Fable Reviews
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In some final words, I think that Fable deserves mention for the quality and value of what it has to offer. It's arguable whether there should just plain be more to see and do in an RPG that promises to be an epic adventure for everyone. If you're not too much of an impatient action junkie, you may find some enjoyment in the variety of monsters, objects and people that you can mess around with, manipulate, or destroy. And if you are an impatient action junkie, you'll likely find that the fun of the bloodbath battles in the Arena mission is worth playing over and over again. In the long run, every RPG enthusiast would likely agree that Fable, though not as sophisticated or profound an experience as some other RPG's, is still as purely fun to play as any other title available on the Xbox. And that alone should make it worthy of a purchase.
The second is at InTheMix with an overall score of 4.5/5:
As technically impressive as Fable is in play, its graphically not up to the same standard. Indeed Fable looks good however theres a number of flaws here to prevent it from supplying gamers with the level of eye candy they might normally expect. As a whole Fable just doesnt better its competition Sudeki for looks. The character and world models are solid with some brilliant particle effects that does put Fable a cut above other xbox titles. However, one of the main problems plaguing Fable graphically are textures. Fable has some of the worst textures gracing the xbox console. Granted for the most part your never really close enough to realise this, anything shown within 3m of the hero looks incredibly blurred. Even more intriguing however is the hero's clothing. Taking your top off to show some incredibly well textured tattoo's is pleasing only to have the beautiful body art covered in what looks at best, armor that was painted using an oil canvas. Some textures look sub-PS2 standard which is a very rare thing on xbox. Wether intentional or not however these short comings are masked by the 'bloom' effect used so frequently throughout the title. Bloom is the effect of softening and over exposing where the light hits any surface or image and while this at first looks to be rather excessive, it really does look quite amazing once the player has warmed to its effect.
The third is at GameCell with an overall score of 9/10:
When you take into account the fact that the actual quests are varied and quite good fun too, then the whole Fable package begins to make a bizarre sort of sense, despite it never really delivering anything particularly amazing on a conceptual level or truly cutting loose and allowing you full control over your character's life. But quests like clearing out a cave full of Hobbes or taking part in gladiatorial games do maintain an interest because of the fairly extensive RPG stock-in-trades like superior weapon purchasing/augmentation and the improvement of your physical and magical stats with which to kick major ass. And despite the somewhat restrictive nature of your wandering there is always something '˜off story' to do or attempt, from the mysterious devil doors that talk to you and give you clues on how to open them, to the occasional character who would like to hire you for a special sideline task. And frankly the game is worth at least two plays through being either completely wicked or holier than thou just to see how far each path takes you.
The fourth is at GameVortex with an overall score of 88%:
Despite the slew of missing features, lack of a real challenge and tunneled (open-ended) gameplay, Fable is still a fun game. There's still a lot to do in the game and it should keep players busy for awhile, especially RPG starved Xbox owners who are growing tired of playing through Knights of the Old Republic yet again. Overall Fable is a good game that is a victim of its own hype. The promise doesn't come through, but once you can accept this and overlook it, the game is still a quality product.
And the fifth is at G4TechTV with an overall score of 4/5:
Between the combat challenges, legendary weapons to be obtained, and numerous ways to screw with the heads of townspeople, it's the bits between the storyline that will keep players coming back to Fable. Some may instantly love or hate the game due to the hype, but at its core this is a solid game that takes several risks, never quite rising above what's been done before. It may fall far short of what Molyneux promised, but when simply held up to its competition, particularly on the Xbox, Fable stands out as a top-shelf action RPG.
