I definitely miss the feeling of control I had in Fable (2) over my skills but I got over that pretty quick. My big problem was the game seemed very-very short. Maybe it was because it was so thrilling and I was racing towards the end but that is how it felt to me.
Some plus sides was how difficult it was to be good once you sat on the throne. If you want to do the right thing every time you better have rank 5 pie making, and make a lot of pies, which doesn't seem very kingly. The more reasonable approach would be balancing your decisions on importance but it is kind of hard on your first play through. Its challenging to be evil at the start but at the end it is very easy so it makes for a refreshing change on a second play through.
ZAM Ascends to the Throne in Fable III
Reporter Kayla Smith leads a revolution in the newest installment of the Fable series.
The game is visually stunning, as you'd expect from the newest installation of Fable. Interacting with NPCs can become exhausting though. You have to open up more expressions on the Road to Rule, which means you're very limited in how many different expressions you can perform until you level up. You also have to hold down the button for a long time to complete the expression. If you're trying to make someone love you and get married early on, you're going to spend a lot of time whistling and dancing.
It's also not easy to be the bad guy. The decisions that are put in front of you are incredibly obvious. If you want to progress through the storyline and get to the throne, you have to win over followers for your rebellion. You can't do that by farting in people's faces all day long. You have to cater to the storyline and find alternative ways to decrease your morality, such as stealing or mashing the negative interactions, all of which can be undone by simply performing well on a quest. It's easy to see how your morality can really be affected once you hit the throne, but starting out, you're going to have to fulfill that hero role.
The co-op in Fable III is an improvement over Fable II because you can play as your own character. In Fable II you would basically add a minion player to the main player's game. This time you can travel in and out of other people's games on Xbox Live, or you can co-op with two profiles on the same system. Either way, you play as your own hero. You can even marry or enter into a business partnership with other players, and you can do so by playing on your own screen. The only downfall is if you jump into someone else's game they can just instantly boot you, so you'll probably want to play with a friend to reap the full benefits of multiplayer.
Overall, Fable III is a lot of fun. It looks good, plays smoothly and has an interesting plot that you want to play through. You don't have to spend a lot of time messing with settings, worrying about skills and maxing out your character. I can see where some players will miss having a lot of control over their hero, but there is still an abundance of ways to make your hero your own.
Kayla Smith, Reporter