Fable 2
XBOX 360
Peter Molyneux is famous for alot of things in the gaming industry, he's famous for being the face of Lionhead Studios, he's famous for bringing us the epic idea of Populous way back in 1989, he's also famous for being the project leader behind Dungeon Keeper for the PC, more recently though, he's been made famous for having an unusual fetish for monkeys (see Black and White or any of it's scabby offspring) and also for running his mouth off at Games expo's and then not delievering what he promises...you would think that we would be prepared for Fable 2, the action role-play game released recently to be a massive letdown but it appears dear old Mr Molyneux might actually have gotten onto something here, allow me to elaborate...
You can almost imagine Peter Molyneux standing in front of a large white board with lots of great and innovative ideas pinned to it, he's stood there in front of his Dev team after pulling a 53 hour shift to get all his ideas onto paper and with each one of those ideas the dev team simply glanced at each other and whispered "don't worry, he'll forget about all this by mid Wednesday" then they trot off and make the original Fable, omitting all the fun and crazy workings of the insane genius that is Peter Molyneux. Now I don't use the word "genius" lightly, I honestly believe that Peter Molyneux is one of most understated minds of this (or rather last) generation when it come to video games, when listening to him go on about how he wants to create an immersive environment where the player can live through all aspects of the characters life and really feel connected to them you cant help but salute that kind of ideology and the guy has the best intentions at heart, it's just that when he promotes this kind of experience before checking with his company to see if it can actually be done first, and in that situation, you get the original Fable!
Now I'm not saying Fable 1 was a bad game, it was solid enough but we had been promised so much more from Peter and the Lionhead Team that we couldn't help but feel a little ripped off, now however, in the age of future space technology, we have Fable 2...
Naturally, Fable 2 takes place in the same land that the last Fable took place, Albion, which has undergone a bit of a makeover as in the story some dude stepped into some tower and made a wish to cleanse the world, therefore setting off some sort of safe nuclear device which eradicated most of the world and it's population, but that's okay now because civilisation has clawed it's way back from extinction just in time for another dude to want to do it all over again, and this is where our new hero comes in, in an age where Mana....sorry Will! is unheard of and Heros are nothing but...well...Fables, you play our rosey-cheeked hero boy (or rosey-cheeked hero girl if you want) where you suffer a horrible tragedy when you are younger and quickly jump from childhood to adulthood to exact you revenge now that you have awoken the Hero within...this is the point (not to mention that Spire bit) where I got an uneasy feeling of Deja-vue, I can almost see Peter Molyneux and his top staff all looking at each other at one of the last big meeting before the release date and somebody mentioned "how's the story coming along?" and they all realised, nervously looking at each other, that they had assumed that somebody else was taking care of that and a red-faced Peter Molyneux used his top secret, level 5, red ID card to skilfully copy-paste the story from the last bloody game!
Okay, okay, so there are alot of good points to Fable, I don't want you to think I'm just here to verbally poo all over everything that comes along, I'll be more than happy to give credit where its due and there are moments of sheer brilliance in this game and I'll explain them here...
I liked the was they integrated a dog quite skilfully who doesn't become a massive pain in the arse that I want to turn my crossbow on and kill, I enjoy how you have the freedom to marry and have children, bridging that gap between Action game and Life Simulator (albeit bridged with a flimsy bit of wood and some string) it's not that I'm against the idea of getting married and having kids in video games, I even think that the counters for STD's was actually funny but the fussy buggers are only left alone for about two days before they file for divorce! I don't expect my spouse to be exactly overjoyed that I'm going to be gone for days at a time but the least she can do is understand that I'm off to save the fucking world! It's not like my character was sneaking off to have beers with his poker buddies or beating her (at least not to begin with anyway) but I would get to Bloodstone from Bowerstone (where my family home was) and I'd look at my Families screen only to find that my partner was "Missing You" which is only one step and about two days away from "Taking half you gold, sucker!"
Okay, enough of the nit-picking, I really enjoyed the story (well I enjoyed it last time and it hasn't changed much!!) I liked the fact that Lionhead have made it so that you only get scarred if you die (so that I don't look like badly stitched tartan after a fight with a Balverine, I liked the fact that the voice actors actually sounded like they gave a rats ass (all 3 of them!!) I enjoyed the changes in the landscape depending on what choices you make and the music was much of a muchness for me really I mean once you have heard one RPG soundtrack, you've pretty much heard them all.
I haven't tried the Co-Op mode online yet so I can only convey my opinions about the local Co-Op and that is that it's a massive sack of BALLS!!
Firstly, I don't like the way you don't get to use your own Hero and or Dog, the camera can go fuck itself for all the help it is during combat! and I hate the fact I cant walk more than ten steps without my co-op partner bumming me up the Blacksmiths passage before the screen locks up in what I like to call "but I want to go this way" mode.
All in all, it's good, actually I'd say it was great, It feels like this is what Peter Molyneux actually wanted to release instead of Fable 1, it's another Oblivion moment really, it will stand the test of time if Lionhead actually bother to put the effort into it, if they release some patches to fix the cracks and bugs, make some new quests with a bit more diversity and release that Armour patch we have been crying out for since Fable 1 (because character customisation is a joke in F2) then their onto a winner but knowing Peter Molyneux like I do i.e: not at all, he's probably already throwing more insane ideas at a wall in front of a dev team about where you play as some sort of God character and the only way you can really communicate with people is through miracles and you 30ft tall ape...oh wait...
