Old Pete's back, and this time he brought you a puppy.
Before Fable 2 came out, I wasn't positive that I was going to want it, but as it came close to release time, I realized that I was going to play it, whether I waited on it or not. Something about Mr. Molyneux just makes me want to play his games, if not for the sole purpose of being able to make fun of them if they don't live up to his fabulous standards. Now, as the title of Fable 2 may suggest, this is the second Fable game, and for everyone out there that listened to Pete talk about the first Fable, and then played it, you should have been wary of Fable 2 - I know I was. He has a way of, well, let's just say... bullshitting us? Yeah, I think that works.
BUT you may be happy to know that Fable 2 is a vast improvement on the original. The combat is more robust and interesting, the characters are much more compelling, and the world is larger and more content filled. However, this doesn't mean that Fable 2 goes boldly where no game has gone before, really this just means that it is superior to one of the biggest RPG letdowns in my recent memory. So, down to business, what is good and bad about Fable 2?
The good is actually quite extensive. The world of Albion is a vast and varied land which can be manipulated by your character every step of the way. You can kill, entertain, give gifts to, sacrifice to unholy shadows or marry pretty much anyone in the game. You can also buy houses, shops, mansions, castles, towers, or any building you can enter actually. There is also a wealth of quests, both in the main storyline and as side quests, that can keep you going for a good while if you do them all. Weapons and clothing are plentiful, and while your weapons dish out the good old fashioned hurting in combat, your clothes serve as your "first impression" to anyone you meet. Oh yeah, and you have an adorable puppy dog who can mysteriously live for over 20 years and appear to not age a day.
Then there's the not so good stuff. Things like the fact that the game is crazy easy (both the combat and social stuff, as well as making buttloads of money) just sort of make it all feel sort of pointless. When you don't really have to work for anything, it makes getting things less rewarding. Also, while the story is an interesting enough way to get all the main dudes motivated, it doesn't quite suck you in the way you'd expect "the greatest RPG of all time" to. Sorry to keep harping on Molyneux, but if you're going to call Oblivion's combat rubbish you'd better come up with something that's going to make it look like rubbish, and Fable 2's combat is decent, but it isn't stellar.
In the end, Fable 2 is a more than worthy successor to Fable, but still isn't up in the tier of Oblivion or many other RPGs. Maybe with Fable 3 Molyneux will finally be able to make those trees grow with you, and we'll all just send him our souls as tribute for the greatest RPG of all time. Or maybe not.
