Must buy for all action adventure fans but...
I'm assuming you are, like me, extremely lazy and just want to get your hands back around the comfort of your controller so here are some short quick points about Lionhead's latest crack at the fable series.
Pros:
~Simple combat controls allow it easy to string together melee and magic combinations.
~Interactive menu's in the form of the sanctuary and road to rule.
~Lots of things to do! I.e. purchasing real estate, doing quests, starting families and killing stuff.
~Fun refreshing multiplayer that is a lot more fun than last in series.
Cons:
~Main Story is somewhat short and never reaches a real climax.
~Enemies are on the easy side so game doesn't challenge you too often.
~Occasional frame rate drops and minor graphical glitches.
For those wanting a little more detail on the above comments keep on reading!
So as I said the combat controls are very simple, within about 5 minutes of the game you will find yourself smashing hollow men apart with your sword then instinctively spinning around and spinning off fireballs. In combat situations you can use the 'A' button to roll around and dodge hits whilst your health regenerates. This comes in handy with the boss's especially if you have run out of health potions. The 'X' button is used for melee, leaving 'Y' and 'B' for ranged and magic respectively. Ranged weapons come in two variations, the rifle or the pistol. Whilst the rifle is much more powerful and has a longer range the pistol has a quicker rate of fire and is much more helpful in CQB situations. And finally we have magic, which I personally find to be most entertaining method of annihilating your foes. As you progress through the game you will unlock new gauntlet rings, spells basically, such as vortexes and electricity. You will also be able to weave spells together for somewhat amusing affects.
The sanctuary, which is a fancy way of saying the pause menu, is completely interactive and allows you to quickly change outfits and weapons. It comes complete with an interactive map, which allows you to fast travel to all known locations and gives you a bird's eye view of the available quests and real estate available in these places.
The road to rule is how you monitor your progress. When you hit a milestone in the game you will be able to go through the gates unlocking more chests for you to spend your guild seals on. Guild seals are basically exp that you can spend on upgrading your character. You earn these by performing well in combat and making friends, or sometimes enemies, with the people of Albion. The chests you open on the road to rule are upgrades for your character, which can give you new spells, new methods of interaction and upgrade your combat abilities.
Outside of the main story there are a number of things that you can do. One of the main things is the purchase of real estate. You can purchase as much real estate as you can afford. If it happens to be a house you can rent it out, purchase new furniture for it or start a family there! Starting a family is fairly simple all you need to do is find a person who happens to be interested in people of your gender and make them fall in love with you. Then give them a ring and lead them to your bed. As the people in Albion like to call it 'go bareback' and you'll find yourself waking up as a parent, congratulations!
One of my favourite things to do on fable is set it so anyone can join my game or invite a friend to my world and wreak havoc in the streets of Bowerstone! Kill everyone and then you are able to loot every single shop and house there is. As I have found this is a great way to expand your weapon and clothing collections plus it helps you to build a healthy bank balance.
Now the parts I prefer not to ponder on... the few cons in fable 3. As I have aforementioned the slightly short main storyline. I was able to complete this is 7 hours but that was without straying off onto any side quests of exploring. I never felt that attached to any of the NPC's so the quests just seemed to be there to earn you some guild seals. There was never a climax where I felt 'wow, I never saw that coming...' and I almost cannot believe I am saying this about a fable game, the story was very linear. Up until the point in which you become the king or queen of Albion your choices have very little to no effect on you or Albion. I found this to be very disappointing but at least when you become ruler to get to change the world to some comical effect. Lets just say, without spoiling too much of your fun, you have the option to turn an orphanage into a brothel!
The enemy difficulty is also too easy but this does not exactly ruin the game as it means you can take on a much more laid back approach. I think the laid back style is portrayed throughout the game and is a key attraction to fable.
Finally we have the frame rate drops and graphical glitches. The strangest thing being is that it is not always when in hectic battles but also when you are roaming the street or just altering settings in the sanctuary. Sometimes these are more serious than others in which the game may freeze when in battle and then restart and you are in low health or even knocked down. I am hoping there will be a patch soon that can try to eradicate this issue and cross off a reason to buy an extremely worthwhile game with loads of fun to be had.
To summarise fable 3 is in no way perfect but it is great to see a humorous, laid back action adventure game out on the market. If not taken too seriously the drawbacks are easy to overlook and it is the perfect game to refresh your gaming experience. It is at the very least a must rent game but in my own personal opinion I would stretch to it being a great asset to your gaming collection.
Any questions you have about fable 3 or this review feel free to pm me and ill see what I can do. Here's hoping you have found this review helpful! Gotta cut it off now though as my people are calling out for their noble leader to return to Albion...