Fable III PC Reviews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on May 18th, 2011

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It looks better than the 360 version of course, which is probably the main reason why we've waited over half a year for its release - we can't have the 360's bubble being burst.

But the optimisation is lacking: on the highest settings a high-end PC doesn't exactly struggle, but with dips to around 15-20 frames per second in heavily NPC-populated areas, performance is a little disappointing.

We were surprised to find ourselves leaning toward a 360 controller initially, as the pad suits a third-person game more comfortably and the auto lock-on for aiming with ranged weapons compensates for any lack of accuracy.

But the mouse and keyboard WASD setup is almost as comfortable and PC gamers should find it more responsive in combat. As you're playing a game that doesn't require a shooter-level of precision, there's no better peripheral option here, just personal preference.

The catch is, once you've taken the throne, your character actually has to rule. This is where Fable III enters uncharted territory. Plenty of games put players in charge of managing social ecosystems, but few role-playing games have ever asked players to focus on the narrow role of a ruler probably because the realities of monarchy are very boring and stressful.

Fable III makes the stressful part especially clear by attaching a dollar amount to your success or failure as a ruler. Without revealing plot spoilers, know that your character is asked to come up with a certain amount of money in a certain amount of time or else suffer the truly terrible consequences.

This reduces the role of being king or queen down to "How much does X cost?", with X usually being a promise that you've made to some non-playable character who helped you win the throne, or some action that undoes whatever terrible thing your brother previously did to upset the people. Keeping all your promises puts you in the hole, while breaking them somehow earns you money.

Fable III isn't a terrible game, it's just a disappointment, and suffers from a bad case of over-simplification. As entertaining as the characters and quests may be, they're weighed down by the increasingly simple gameplay. The biggest shame is that Lionhead made this fascinating and attractive world and then removed your ability to affect it in any real way.

The rough structure of the game is extremely similar to that of the earlier Fable games, but despite intended refinements and expansions to the game's systems, it's by far the least ambitious of the series. Fable II never appeared on PC so apologies if you're unfamiliar with it, but in a lot of ways Fable III plays out like a remix of it. The combat is simplified even further, but then dressed in genuinely meaty-feeling aesthetic pomp which makes it seem a whole lot more in-depth than it actually is. Spells, especially, are huge and explosive to behold, even if the damage they dole out might not entirely match the spectacle. Fighting will make you feel good, split as it is between melee, guns and magic, all of which are broadly on a par in terms of efficacy so simply do whatever you most enjoy, and you will be rewarded for it.

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