Skith666
XBOX 360
Peter Molyneux is famous for alot of things in the gaming industry, he's famous for being the face of Lionhead Studios, he's famous for bringing us the epic idea of Populous way back in 1989, he's also famous for being the project leader behind Dungeon Keeper for the PC, more recently though, he's been made famous for having an unusual fetish for monkeys (see Black and White or any of it's scabby offspring) and also for running his mouth off at Games expo's and then not delievering what he promises...you would think that we would be prepared for Fable 2, the action role-play game released recently to be a massive letdown but it appears dear old Mr Molyneux might actually have gotten onto something here, allow me to elaborate...
You can almost imagine Peter Molyneux standing in front of a large white board with lots of great and innovative ideas pinned to it, he's stood there in front of his Dev team after pulling a 53 hour shift to get all his ideas onto paper and with each one of those ideas the dev team simply glanced at each other and whispered "don't worry, he'll forget about all this by mid Wednesday" then they trot off and make the original Fable, omitting all the fun and crazy workings of the insane genius that is Peter Molyneux. Now I don't use the word "genius" lightly, I honestly believe that Peter Molyneux is one of most understated minds of this (or rather last) generation when it come to video games, when listening to him go on about how he wants to create an immersive environment where the player can live through all aspects of the characters life and really feel connected to them you cant help but salute that kind of ideology and the guy has the best intentions at heart, it's just that when he promotes this kind of experience before checking with his company to see if it can actually be done first, and in that situation, you get the original Fable!
Now I'm not saying Fable 1 was a bad game, it was solid enough but we had been promised so much more from Peter and the Lionhead Team that we couldn't help but feel a little ripped off, now however, in the age of future space technology, we have Fable 2...
Naturally, Fable 2 takes place in the same land that the last Fable took place, Albion, which has undergone a bit of a makeover as in the story some dude stepped into some tower and made a wish to cleanse the world, therefore setting off some sort of safe nuclear device which eradicated most of the world and it's population, but that's okay now because civilisation has clawed it's way back from extinction just in time for another dude to want to do it all over again, and this is where our new hero comes in, in an age where Mana....sorry Will! is unheard of and Heros are nothing but...well...Fables, you play our rosey-cheeked hero boy (or rosey-cheeked hero girl if you want) where you suffer a horrible tragedy when you are younger and quickly jump from childhood to adulthood to exact you revenge now that you have awoken the Hero within...this is the point (not to mention that Spire bit) where I got an uneasy feeling of Deja-vue, I can almost see Peter Molyneux and his top staff all looking at each other at one of the last big meeting before the release date and somebody mentioned "how's the story coming along?" and they all realised, nervously looking at each other, that they had assumed that somebody else was taking care of that and a red-faced Peter Molyneux used his top secret, level 5, red ID card to skilfully copy-paste the story from the last bloody game!
Okay, okay, so there are alot of good points to Fable, I don't want you to think I'm just here to verbally poo all over everything that comes along, I'll be more than happy to give credit where its due and there are moments of sheer brilliance in this game and I'll explain them here...
I liked the was they integrated a dog quite skilfully who doesn't become a massive pain in the arse that I want to turn my crossbow on and kill, I enjoy how you have the freedom to marry and have children, bridging that gap between Action game and Life Simulator (albeit bridged with a flimsy bit of wood and some string) it's not that I'm against the idea of getting married and having kids in video games, I even think that the counters for STD's was actually funny but the fussy buggers are only left alone for about two days before they file for divorce! I don't expect my spouse to be exactly overjoyed that I'm going to be gone for days at a time but the least she can do is understand that I'm off to save the fucking world! It's not like my character was sneaking off to have beers with his poker buddies or beating her (at least not to begin with anyway) but I would get to Bloodstone from Bowerstone (where my family home was) and I'd look at my Families screen only to find that my partner was "Missing You" which is only one step and about two days away from "Taking half you gold, sucker!"
Okay, enough of the nit-picking, I really enjoyed the story (well I enjoyed it last time and it hasn't changed much!!) I liked the fact that Lionhead have made it so that you only get scarred if you die (so that I don't look like badly stitched tartan after a fight with a Balverine, I liked the fact that the voice actors actually sounded like they gave a rats ass (all 3 of them!!) I enjoyed the changes in the landscape depending on what choices you make and the music was much of a muchness for me really I mean once you have heard one RPG soundtrack, you've pretty much heard them all.
I haven't tried the Co-Op mode online yet so I can only convey my opinions about the local Co-Op and that is that it's a massive sack of BALLS!!
Firstly, I don't like the way you don't get to use your own Hero and or Dog, the camera can go fuck itself for all the help it is during combat! and I hate the fact I cant walk more than ten steps without my co-op partner bumming me up the Blacksmiths passage before the screen locks up in what I like to call "but I want to go this way" mode.
All in all, it's good, actually I'd say it was great, It feels like this is what Peter Molyneux actually wanted to release instead of Fable 1, it's another Oblivion moment really, it will stand the test of time if Lionhead actually bother to put the effort into it, if they release some patches to fix the cracks and bugs, make some new quests with a bit more diversity and release that Armour patch we have been crying out for since Fable 1 (because character customisation is a joke in F2) then their onto a winner but knowing Peter Molyneux like I do i.e: not at all, he's probably already throwing more insane ideas at a wall in front of a dev team about where you play as some sort of God character and the only way you can really communicate with people is through miracles and you 30ft tall ape...oh wait...
Skith666
