Fable 2 Preview

[GameBanshee News]

The editors at Hooked Gamers have put together a quick two-page preview of Fable 2, rounding up what we know about Lionhead Studios' RPG sequel thus far.

Fable 2 certainly has enough innovations to support this lofty claim thus far. The first one is the dog. Whereas most Role Playing Games rely on radars and journals to point you in the right direction, Fable 2 decides to ditch this. Instead they simply give you a dog. According to Molyneux, the dog will have the best AI ever seen in a videogame. Demonstrations thus far have shown it to be intelligent, if not award winningly so. AI aside, the dog will bark to alert you of enemies, sniff out hidden treasure and side quests, and trot merrily along towards your goal in an area.

It all sounds well and good, but I’m still unsure whether or not this will end up being a frustrating gimmick, leaving players wishing for a good old fashioned journal screen. However, what has been shown so far -has- been promising. What also seems interesting about this trusty canine figure is that he will change his looks according to the player’s actions. Be good and so will your dog. Be bad, and you’ll have a yapping rottweiler as company. This seems a nice elaboration of Fable’s behaviour mechanic, and will make for an interesting man and his best friend duo that differs for every player.