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Fable: The Lost Chapters Preview (Page One) |
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Introduction
Lionhead Studios and Microsoft Game Studios teamed up to release Fable for the Xbox in September
of 2004. Since Lionhead’s previous game, Black & White, was a game that I didn’t like very much,
and since I don’t even own an Xbox, the release of Fable excited me not at all. But now Lionhead
and Microsoft are planning to release Fable: The Lost Chapters, essentially a stand-alone
expansion pack for Fable, and they’re going to release it for the Xbox and the PC.
In other words, this is sort of a complicated preview. Xbox owners already know about Fable, and
they’re probably only interested in the new content, to see if there’s enough there to make it worthwhile
to purchase the expansion pack. PC owners, on the other hand, might not know anything about the game,
and so they’re probably more curious about the mechanics and the storyline of the game, and whether it
was ported in an effective way to the PC.
Just to add another layer to the issue, the preview version of Fable: The Lost Chapters that
Microsoft sent us is essentially the entire game, with only a few optimization and compatibility issues
to be resolved. So I could basically review the game here instead of previewing it, because I don’t
think the version I played is going to be significantly different than the final release.
So what I’m going to try and do here is cover all the bases, mostly just describing what’s included in
the game and how things work, but also giving some analysis of the new content. That way hopefully Xbox
and PC owners will both find something useful to read, and they’ll both gain a better understanding if
Fable: The Lost Chapters is something that they’ll want to purchase when it’s released in
September.
Fable
Fable is an action role-playing game. You start out as a child, only to witness bandits stealing
into your hometown and massacring the inhabitants. The Guild of Heroes rescues you, because they see
the potential in you, and it’s only later that you learn why the bandits arrived, and that some of your
family might have survived. Most of the game is then taken up by you going on quests for the guild,
building up your character so you can rescue your family and take revenge on the culprit who ordered
the attack. And, oh yeah, the main bad guy is also trying to take over the world and stuff, and so you
have to stop that, too.
That is, as with most action role-playing games, the story behind Fable isn’t all that interesting
or original. It’s just there to give you a reason to kill a wide variety of enemies and go on a wide
variety of quests. It’s the mechanics of the game that make Fable fun to play, as it’s enjoyable
to build up your character, collect equipment, and defeat skeletons, trolls, bandits and more.
For the PC version of Fable, the controls are about what you’d expect. The WASD keys drive your
character, the mouse controls the camera, and the mouse buttons allow you to attack, block, and make
special “flourish” attacks. You gain flourish attacks by successfully attacking and blocking enemies,
and the flourishes are important because they can’t be blocked. In fact, some enemies can only be
defeated by using flourish attacks against them. The PC version also includes hotkeys, which make it
easier to quaff potions, operate specialized equipment (such as lamps and shovels), and use “expressions”
(such as giggling and dancing), and they help diffuse what is otherwise a fairly clunky menu-driven
interface.
Many parts of Fable work just like in other action role-playing games, such as how characters
have three skill areas, one each for melee weapons, ranged weapons, and spells, and how characters gain
experience in each by using the associated weapons. But Lionhead Studios is always good at throwing in
extras to make a game more interesting and to give it more personality, and to make it different than
anything you might have played before. For example, in Fable you get to watch your character
grow up. This involves the character getting taller and broader, the character’s hair turning to gray
and then white, and the character acquiring scars from all of his battles. From what I can tell, this
aging process is purely cosmetic, but it still makes the game more fun and involving.
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| Article Details |
| Previewer Steven Carter
Previewed Fable: Lost Chapters
Published 07/22/05 |
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