[Review] - Fable III

The world of Fable III is based heavily on your decisions and promises that you make to other leaders throughout the game. The decisions not only effect your moral standing with the people of Albion, but also your relationships with others in the world around you and in some cases it is a matter of life or death. Can you order innocents to die for a supposed "crime" and save the love of your life or should your lover die and have the lives of the civilians spared all in the name of doing the right thing? You are the only that can decide their fate as well as the fate of Albion.

While the outcome of your hero's story in Fable III is mostly decided by your difficult and sometimes heart wrenching decisions, your hero's abilities, interactions with others, and jobs that can be taken on are dependent on the new leveling up system dubbed, Road to Rule. During your long and strenuous path to become the leader of Albion, Theresa the Blind Seer is back to guide you along the Road to Rule which will supply you with an ample amount of chests that contain leveling up abilities along your way.

Much like the Silver Key Chests, each of the chests that you will come across along the Road to Rule will need Seals in order to open. You can earn Seals throughout Fable III by completing quests and some of the seals can be found in certain types of chests that are scattered throughout the world of Albion.

When Theresa allows you to pass through one of the many gates that you will come across in the Road to Rule as you gain more followers, you will find chests on either side of you. The expensive chests to the right are for you to level up your ranged, melee, and magic attacks which you can now combine two different types of magic attacks to use against your foes, while the much cheaper chests on the left are for your hero to gain the ability to do several different types of interactions with the civilians in Albion, leveling up your jobs that you can do throughout the game to earn money, different types of packs that allow you to get married and have children, and you will also find different colored clothing/hair dyes in these chests.

The chests are just one example of leveling up in the game. Your weapons can also be leveled up and when doing so, their appearance will be altered. The tasks that are involved with leveling up each weapon can be quite tedious so if you set out to do this you have been warned.

The leveling up system and combined magic attacks are not the only new thing to be introduced in the Fable series. The health system has completely been revamped. Say goodbye to the health bar and welcome in the red screen that many modern FPS's use. This health system makes fighting enemies much easier, but also takes away from the challenge of battling enemies and being knocked out, because you just simply have to roll out of harm's way for a certain amount of time and your health is replenished.

Along with the disappearance of the health bar is the mana bar. Your magic usage is now determined on your leveling up in the Road to Rule and purchasing of magic gauntlets in the chests that enable the use of different spells.

Another new thing introduced in Fable III, is The Sanctuary. The Sanctuary, which was your father or mother's depending on your general choice in Fable II, is where you will find your complete inventory, promises made to others, treasury, armory, and dressing room along with the option to join a co-op room over XBL. To access The Sanctuary, the player must tap the start button and you will be taken there instantly. You can do this even during the middle of combat to make weapon changes if need be. You can also fast travel to towns and quests by using the world map which you will find in the middle of The Sanctuary. While viewing the world map you are also able to buy properties and repair the houses that have fallen apart over time. Leaving a house in disarray means the tenants will not pay rent, so it is important to check on your houses frequently throughout the game or else suffer the consequences of losing money.

What else you ask? That's about it. Everything else in Fable III is the same as in Fable II minus the gorgeous and bright graphics. The camera does suffer a tiny bit during single player, but it's not enough to rant or waste your time talking about. Other than that, the world of Albion including gameplay and controls are the exact same as the previous games. The only question left to ask about Fable III is in a world where you control every little thing, will this power corrupt and set you on a path to your demise or will you rise and change the lives of everyone around you for the better?

Fable III Tips and Tricks

• As soon as you are able to buy properties start with the businesses and then buy and rent the houses out later. In Fable III you need a lot of money and this is the best way to get it quickly.
  
• Start saving money as soon as you can. Whether this means you spend quite a few hours doing jobs or buying/trading items and selling them, do it. You will thank me in the end.
  
• Your dog is your companion in Fable III. Make sure to buy the books in the stores to level him up so he is well equipped to handle the battles and sniff out dig spots and treasures.
  
• Interact with the people of Albion frequently. You will gain Seals by doing this.
  
• Experiment with the dyes in the dressing room of The Sanctuary. You can now dye just about every little thing on your clothes and include highlights in your hair. You will also get an achievement by doing this as long as everything on you that is dyeable is a different color.
  

After the Final Credits

Fable III left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth. Where the game takes a step forward with the introduction of the leveling up system, it takes quite a few steps back when it comes to everything else. The Sanctuary is an utter disaster. I found myself spending most of time using this awful place to travel back and forth between towns and to accept quests. In fact, The Sanctuary fast travel for quests is often confusing and took a very long time to get use to. Not to mention I know know where I am because I don't have an in-game map. Instead I have to travel to The Sanctuary, choose the map, and pinpoint my location in the town I am in, which makes it a hassle when I am looking for properties I don't own and I am trying to figure out which street I need to go down to find them. Not to mention the fact that when I buy a house, the majority of my playing time is not spent exploring Albion, but repairing the stupid houses, because there isn't a "repair all" feature so I have to choose each one individually to repair. What the fudge is that about?!

Another thing this game falls flat on is when it comes time for you to take over as leader. Lionhead shame on you for putting this in the game. This is the most boring part of the game and is the reason I refuse to advance the story. I do not want to advance it anymore because of the boring and utterly stupid decisions I have to make every day, in-game, in Fable time. This is a complete waste of my time and maybe instead of either just the "good", "bad", or "meh" choices they could have spiced it up by doing something else or just not had this in the game at all.

I chose not to review the online co-op of Fable III, because your experience depends on who you are playing with and that is all I am going to say about that. However I will say that Lionhead did fix the issues with camera in Fable II co-op.

In the end, I seriously hope that Lionhead takes the time to work on Fable IV for quite a few years before it comes out. Where is the luscious and bright scenery of Fable II? Why is the game glitchy as far as stopping for 5 seconds and why in the world does the gold trail keep disappearing when I have it picked to glow the brightest so that I can see where I need to go? Lionhead, you seriously dropped the ball on Fable III and for that reason, I feel that the series should have gone in this order: Fable, Fable III, and Fable II and that is never a good thing in the world of gaming.