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Showing reviews 16-20 of 293
 Disappointment September 8, 2009
Peter Currie
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Fable was among my favorite games for the xbox. Fable II promised alot and delivered a game that is seriously lacking many qualities. The story is tedious and frankly boring, the maps are difficult to use, the "action" is sporadic and often not very good, in total the game over promised and under delivered. Rather than a great sequel to a great orginal game, this came off as a tired re-tread almost a low budget knock off of the original. A tremendous dissappointment. I would add the the added adult content really makes this game inappropriate for anyone under 18 years of age. This game was a tragic failure.
 Not the fable I was expecting September 8, 2009
Kody Boye (Idaho)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Like many people, I anticipated the release of Fable II the moment I heard about it, and wanted it to happen since I finished the first game, then beat The Lost Chapters in a span of seven hours. The great story, the detailed world, the heroes, and everything else about the original game(s) left me wanting more.
Well, here is what we got--Fable II.
Beginning in the slums of Bowerstone, we are introduced to our main character, as well as their sister. This is where the first part of the story comes in: character choice. In Fable II, we are finally able to select the role of either a boy or a girl. This is something I always wanted when I played through the original game, and now that I had it, I was extremely happy.
But, with the good comes the almost-immediate bad.
Fable has, and was, about the 'choices' that would reflect the word. Lionhead promised that our choices would affect the world on a massive scale. In the beginning, you can select to destroy stock, kill beetles, give arrest warrants to city officials or to criminals. These deeds, depending on how many good and evil you do, ultimately affect Bowerstone, but only on the most minute scale. I won't go into detail for spoiler purposes, but let's just say that starts out as one of my main quirks.
After you progress from childhood to adulthood, the real adventure begins. You get a sword, a crossbow, and a dog companion. Your weapons are wielded with the X, Y, and B buttons, and your dog is there to help you through the hard times. Don't know where your enemy is? Looking for treasure? Well, here's your dog, your ever-faithful companion. He (or she, depending on which you prefer) will guide you through the land of Albion, and help you during the darkest times of your quest.
Now, for all the good Fable has, there is the bad.
First, I'll list the good:
-- The story. For the most part, it's good, and it's expansive enough to cover a good amount of gameplay if you take your time and don't try to rush through it. Few characters are memorable, but the additions they've made to the world are great.
-- Gender-selectable characters. Male and female characters are much needed in RPGs. Thankfully, they're slowly but surely becoming the norm. You're no longer confined to a male character in Fable, which adds a lot of interesting depth from both main characters and NPCs.
-- The combat system. Its simplicity makes it extremely easy for anyone to pick up and play.
-- The customization. Beards, tattoos, makeup--we have it all. You can even dye your hair and clothing in the game.
-- The dog. Need I say more? The dog warns you about enemy, helps you find items, and even helps you fight off enemies sometimes.
Now... for the bad:
-- The ending. It was weak, and unlike the first two Fables, there was no epic boss fight at the very end. Instead, we are faced with a very simple 'choice' ending. The main baddy is easily dispatched, and although I won't spoil it, it's in the most unexpected way possible.
-- The 'choices.' While Fable II was supposed to be about the choices the character could make, few things actually change. Oakvale changes depending on whether or not you save the church, Bowerstone becomes rich or poor depending on what you do... and other than that, that's all I can think of. There may be small, minor things, but the 'choices that affect the entire world' don't really exist in the manner Lionhead originally stated they would. Well, except the choices at the very ending, but even then, depending on how good or bad you are, those choices don't make any difference anyway.
-- Replayability. Basically, you can play the game three different times, with three different endings. As it was in the first game, you could play the game through as a combination of the mage, archer and warrior, or you could play the game as just that class. The same goes in Fable II. While this isn't a big thing, it's enough to turn people off from playing it more than a few times through. You get tired of playing quests the same way after a while, and the fact that you have to go through the same scenarios with multiple morality/classes of characters can turn players off to playing the game multiple times.
All in all, I wouldn't recommend putting down the full fifty/sixty for this game. If anything, you should rent it at your local video store (or swap it on a trading website) before you shell out the money for the game. Honestly, if I would've known it wouldn't have the replayability value, I wouldn't have bought it for so much. Sure, I enjoyed it the first month (while I played through three different characters,) but you can't expect much more out of this game after that.
Fable II isn't bad--it's just not as amazing as it was let on to be.
