Even with a fun combat system and descent story, Fable 3 falls from numerous technical problems
PROS (+)
+ The combat is simple and fun - one button to shoot, one button to melee and one button to use magic
+ A descent story keeps you moving through the campaign
+ The world looks great
CONS (-)
- The navigation is tricky to follow
- The characters you meet aren't interesting at all
- The moral choice in the first part of the game don't have a huge impact on the main storyline
- The frame rate is bad
- Way too easy
For years I have heard about the Fable series. Its supposed to be funny but overall an entertaining game to play. I played a little bit of Fable 2 but never got into it. So I decided to try Fable 3 thinking that the problems I had with 2 would be resolved. As the credits rolled, I wasn't that impressed.
The story is simple enough: you start out as a prince where your older brother is King. At first glance, you see that your brother has slowly grown into a Tyrant by treating his people like garbage and killing traitors in front of the town. But after you decide whether to save your fiance or not, you and Walter (your combat trainer and family friend) flee from the kingdom and begin to form an army to begin a revolution against your brother and take the throne. As the story progresses, you find out that you are a Hero, just like your father, and must take the throne away from your brother and fight off a dark force in the future. The story is descent enough that you want to see through the end. The characters you meet are dull and boring. You will not flinch if they die and you won't feel sorry for them if they lose their people to enemy forces. While the story may drag on at some times, you have side quests you can do. The side quests are as interesting at all but can be a break from the overall plot. You can also marry someone if you wanted too.
The combat, while simple, is the best part of the game. The combat revolves around three buttons, each with their own abilities. One button will be melee where you can use your sword or hammer, one button will be your gun (pistol or rifle) and the final button will be for magic. As you progress through the story and form alliances, you are transferred to The Road to Rule where you upgrade your weapons and abilities by using Guild Seals you acquire by completing quests, killing enemies or interacting with the townspeople. Once you have enough seals, you can decide whether to upgrade the power of your combat and later you can even hold two different spells and combine them for more deadly attacks. The enemy AI is far too easy. You can easily beat this game without dying or being knocked down. Even when you are overwhelmed with enemies, you will not die. So yes, this game is not nearly as challenging at others games in the game industry but the combat is still fun and smooth.
Like 2, Fable 3 fails from it's technical issues. The frame rate will always be a problem even if you just started playing. If you play for more than an hour at a time, the frame rate can become more common. This problem really destroys the flow that Fable 3 has - especially during combat sequences if you kill too many people at one time. The navigation is also very clumsy. Sometimes the navigation you use to get from place to place can put you in the wrong direction, or bring you back to where you came from.
The moral decisions you make are a hit or miss for the first part of the game. Before you conquer your brother, your moral choices are not as affective as you might think. If you kill a villager for money, people won't look at you a different way. The moral choices really shine when you are King and you have to make very important choices. The decisions you make can make you a likable King or a Tyrant which can choose the outcome for most of your people in the end.
Fable 3 is not a polished game by any means. The frame rate is horrible, the navigation system is glitchy which ruins the whole world of Fable. I stopped playing Fable 2 because of these technical issues and the only reason I wanted to play through 3 was to become King. After that I couldn't replay this campaign because of these technical issues. Honestly, this game was a war of its own with the frame rate. While these issues are bothersome, the combat was fun enough for me to play through until the end. I would say rent it first before making your final decision. The game is life changing and you won't miss anything if you don't play it. In my opinion, I don't see what is the big deal with this so-called critically acclaimed series.