Fable: Huge Hands-On With Final Game

We begin our epic coverage of Peter Molyneux's mind-boggling Xbox adventure with this massive hands-on preview with pretty much the final version of the game. Come in, sit down, have a beer!

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Perfectly complementing the save system is a journal that allows you to look back on your progress. This is detailed enough that the problems mentioned above become a non-issue. Mission details are laid out clearly and succinctly. A quick peek into the menu system will yield your current missions, their locations in the game world, the conditions required for entry, the goals, and your expected rewards.

Everyone who plays Fable will begin the game on even-footing. After a raid of your village of Oakvale, you're whisked away to the Guild of Heroes, a castle that serves as the central base for you and the hundreds of other adventurers of the world of Albion. During the ransacking of your village, your father was murdered, and your mother and sister were abducted. It's now up to you to wreak vengeance on those who would do your family ill.

The Guild of Heroes is a training facility that seamlessly integrates itself into the game world. You arrive at the Guild a mere boy, and meet up with Whisper, another hero-in-training. Together you learn the mechanics of handling weapons and interacting with NPCs and the game world. And as you learn how to use the controller to perform actions, your avatar learns how to handle himself in the game world. There is a movement afoot in game design to do away with obvious tutorial modes for something more tightly integrated into gameplay. Fable is probably the best example of how to do it properly, with logical and thematic consistency.

In a game filled with so much to do, it almost seems an insult to discuss how it looks. There have been some rumblings to suggest that the game is looking worse over time. Let me allay your fears. Fable looks great. It is not the best looking game on the Xbox, but at the same time the production design speaks of a focused team with a vision of how their world should look. There is consistency and vibrancy in every item and person in the world. Character models are detailed and animate superbly, even during the fast-paced battle sequences. There is no slowdown evident in the near-final release candidate we played, and despite the massive scale of the world, there's no popup either.

Textures, in general, are solid, though some might say they are a little washed out. The colour palette overflows with the greens and browns synonymous with fantasy RPGs, but more than a little colour is used to paint much of the world. There is a very European feel to the game, which is refreshing in a market that tries to emulate Japanese style artwork at every available opportunity. The facial models especially carry a certain indescribable element of charm to them. And the world itself is dynamic, with grass waving in the gentle breeze and destructible objects all around.

Play is from the third-person perspective, and there are three levels of zoom for when you want to get in a little closer on the action. Graphical effects are determined by your level of zoom, such as water ripples that are only evident in the closer zoom levels. There are good particle effects and realistic fire, long a failing point for console videogame graphics.

Backing up the excellent voice acting are the ambient score and the meticulous sound effects. Taking care of the opening theme is none other than Danny Elfman, stalwart composer of such masterpiece soundtracks as Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands. The musical accompaniment perfectly echoes onscreen action and dynamically follows the tone of the game, with dark and foreboding shards of sound existing side by side with tranquil, soothing episodes. There's considerable breadth to the aural component too, important in a game in which you're going to be spending a large percentage of your life.

Simplicity and clarity with underlying depth are the hallmarks of Fable. These concepts form the foundation upon which the game is built. When the game was first announced, Molyneux predicted that Project Ego (as it was titled back then) would be the best RPG ever made. What we have seen and played would have us thinking along the same lines. Fable is huge, gorgeous and a joy to play. There is a distinct disparity between story-centric and gameplay-centric titles, and Fable seems to be in a unique position of being able to cover both approaches. Certainly, it's one of the most ambitious titles of this or any other generation of videogames. But it's much more than that. Fable is a sterling example of the best that videogames have to offer, and come autumn, it will be responsible for turning millions of gamers into something more - heroes.

Fable is set for release in North America on September 14th and in Europe on October 8th.

Do not miss the rest of our upcoming Fable coverage, including a huge video feature around Lionhead Studios and interviews with members of the team including two epic Peter Molyneux interviews!

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games

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