The game could literally end on that premise. Why nobody does that is a mystery. In the end, you are tasked with leaving the castle, gathering allies, and then going back and storming the castle. FUN!
As far as the gameplay mechanics are concerned, it's a hodgepodge of awful. Many of the spells from previous games, like Summon and Slow Time are now potions instead of spells. I suppose a person could think that's a bold gameplay step, but that person would be an idiot, so there's that. Oh, and fast travel is only available in "whenever the game decides" moments. I'm serious. There's no rhyme or reason to when the game decides you are worthy of fast travel. It happens at absolutely random moments and maps it to the D-Pad, showing it onscreen for precious seconds at a time, then ripping it away from you, knowing that you will have to follow the broken "golden path" that constantly confuses itself.
The graphics of this game are indeed awesome. The whole visual presentation is top notch. The lighting and overall feel of the world has been ramped up from the previous game, leading to a more believable, if (somehow) shallow world.
The audio is great. Finally, your character talks. It's not over-the-top voice acting (like fallout new vegas- way more worth your money), but it's competent and does a fantastic job of moving the story along.
Unfortunately, the actual game built around these mechanics is downright antique and just plain confusing. Pressing the start button doesn't pause the game, it takes you to some stupid mansion where you can change clothes, inventory, join other players and download useless crap, and view your wealth.
No. I'm not joking. There is no inventory screen. Instead, you have to teleport to some mansion to change clothes and equipment whenever the need arises. Yes, you have to do this whenever you feel the need to, but it's contrived and downright retarded. I'd rather put out a campfire with my face than deal with this system for 10 more minutes.
You also can't have more than one quest at once. Whatever quest you've started, you have to finish. Oh, is it a side quest? Too bad. You've got to finish it. Oh wait, that's not technically true, but the process of changing active quests is so stupid and counter-intuitive, it actually DISCOURAGES changing active quests. I found myself just saying, "Screw it, I guess I'll do this quest," multiple times. You can't queue up quests and finish them at your leisure. You basically only get one at a time. Have fun with that.
And the combat... It's boring. I wanted a deeper combat system than in the last game. I thought the last game had a pretty good system in place for what it was, but this game didn't just carry over the same combat system; they made it worse. Flourishes (that mechanic that made you invincible in Fable II) is still there but takes longer, dying is still not an issue (even less costly than Fable II), and enemies suffer from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It's not just a mess, it's lazy town frolics. You are exempt from failure in combat. So... No tension. No actual fun. Oh, and get this... The weapons "grow" with you, so your sword gets longer and stronger the more you use it, as does your gun (whichever loadout you choose), so there's no reason to buy other weapons, because you know the ones you have will get better as long as you get better at playing the game. And since combat is literally alternating between pushing a couple buttons and HOLDING a couple buttons, it's easy enough for autistic 3rd graders. Way to make us go out of our way for epic equipment, Lionhead!
The gameworld is beautiful and kind of big (i guess. Not comparing it to Bethesda games) but the game built around that world is shallow, lame, and broken. The fact that there still isn't a way to interact with ANYONE on a deep conversational level is not only boring, but it leaves the whole experience disjointed and detached. The game consistently feels smaller than it actually is, due primarily to the fact that you're stuck doing one thing at a time. You can't rack up numerous quests and attack them one at a time. You have to do one after the other, in a sequence of aggravating fetch quests and "go here and do that" missions that not only detract from the gaming experience, but completely destroy the ethos that the Fable franchise has worked so tirelessly to construct over the past few years.
I love Fable, which is why this game is so damn frustrating. I'm playing it right now spending more time shaking my head at the things they did wrong than nodding at the subtle things they did right... you know... the things that made the series great to begin with...
All in all, this game really isn't that good. It's a series of fetch quests and stilted story. The whole "moral choice" thing that the game has built its reputation on is almost completely absent until the last half of the game. And even then, Fallout gives you way more troubling moral predicaments. To be honest, my recommendation is to leave this off your must-buy list. Peter Molyneux is going to make plenty of money off the Kinect.