[HEADING=1]Fable 3[/HEADING]
Lion Head Studio and Peter Molyneux built Fable into one of the best selling franchises on the Xbox 360. Through the first two iterations, the narratives were arbitrary hero tales laced with magic, love, and lots of murder. With the release of Fable 3, the narrative develops from another trite hero tale into an ambitious tale of power and choice. By adding narrative to an interesting combination of strong combat and a thriving open-world, Fable 3 is by far the best iteration in the Fable series.
Narrative is the most debated part of any Fable game to date, and this game continues that trend. Fable 3 attempts to interweave two narratives into one long expansive arc, which is admirable and innovative, had it worked.The first section deals with acclimatizing the player to the controls and leading them from Albion city to Albion city, and eventually to the mystical land of Aurora. This vertical slice of the narrative works well and is on par with all the previous iteration's storytelling, with memorable characters, entertaining side quests, and lots of combat and treasure hunting. Where the game progresses into a new tier of narrative is in the second ?half? of the game. Overall, the game lasts roughly twelve to at most, twenty hours. The second section of the narrative can take from three to six hours, which is a massive blow to the game, as the second section's narrative with the hero as king is fantastic. The hero ascends the throne and must decide what changes or refurbishing would be in the best interest of the people, who he must save. While earning an army to fight Logan, the hero's brother, the player must make promises to earn the leader's military. There is no choice, the player automatically agrees to the promises and must either hold true to the promise or betray it in this section of the narrative. The choice element is well used and the throne room scenes are some of the best in the game, yet the choices feel as though the hero makes them in a vacuum. For example, if the king gives money back to boost the economy, the economy in Albion should go up, here nothing happens, save giving away gold, which is vital in this game. Gold is especially vital in Fable 3, because to save the denizens of Albion, the hero must accrue 6.5 million gold. 6.5 million Gold is nothing in Fable terms... unless, of course, the money mechanic changed.
With a better narrative in an open-world game, two main issues arise, pacing and draw. The game has a lot of draw to play the story, defeat the evil emperor who wronged you and all of his subjects. Pacing is the larger issue. Without proper pacing, the narrative crumbles and the way Lion Head chose to create pacing was to keep certain aspects of the game inaccessible until the player reaches an arbitrary quest point. An example is real estate, until nearly seven hours in the player cannot buy shops to earn money, while frustrating, adds tension to the latter half of the narrative. This ?Road to Rule? concept has more purpose than just pacing, though. It fixes some of the broken combat seen in the earlier iterations of Fable. Fable was unbalanced and someone beyond proficient in melee combat or magic could cruise through the game. Fable 2 refined the combat, yet could not fix the inherent imbalance in magic combat. Fable 3 uses the Road to Rule to slow the progression the player gains access to better spells and strength in melee, range, and magical combat, which fixed many of the balance issues. To buy these upgrades, the player must earn Guild Seals. There are several ways to earn these coveted seals, such as conversing with people, completing quests, and killing enemies. All are satisfying, save conversing. One of the previous Fable game's strengths was the feel to conversing with the AI. Now, the player can only converse with one villager at a time and it feels lack luster, even to the original Fable.
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Another change in Fable 3 that shifts the entire paradigm of previous Fable games is the sanctuary. There is not enough praise to give Lion Head for this inventive ?menu system.? During any point in the game, when the Hero goes to access the start menu, he transports to a sanctuary where his clothes, weapons, spells, and other gear are on display for him to equip. By eliminating the confusing, unintuitive menus from the previous iterations, Fable 3 is one of the least stop down and fuss with the menu role-playing games on the market. In addition to simply making the menu system into an interactive room, the butler, played by John Cleese, stands idly by while the hero chooses his load out. There is nothing funnier than John Cleese mocking the King of Albion for wearing a chicken suit to court. Overall, the sanctuary may be the greatest menu system in gaming history.
The game speaks to many of the issues of Fable 2 and is the best Fable game in the series, graphically, concerning narrative, and polish. The few issues the game has, such as the shortness of the second narrative and the game's inability to interweave the two narratives smoothly, pale in comparison to the magnificent, great, and good parts of the game. This is a necessary buy for any fan of the series, open-world action adventure role-playing games, or just good games in general.
