Role playing meets the Sims
Having finished Fable II, it is clear that design team behind the game had multiple diverse goals. For one, the game tells the tale of a hero assembling a team of other heroes to fight a great evil in a dark tower. I'm sure you've heard that before.
Secondly and more positively, Fable II immerses the player in a fantasy version of the Sims where an unknown hero becomes the king of Albion by making friends and acquiring property. The third and strongest pillar of Fable II is its simple yet deep and engaging combat mechanics that combines melee combos, strategic spell casting, and the creative use of ranged weapons.
The ebb and flow of Fable II's enjoyment is dependent on the time spent with the aspects above. The game attempts to tell an epic and poignant tale and succeeds in some regards but fails in others. Dialog sequences are a mess as the camera never seems to be at the right place even though you can hold down a trigger to do so. Furthermore, nearly all dialog sequences are hampered by odd pauses and lines that sound like they were recorded weeks apart. The positive aspect of Fable II's story is its ability to immerse you in the world of Albion. The environments are striking and beautiful, the random comments by villagers are well written, well delivered, and entertaining, and the one character that does not speak, your dog, is endearing indeed.
Oddly enough I didn't care for my dog because of its appearance or "personality", but rather for how well he integrated into the game play. The dog assists you by sniffing out treasures, which had me saying "good dog" at my TV set. He also helps out in combat by tearing out the necks of knocked down foes. Mostly however, I loved him for never being in the way.
The fluidity with which the player interacts with the dog does however not quite translate to the interactions with other humans. The hero interacts with villagers through a series of Sims-like gestures, yet never speaks. They are amusing at first, but soon ones gets into the pattern of repeating the same sequence of gestures to obtain some kind of reward. Luckily the villager's reactions, especially those from children, are often funny and quite entertaining.
Fable II's greatest strength in my opinion however, is the simple yet satisfying combat mechanics. Melee attacks, range weapon shots, and spells are all mapped to a single button that can be held down and combined with directions for different effects. The combat variety comes from the use of 8 unique spells, my favourite being the time spell which either slows down time or lets you dash behind and enemy and smack them over the head. The only drawback as far as the combat goes, is the lack of enemy variety.
The combat, combined with some Zelda-esque collection mechanics, are the strongest components of the Fable II mix. Combined with the adequite interaction mechanics they form a well realised fantasy world. It's just a pity that a better story could not be told in said world. For anyone not hung up on story telling however, and happy to just explore and collect things, Albion is a world to be visited.
