Difficulty:

Very Easy

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Mixed reactions"

Boros here, and this is definitaly the worst Fable of them all. If you read my previous two reviews of the first two Fables, then you'd know my common complaint between them all was the lack of the story, in the fact that it was barely there. Well, maybe this is why they didn't make a story focused game. Fable 3, if you haven't figured it out yet, is the sequel to the first 2 Fables. This game allows you to import your file from Fable 2, and it's supposed to make certain changes in the story, but when I tried this, I found out my Fable 2 file was corrupted, but it did let me import anyway, so I dont know if it worked or not, so I'll just go on my experience.

I picked to play as a woman in this game, because the male character I had in the last game which had a daughter, and I was told this was a direct sequel, so I assumed it was the generation after Fable 2, but after playing through Fable 3, I doubt that. Anyway, I awaken in my room with my dog laying beside me... Ok. I then find out that my brother, who is the ruler of Albion, is a tyrannical ass, exploiting the people of the kingdom, and then I must gather help for the resistance to overthrow my brother, occording to the black, blind woman that was in the previous 2, but I can't remember her name. This is the best story in the series, and by a wide margin. Even comparitavely to other games and series, it's pretty good.

It's a little predictable up to the half way point, though. It has really cool characters, like the bomb happy hermit, but still, I knew exactly what was going to happen before it happened. Like the mission with the bomb happy hermit, because he wanted to have his town left alone, so then I knew I was going to have to go kill everything around the town, then he would then thank you, and help the resistance, and the same with all of the other town leaders. However, the middle of the game really sells the story to me. I won't spoil, but it isn't what I expected to happen, and it changes your prespective of what you're doing.

No, it's not the story that makes this the worst of the Fable trilogy; it's the gameplay. First of all, there's less of it. There was a big focus on side missions, and simple f@%king around in the first 2, which I liked. It made the game feel bigger, and last quite a while, but Fable 3 doesn't feel that big. There are side missions, but not nearly as many, and the f@%king around isn't as detailed as it was in the second game. What I mean is that usually there was a good variety of people to marry or slaughter, but not in Fable 3. They all seemed like a generic douche. So, all it feels like slaughtering them is that you're just messing up a cloud of 1's and 0's. Also, marrying them is a little more arbitrary, which I wouldn't mind too much, if they all didn't feel the same. Lady Grey, my suitor in the first 2 games, also makes an apperiance in this game, but as an artifact in a jar... She was reduced to a brain. Kind of an analogy for the series as a whole, isn't it?

Mind you, the actual murdering took a hit as well. It still has the Fable classic strength, will, or skill, but the will has apparently aged out of the hero line to the point of needing gauntlets to activate... That's just dumb... There's also another mechanic that needs mentioned. All of the weapons you use evolve, including the gauntlets, and they evolve based on the things that you do most, changing their function a little bit, but here's the problem. Anyhting you do has a chance to effect the weapon. It's just doing more of a certain thing adds to the chances of that thing effecting the weapon. For example, when my hammer evolved, it turned dark, DARK green and red with gold rimmings, and spikes on it. It looked awesome, but when I saw what it was for, I fretted. It was for kicking chickens, and when I looked at my statistics for my file, I had only kicked 3 chickens, but killed over 50 innocents. Basing anything on odds can lead to some really bad effects. I mean what if it turned into the stupidest looking thing imaginable for something that you only did once?

After playing through this game, I'm left wondering where will this series go from here. I honestly think maybe they should put this particular series to bed. I certaintly have. I know there's another one, but I don't want anything to do with it. However, I'm forced to say that Fable 3 isn't bad, and if the gameplay hadn't been butchered, it would've been my favorite, but the way it is; it's ok. I'll close this series review by saying that the 2nd one is the one I recommend the most, but none of these games are bad, and they pass the time. So, if you love it, good for you, but these, to me, aren't my favorites.