Fable: The Lost Chapters
Review
A truly immersive gaming experience
by Lazarus
reviewed on PC
From Xbox to PC
If you played the award winning, extremely popular Fable (for Xbox), you will find that Fable: The Lost Chapters is the same game, ported and enhanced for the PC. The Lost Chapters (TLC) is exactly that, additional quests, weapons and enemies for the same story line in Fable. It's kind of like an expansion pack and the original game in one package, only now PC gamers can enjoy the rich content and unusual quests found in this great third person RPG. If you haven't played Fable on Xbox and are looking for comparisons, it is similar in content to the Might and Magic series with Morrowind's graphics and controls and sort of like Asheron's Call, but with a storyline and quests.
Childhood moulds the hero
The game starts you out as a child in your home town, giving you the opportunity to learn the basic controls, which are quite intuitive and well laid out. You are given the choice of either the WASD keyboard or the arrow keyboard controls. All the keys and mouse buttons are reassignable for your preferences and comfort. You must complete the tasks that your family members ask of you in order to complete this tutorial section and "grow up". Even at the very beginning of this game you are given choices of morality, good or evil, and soon realize that the game puts you in situations where you have to make a decision to follow one path or the other. It is very difficult to walk down the middle in TLC. At the end of this tutorial your childhood ends rather gruesomely, but the child is quite lucky and is saved by a stranger. He is then whisked away by the stranger to begin his training in the Hero's Guild.
The Hero's Guild is the second stage of the tutorial where you will learn melee combat, the powers of your will (also known as magic spells) and your ranged weapon controls. The controls for all of these attack modes are very easy to learn and quite effective in use. There is a weapon "lock-on" feature that works well with the bow, but can also be used to attack a friendly (green glow) character with melee weapons. All of the attack modes should be learned well in this stage because later on all of them will be needed to attack and defeat your enemies in the most effective manner. Fable TLC does not lend itself like other RPG's for you to specialize in magic or might, you will need to become a jack of all trades to be really successful against all enemies in this game. After you have spent a good hour or so training, (which you can extend and I highly recommend that you do if you've never played this type of RPG before) you will be given the choice to advance to adulthood and start your journey to become Albion's greatest hero.
Quest System
In the Hero's Guild there is a 3D map of Albion where you will select from the available quests to complete. These quests range from requests made by the citizens of Albion to rid their village of some annoyance, a contest of some sort (chicken kicking for one) or a complete action-packed adventure to rescue someone. As you complete each quest a gold reward and/or renown and experience points are gained. In Fable TLC you can also boast about how well you think you will perform on your quest (without a scratch), or you can brag that you will perform the quest naked (in you underwear actually) to gain additional gold or renown points. Although the main storyline is as linear as they come, the addition of interesting side quests throughout your journey, the choice between good and evil, and the boasting system, greatly enhance the RPG experience.
9.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
