Update 3rd November: I’ve been way way too hard on the poor game, i guess i just loved the orginal game too much.

Pluses: Looks great, good combat system, always dependable evil elements of plot

Minuses: Buggy, poor spell casting, broken money system: eg too easy to get, poor maps hinder exploration, glowing trail makes game feel like it’s on rails

Reduce the annoyances a wee bit and you’ve got my opinion, it’s the ok sequel of a great game .

So onto the Review

I’ve played Fable 2 for rough an hour and a half and I’ve already made my decision on the game and I know the straw that broke the camels back, it wasn’t the poor controls, the frequent and uninspired loading screens, it wasn’t the crippling of the spell and upgrade system: It was bloody Fable trying to shunt me to their sub-standard offical website to unlock in game content.

To me this is a major betrayal by the game and frankly an unforgivable break in my suspension of belief.

On some of the minus points

I don’t want to be lead to some crappy website for some shity in-game bonus, I want that bonus in the game to start with, If someone wants me to go to their website they should damn well make me want to want to go to their website, not blackmail me with some ingame disadvantage for not visiting their website and playing their franky buggy and rubbish litle flash game (note to self being a hippocrite).

I don’t want is a jarringly poor experience that feels on on rails, I want to feel free in an rpg I don’t care if thats a illusion as long as that illusion works well for me, in fable 2 i feel i’m only going through the motions of playing the game to play the game, no fun or excitement included, I don’t feel any attachment for the characters or players, they all have a feeling of beige about them.

What makes a good single player RPG

I want from a single player RPG game is the following: To have a blissful time away from life, away from the internet, to begenerally be content for a few waking hours without a care in the world.

I remember playing such greats as Fable ONE, oblivion, gothic playing till 4 in the morning, barely sleeeping so i could wake up and have from game tiem before work, using projectors at said work so i could play the game during my lunch time, these were great addictive games.

Summing up

This game has that dull as dish water feel I recognise from that occational white elefant that hapens every so often at work, the one with all those sub-committes and sheering groups that starting to home the product, they’ve jumped the innovation, they’ve strangled the story, they’ve homogenised the quirkiness; whatever brillance there was in fable has dulled, whatever creatively has been smouthered, this is not the game it should of been.

Maybe I’m getting old but I don’t want to play bad games anymore, I don’t want to go through the motions of playing a game I only want top notch stuff, stuff with character, if I game can’t inspire me to play it for 2 hours without hating it well frankly that not a world i want to play in.

Conclusion

Let me state my conclusion… If you want to play the game Fable 2 should of been: play Fable 1 + Lost Chapters, it’s far better polished game with better game play, plot and game mechanics.