great game, but easily could have been amazing
Fable 2 i thought was a good game but could have been a lot better with some minor adjustments.
The story was mildly entertaining and although the game is centered around it the real meat of the game comes from the side quests and jobs that define who your character is as a person. While being entertaining the story could have used some serious work, nothing too complicated, maybe some boss battles or something. I never really felt like i was ever being challenged especially when there is hardly a penalty for death. Another thing was that being good or evil had hardly anything to do with the story and the only differences between them were: if you're good you lose a ton of exp and if your bad you keep it. Whereas in the first Fable your decisions made a serious impact, for example you could gain a legendary sword but have to kill your sister or something. And i know at the end you make a pretty big choice, but, in Fable 2 you family is that random lady you married so you could have sex instead of a real family that you were really connected too like you had in the first Fable.
The combat is excellent and while very easy is also very entertaining. The one huge part of the game that wasnt there were boss fights the only thing i remember fighting were a ton of undead or bandits and no serious leaders, i guess that great shard thing was like a boss but it was the only serious one, i mean you dont even have to fight your nemesis you just gun him in the face, or if you try to listen to what he says to see if there is some other twist that you might expect then someone else does it for you and you are left with the abrupt feeling of "wait, is that it???" But the actual combat system was great.
Another aspect that is not a necessity but i think would have personally made it a better experience for me was if you could customize what your hero looked like at the beginning, just facial features or something because my guy turned out to look like one of those regular meathead guards and i think it would have been better if i could have changed his features, the game was still fine without it but i think it would have been nice to have. While im talking of customization though i should touch on another minor annoyance. Yes i am speaking of the fact that there are about five sets of clothing I can buy and no armor!! i mean c'mon i know the last game had like nothing but at least it had that sweet plate armor. Anyway those two issues are minor and did not really take away from the gameplay experience it and should not stop you from buying the game.
The online is much of the same, it would be nice if you could have your own character but of course it is not a necessity and the single player is still very satisfying so it does not have that much of an impact on the game.
I personnaly like this new money making system because in the old game if i was good it was very hard to get money and so being evil seemed way too easy because you didnt even have to pay for stuff you could just steal it. while in this game even if you are good you have just as good a chance to make money, especially since now the shop owners dont leave their merchandise lying around for you to take. It just seems balanced out better and it makes it more entertaining. The one exception to this is if you do not own any property and you spend all your money you will be stuck playing the work games for hours, which gets very very boring, i think i spent an hour straight as a bar tender so i could get to level five and i havent done it since im so sick of it. So the moral there is: do not spend all your money unless you plan on working for hours or cheating.
Overall it was a great game which is deserving of 4 stars. It could have been better but then so could almost every game and it is impossible to make a game perfect for everyone. Fable 2 has alot of replay value. If you are a fan of RPG's then you should definitly go out and buy this game or if you just want something new, Fable 2 is worth it.
