What's the appropriate policy response to a nation in economic crisis? Deficit spending? Draconian cuts? How should alcohol sales be regulated, and how important are programs for children and the environment in the face of shrinking budgets? Voters are (ostensibly) answering questions like these today—and if you started Fable 3 when it came out last week on the Xbox 360, you're probably at the point in the game where you're deciding the exact same issues. Fortunately, in Fable 3, you're a monarch with a filibuster-smashing two-handed hammer and treasure-sniffing dog that can fund earmarks.
This being a fantasy RPG, the stewardship-of-state part of the game is preceded by (and enmeshed with, and followed by) killing lots and lots of dudes—goblinoid Hobbes, skeletonoid Hollow Men, werewolfoid Balvarines, et al.—with swords and guns and magic. This being the latest in the Britishy, steampunky Fable series, the game also involves marriage, furniture-shopping, divorce, real estate ownership, group sex, thousands of arch little jokes and references (there is actually a house you can buy called "Obscure Reference House"), a "morphing" appearance (if you eat too many pies, you get fat; if you kill too many spouses, you grow horns), and some terrific writing and voice work (from the likes of John Cleese, Simon Pegg, and a very funny Stephen Fry—or maybe we just love Stephen Fry doing anything). Read more after the jump.
As Crackdown 2 was to Crackdown 1, Fable 3 is basically a more polished, more accessible (and, we thought, more fun) version of Fable 2. In addition to the much clearer storyline, a cool alt-reality take on co-op play, and the ship-of-state mechanic later in the game, Fable 3 dispenses almost entirely with 2D menus—in large part by replacing many of them with the "Sanctuary," a set of rooms (tended by your butler, John Cleese) that hold your gear, your money (in a big fucking pile you can walk on!), and a giant cheevo and trophy wall. This might sound like horrifying UI, but it works surprisingly well. (Aside from the occasional unfortunate incident, such as Cleese being forced to shill endlessly for downloadable items when Xbox Live errors keep you from downloading them. The game still has a few bugs.)
Hardcore RPGers won't like the way that Fable 3 streamlines the fidgety bits—like there's no health bar or inventory menu, and you're no longer going to be min-maxing individual pieces of clothing for an x% boost in y—but the end result is a game that's easy to pick up and lose yourself in, even for more casual players. True story: according to the game's architect Peter Molyneux, research showed that most Fable 2 players didn't even understand half the features in the game. ("We're creating content that people literally don't care about.")
If you liked Fable 2, you'll like Fable 3. And if you haven't played a video-game RPG, this is a particularly fun place to start—in a well-curated, not-too-big world that lets you try just about anything. We haven't quite reached the end, but we have our fingers crossed for a strategy of benevolent leadership and massive real estate investment. (Of course, this meta-steeped game seems to have already noticed, in the form of a scruffy but observant villager: "Your rent is fair, but is it really fair that someone such as you should buy up our houses and rent them back to us for a profit?")
The Stranger Testing Department is Rob Lightner and Paul Hughes.