Letdown September 7, 2009
donald sinatra (California)
Way too short, way too easy. Too easy to collect gold, hack-n-slash with little thought and almost zero chance of dying. The story is way too simplistic with very little character development (and I'm not talking about the main character). This game was a big let down as I really enjoyed the first one. I packed this one up real fast after beating it twice as there is little replay value. It is a renter is anything.
 Which Side Will You Choose? August 29, 2009
Williams210 (Buffalo,New York)
Fable 2 continues right where Fable leaves off,but adds alot more to the game.Not only are the graphics phenomenal,but the gameplay itself is top notch.Bigger creatures,more spells and better weapons makes this game a must have for the Xbox 360(no doubt about it).Also,there are several add ons which gives the game a even bigger playing experience then ever before,nice.Take it from me,this game will bring out the best or worse out of you and either way you choose-fun is something that will come natural!
 Severely disappointed August 28, 2009
Fredrick Nielson James III (Ithaca, NY)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
When Fable first came out, I got it based on some videos and how it was like a normal RPG, but it has a moral system where you can choose to do either good or evil things, and your actions affect how people view you, both as a person and physically (really good people gained halos; really evil people grew horns). I love Fable. I love the game so much, I even upgraded to The Lost Chapters (which was worth it). When word of a sequel came around, I was ecstatic. Better graphics, guns, a larger world, etc. While I was upset it kept getting pushed back, I reasoned that I'd rather have a good game later than a crappy game soon.
And then it came out. I was caught up in school so I forgot about it until one of my friends kept going on about it, how amazing it is. He said he'd let me borrow it when he was done, but I was still buried in work so I didn't get around to it. Then it was Thanksgiving. Then it was Christmas. I don't think I got it until February. So I pop the game into my Xbox and start playing. Everything was really confusing because it looks like Fable, but it doesn't feel like Fable. From the get-go I could tell something's wrong. It's too flashy, too many new features. And the plot? You get shot and fall from a tower and somehow you survive? Yeah, realism goes out the window when you do.
So I get past the beginning of the game, and I'm bored. Whatever, sometimes the story needs to be set-up before it gets interesting. So I'm playing the game, doing the quests. Well hardly, all I'm doing is following the gold trail that leads me to where I'm supposed to go and sometimes killing people. That's seriously it. That's the game. As others may have mentioned, the game is shockingly easy. Your character doesn't die; when your health bar reaches zero, you fall down, lose some experience, and get right back up. Instead of having a plethora of spells, Fable II combines similar spells so there's short-range and long-range attacks in the same spell, which you change by moving the analog stick, or not. Lionhead took an RPG that had a good combat system into an RPG that's also a button-masher. Oddly enough, I couldn't find any armor in the major town you go to, just clothes. Because an expensive vest is going to help stop arrows.
Speaking of the town, you can take up odd-jobs around town to earn more gold to buy...things...you want...? I'm not entirely sure, but I took up blacksmithing, which was perfect because I wasn't satisfied being bored, I needed to be bored and frustrated as well. In Fable, you had a Guild Seal with which you could teleport to other cities or major areas, but you couldn't do it whenever, it took a couple seconds to charge up. In Fable II, you can leave whenever you feel like it, which makes some quests piss-easy. For instance, one particular quest I took up was an assassination, so I fast-traveled to where the target was, pulled out my gun, shot him in the face, and fast-traveled out. No guards, no want level, BORING. There is fast-travel in Oblivion, but you can't do it from inside a building/cave, and you can't when there are enemies chasing you, because that makes sense. Peter Molyneaux realized that nothing needs to be realistic, as long as it makes him money and it's his best game he's made (see also: Black & White, Fable).
I spent the entire play-time being bored and waiting for a good part to come up. "Well, I'll play a bit longer, SURELY something interesting's gonna happen soon." Nope. If you like the first hour after you get acquainted with the game, you'll probably like the rest, and vice-versa. One major problem of the game is that it tries to do too many things. "We'll have jobs, and a dog, and kids, and you can buy businesses, and we'll have guns, and the world will be huge, and it'll be AWESOME." Most of the one-star reviews are of a major glitch that happens near the end of the game, but I cannot imagine playing 2 more hours of this game, much less 20. If you liked Fable, rent this game before buying it, because you could probably beat it in that amount of time.
Showing reviews 16-20 of 293
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