I took my sweet time with this review for one simple reason: this game was disappointing. Not so much in terms of it being a bad game, but rather in the sense that it didn't feel like a natural progression of the Fable lineage and it also felt like a very disjointed game.
In playing the game, I was initially intrigued by the idea of my character being royalty, the Princess of Albion (I always play as a girl, don't ask why). Within 15 minutes of the game starting, my character was ripped from the teat of vanity and made into a poor, miscreant warrior trying to defend the people. It was exactly the same as the Fable and Fable II in format, but not content.
The best part of Fable II for me was the grandeur of the world and the ability to explore its every nook and cranny. There were several sidequests well worth doing and tons of opportunities to turn a few tricks to make some money, earn legendary weapons and purchase epic properties. Fable III on the other hand seems dedicated to the story. A story which is rather simple.
Fable and Fable II had powerful story lines that allowed you to grow with other characters and harbor a hatred for the big-bad. Fable III rushes you through it. I managed to beat it the first time in two days of playing and I tried to take my time and take in Albion. New worlds were introduced, like Aurora, but I took no interest in them in my first play through. On the second playthrough, I spent more time exploring and still felt as disconnected as I did the first time.
So, why is that? In Fable II the towns and locations felt more alive and the conversation wheel was much more fluid than the newly introduced "binary" system. Being able to choose each and every action in a given conversation made me feel closer to the game's world, but Fable III made me feel more like I was playing a game. The attempt at a menu-less system also made it seem more fluid at first, but I quickly ran into issues with gameplay. It's a great concept to take out menus, since they tend to take you out of combat, but being unable to switch spells on the fly in combat took away some of the versatility and fun in combat. Instead of using any face buttons to switch spells, the player must pause the game, which takes you to The Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is a wonderful place where John Cleese tells you that there's new things to buy on Xbox Live every time you enter, then you get to enter different chambers and visually pick out your weapons and spells without being able to compare them to one and other. I, personally, preferred the menu system of the second game.
Lionhead promised an amazing set of kingly decisions to be made. They said we would feel like absolutely kings of Albion. Unfortunately, they simply gave the players two consistent choices. Those choices being "make or save money and have people hate you" or "spend money and have people like you." All this with a deadline to make 5,000,000 gold on your head. The second playthrough offered no moral issues, as I raised about 10,000,000 before reaching that point of the game through real estate and then made everybody happy. Upon reaching the end of the game, I simply stood in one place firing my rifle and taking health potions to kill the big-baddie. I did this both times.
At the end of the day, my time in Albion seemed superficial. It seemed more like Albion needed a property magnate than a Hero. I have little drive to go back and get achievements or playthrough on the evil path. The game stuns on a visual level and have extremely high production values, but the story and world tend to sap the game of everything that I loved from previous titles.
Sound:9/10
Graphics:10/10
Story:6/10
Overall:7/10
Pros: Big world, fun to play, easy achievements
Cons: Short, feels confined, doesn't live up to prior titles
Play if you like: Fable & Fable II
