Fable (Xbox)

Some heroes are made when they rise to the occasion. Others build their reputations over time. This latter case is the subject of Fable, a game in which you get to vicariously experience the life of an archetypal fantasy hero, and, in some respects, decide what eventually becomes of him. Fable is one of the most highly anticipated games since the Xbox's debut, and the latest title overseen by visionary game designer Peter Molyneux since he worked on 2001's innovative Black & White. Like that game, Fable invites you to solve problems either by being good or by being evil, and to watch as the effects of your decisions gradually take a noticeable toll on your persona. Fable also features a number of novel elements, such as how your hero's appearance gradually changes with age, and how villagers will respond differently to him depending on his reputation, looks, and other factors. These elements serve to significantly differentiate a game that's actually pretty straightforward in terms of how it plays. Beneath the surface, Fable is a well-put-together but standard action adventure, primarily consisting of lots of basic combat and running from point to point. Mind you, this is a decidedly great game, all in all. Its most interesting, riskiest features may lie at the fringes rather than at the core--but they're there.

You become a battle-hardened hero over the course of Fable.

You begin Fable as a young child, and it's here that you're introduced to the game's moral alignment system, its sense of humor, and its dark edge--as well as its basic controls, which will be mostly intuitive if you've played other third-person-perspective games recently. Your first order of business is to earn a few gold pieces with which to purchase a birthday gift for your sister. Whether you make the money by being helpful or by making lots of trouble is up to you. This initial choose-your-own-adventure-style sequence is quite impressive in the amount of freedom and variety it affords you, and it suggests that Fable will constantly challenge you to make moral decisions like the ones presented early on. For example, will you help a little kid fend off a bully, or will you join in on the bullying (or beat them both up)? These decisions are so ethically basic that they're not at all difficult to make, but it's still interesting to see how the game plays out depending on what you do. You'll discover, though, that Fable's introduction is not reflective of most of the game's quests, which don't give you many choices. At any rate, soon after you complete your first main task, something sinister happens. Fortunately for your young character, he is saved by an enigmatic man who transports him to the Heroes' Guild, where he is to be trained to become an adventurer.

Cut to your hero's teenage years. At the Heroes' Guild, you're instructed on how to fight with melee weapons, a bow and arrow, and using the powers of will--otherwise known as magic. All three of these fighting styles are relatively simple to use, but they work well. It's possible to lock onto nearby targets by pressing and holding the left shoulder button, and you can switch between ranged and melee weapons easily by using the white and black buttons. Melee combos are unleashed just by pressing the X button repeatedly. Some foes will block your attacks, but you can penetrate their defenses either by maneuvering behind them or by using a slower, stronger unblockable strike that becomes available after every few normal strikes. Archery works similarly but is more methodical--the longer you press and hold X, the more fiercely you'll draw your bow, resulting in significant damage per hit. The controller rumbles as your shot powers up, effectively giving you a tactile sense of when you're about to deliver a very powerful shot. It's possible to manually aim your arrows from a first-person perspective, but since you'll automatically lock onto targets using the shoulder button, this ability has no real value. Actually, archery may not seem altogether practical in Fable. It can be plenty effective, but since you'll be fighting most foes single-handedly, and most of them will quickly close the distance between you, toe-to-toe combat proficiency will seem like the obvious first choice. A few flying enemies will require you to put your unlimited arrows to good use, though.

How you treat the populace of Fable's world of Albion is yours to decide. Whatever you do, it can be interesting to observe their reactions.

Magic is unquestionably valuable in Fable. You'll start off with a simple lightning attack, but you'll be able to spend experience points on more than a dozen other different spells (and upgrades to those spells). There are spells that do such things as temporarily boost your strength and speed or temporarily cause time to slow down all around you, allowing you to easily outmaneuver foes. (Descriptions of these spells make them sound very useful, and, in fact, they are.) Magic is a little awkward to use at first, since you need to hold down the right shoulder button to access your spells, and then you have to press another button to cycle through your available spells if you have more than three. But this is easy enough to get used to, and worth getting used to sooner rather than later since magic helps make Fable's frequent battles pretty easy, for better or worse.

You'll face a fairly diverse variety of foes during the course of the game, some of which will seem reasonably smart. Bands of bandits will fire on you with crossbows, switch to swords as you approach, and attempt to flank you. Undead will spring right out of the ground underneath your feet. Creatures resembling werewolves will lunge at you from all directions. Yet all these foes can be defeated handily in groups using the same types of tactics. Fable's combat has a pretty good, solid feel to it as you wallop your foes with swords, axes, maces, crossbows, and more. The combat isn't really a challenge once you inevitably figure out a few key tricks. Items that quickly or instantly restore your health will be available in copious supply, letting you recover your energies in a pinch, even in the midst of battle. You'll also probably end up hoarding numerous "resurrection phials," which automatically restore all your health should you be struck down. Once you learn Fable's controls and figure out its fairly complex leveling-up system, you'll have overcome its greatest challenges.

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