Take a week off work and lock yourself in!

The opening narrative, complete with brilliantly illustrated storyboard sets the scene perfectly for what is easily one of the best games to be released on the Xbox.

A compelling plot with more twists and turns than a helter-skelter will keep you glued to your buttocks, given flavour by the well written NPC's. Some will annoy you, this is certain. But when this occurs, you could simply take their head off with an axe if it suits you.
The graphics are pretty, the load times are not too long and the controls are easy to master. Oh, and the graphics are pretty, VERY pretty! (So much so that I have now said this three times!).

What keeps me playing games is the feeling of being able to free-roam, to do what quests I choose, to have my in-game' choices actually affect the game, to be able to customize my character to give them the look that I want. This game has ALL of these things! (And more) From choosing hairstyles, facial hair and clothing down to you body weight! (Eat too many pies & tofu and you may end up as a rotund podger!)

You can play the game as an archer, a warrior or a pure spell caster (mage), or maybe a mixture of all three as one gains experience relevant to the means by which foes are vanquished! - Gain enough experience in some skills and you will be able to steal items out of shops and eventually be able to pick locks and raid peoples homes and shops at night!

Another nice feature is the title vendor. Buy yourself a nice title such as 'Assassin', 'Ranger', 'Gladiator' or maybe even 'Chicken chaser'!? and people around towns and villages will call out to you in adoration - or flee in sheer terror!

Which brings me nicely to the good/evil feature. Your actions in the game determine how good/evil your character is. Slaughter an entire village, smashing down doors and killing villagers as they climb out of their beds and then hack up the town guard and you will gain some serious 'evil' points. Become evil enough and the darkness within will begin to manifest itself in your outward appearance! (Think red eyes, huge horns, glowing red aura). Or be a 'good' natured character and with enough good points, your character will end up looking something akin to an archangel.

The diversity of the gameplay is ever-present. Even when playing through the game 'quests', one can more often than not choose to partake in a quest that is more suited to their alignment. For example one could take the 'Save the Traders' quest, or the 'Massacre the Traders' quest. Which all add to the feeling of a unique gaming experience each and every time you play through this outstanding game!

Other nice features of the game include a horde of weapons with which to equip your character whether it be the blackened Obsidian-bladed Longsword or the Ebony Longbow. One can also augment ones weaponry with crystals that give the weapon extra benefits such as increased damage or extra lightening damage.
You can own and even lease property, get married, have sex, get divorced or...ahem...Widow yourself...You can go fishing, complete or fulfil special requirements to open secret 'Demon Doors' and collect elusive 'Silver Keys' which allow you to open special treasure chests for some pretty groovy items!

The game possibilities are near-endless and the game environments really draw you into a fantastical world which you will not want to escape from. There are hours and hours of adventuring and exploration to be had here and it's a game t

a good, fun game

Gameplay: The controls are the typical WASD keys and mouse commands found in most single-player RPGs. The game is fairly easy to learn and navigate. The story traces the hero from childhood through adulthood, when he'll have to, you know, save the world. There are no character classes per se, but you can roughly play as a warrior, magic-user, or stealth/archer character, or some mixture of these. Much of the story centers around a main quest line, but there are a number of side quests available. Unlike most RPGs, quests are assigned by quest cards that you pick up at the Heroes Guild. It's a rather artificial-feeling system, but it's functional. Progression in the game is quite linear. In most instances, you will not be able to even leave the beaten path, since fences, rocks, and invisible barriers won't allow it. Compared to more open-ended RPGs like the Elder Scrolls series, Fable seems restrictive and light weight in this regard. Overall, it's a decent story, but it is rather force-fed to you. The game includes several interesting touches. People react to you based upon whether you've performed good or bad deeds. If you roleplay like a saint, you'll eventually have a halo and butterflies floating around. Ladies (and guys) will worship you, and you do have the option to buy a home and marry (multiple times if you'd like). If you play as an evil character, you'll eventually grow horns and fall out of favor with polite company. Although you can only play the game as the same guy, you can customize him with tattoos, facial hair, haircuts, and a (small) assortment of armor. You can control how your character's skills develop. There are other small things that you can do, such as fish, play games of chance, and treasure hunt. Overall, this game takes about 20-25 hours to do everything it has to offer, so it is rather short for an RPG. The game is certainly designed to appeal to the adolescent crowd, with hotkeys for burping, farting, and so forth. The various tattoo styles and haircuts further highlight this point. There is nothing really offensive in the game; it just feels a bit immature in places. Also, the save system is based mostly on the checkpoint model. Graphics: The game looks quite good. Character models are convincing and the natural environment is screenshot beautiful in some places. Sounds: Voice acting is pretty good, with the usual British accents that invariably seem to accompany such games. The music is particularly well done and appropriate for the various atmospheres. Ambiant sounds are also decent. Replayability: The game is probably worth playing twice: once as a good guy and once as a bad guy. It will play similarly either way, but there are different ways to perform certain quests depending on your moral disposition. If you like RPG games and can get this one cheap, go for it. It's a well-polished, though simple, rump through a fairly well rendered world. However, Fable: The Lost Chapters is good for several hours of entertainment.

