Fable - The JAVE

Console Action/Adventure RPG/Fantasy

September 2004

Lionhead Studios (acquired by Microsoft in April 2006)
Microsoft Game Studios

Third Person

"Fable is a role-playing game with strong action/adventure elements. The game begins with your character, a young boy, living a quiet, pastoral existence with his family in a very generic fantasy world called Albion. Quicker than you can say, 'Evil forces that only you can stop burst in and rip your world apart,' uh, evil forces that only you can stop burst in and rip your world apart. Your village and your family are destroyed in front of your very eyes.

"You’re rescued by a mysterious wizard (is there any other kind?) and whisked off to a place called The Heroes Guild, sort of an orphanage for would-be RPG stars-in-training.

"The quests are quite fun and the combat system works pretty well...Melee combat is simple to master but complicated enough to chew on and provide a fun challenge. Ranged combat is of limited use...but it’s well-done as well, complete with zooming and gruesome decapitation moves. Magic is fun to use, and the interface lets you assign three spells to quick keys...The quests are well-documented and the mini-map does a very good job of keeping you on track, geographically.

"In general the presentation is quite good. The graphics are beautiful, with a rich, cartoony-fantasy look and great spell effects...The music, especially the opening theme by Danny Elfman, is spectacular.

"To say this game is short is too kind. I think the credits are longer than the game...finishing Fable makes you feel like you’ve just spent a three-day weekend at a hero dude ranch.

"This is a shame, because there’s a lot that’s good going on in Fable. And I do recommend it to all XBox owners. It’s a stylish, great-looking, entertaining adventure."

Ed. Note: This game is not to be confused with Telstar/Sirtech's Fable for PC (1996). The two are totally unrelated.