An Xbox classic

The first time I played Fable, I was blown away. I had never quite played a game like Fable, especially on the Xbox. The openness of the games world and the morality system made it seem like there were endless possibilities within the game. This isn't the case of course but that was the feeling that I had when I played it.

Years later, I purchased the game again and played back through it. While the game lived up to my expectations, it was not quite the same game that I remembered. Perhaps it has not aged as well as I had expected, perhaps my nostalgia had made the game seem better than it was. Whatever the case, the game has lost something over the years but do not think this means the game is bad. It is far from that. It is also far from perfect but it doesn't have to be perfect to be a great game.

First off, the positives of the game: the game is fun, descent in length and scope, has game mechanics that add to the overall experience of the game (such as the way your character can become good or evil based on their actions and being able to buy houses, get married, etc.), and has a story and ending that make you want to keep you interested enough to keep playing the game. I am just glossing over all of the things the game does well because I believe that my rating of the game does enough to show that the game is great and I feel that if you are taking the time to read this review then chances are, you have heard reasons why the game is good. I am going to go over in more detail the flaws of the game, not because they are more prevalent, but because I feel that the reason of this review is show what isn't apparent from the rating I give it.

Now with the negatives. The game does not have the best voice work. The character voices are not particularly well done and can become annoying and even downright grating at times, especially after hearing the same piece of dialogue while running through a town for the umpteenth time. The graphics are very dated, especially when compared to those you would expect from modern games. The game world is not as grand or as large as I remember it being and there is not a whole lot of variations to the game world (town, wilderness, repeat). The combat system is not the best and the camera could be better but it is hard to tell how many of these problems can be directed at the game and how many are to blame on the limitations of the Xbox. This game falls squarely in that spot of gaming where it is old enough to look significantly dated and old but not old enough to have a retro feel and charm about it.

If you can get past all of the minor drawbacks, I highly recommend this game. I even prefer this game over Fable II (I have not played Fable III yet so I can not say one way or the other which of those I would prefer). So if you like Fable II or like games with action and RPG elements and are looking for an addition to your Xbox or Xbox 360 collection, give this game a try. I doubt you will be disappointed.

A well done RPG that's great fun to play

Fable...I don't even know where to begin. This is a game I've played for years and still get kicks playing it to this day. The story was great, the graphics were very polished (if you have the PC for them of course), and the fighting system was addictive by it's own right.

Fable's story starts off simple. You play as a young boy exploring your town doing a few simple things to get enough pocket change to buy your sister a present. Then things go horribly wrong. Your family is presumed dead and all of Oakvale is on fire. As you're about to be killed, a mage named Maze saves you, and tells you that you have the potential for great things. Seeing as how there's nothing else you can do, you follow him and start your life in a Guild, where you are taught the ways of the sword, bow, and will. After that, you're off on your own, completing objectives and doing quests at your own pace.

One of the best things about Fable was it's Good/Evil system. You could be a Hero to everyone around the world or you could be a famous thief or villain. Depending on your actions even your own appearance can change, from a high and mighty shining knight to a demon with horns coming out of his head.

The battle system is also great fun. You can select from a different array of swords, axes, bows, and spells to defeat your foes...or torture villagers with. Either way there's alot to do. The more experience you earn using those tools the better you can become with them. You can increase your physique or stealth depending on what kind of hero you want to be.

There were a few gripes I had with it though. For one you couldn't take some of the best looking weapons in the game (of course with the PC version there are mods that let you), the game is very very linear, and when you attack guards in a town they never seem to ever disappear. I've spent a whole half an hour doing nothing but killing guards before. You'd think they would run out or be scared after a while.

Even so, Fable is a great PRG, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. You don't need the best computer to play it either, but it looks very good if you have a Dual-Core or something with at least 2.6Ghz of processing speed.

You can also get it for very cheap now, so there's no reason why you shouldn't pick this up and give it a try. Trust me there's much worse you could do for $5.

Fable: The Lost Chapter Platinum Hits (Xbox)

This game is amazing. You shape your character with every choice you make. You look evil if you act evil, and vice versa for being saintly. Half and half, and well, you just stay looking pretty clean cut I guess. The weapons are fun to aquire, the magic is always on the cusp of your mind as you learn more, and the quests and monsters make for a real fun experience. RPG lovers, you will love this game. RPG haters, you can still play because the endless menus qualms you always have are a lot less of an issue here. Great game, 5/5.