Game Review(s): Fable III & Fallout: New Vegas

I looked back over the "First Impressions" that I did for these two games, and I realized that I was mainly on point concerning what would end up being bad and good about both. Pretty much: I've said mostly what I wanted to say, but I've spent more time with both game and had a little to add here and there.

Just for the funnies, I'm gonna review these Kotaku-style:

****

Fable III

So, did P.M. do his over-hyping thing again?

Yes, he really did. Not so much that it feels like half the game is gone (i.e. Fable the First), but he promised quite a few things that, while actually in the game, are so ineffective and glitchy that they just don't work even remotely like they're supposed to.

Does this include the "touch expressions"?

It does. The premise, as it was explained by P.M., is that you will be able to hold hands with the ones you love and literally drag people to a less-than-satisfying fate...like slavery. His whole thing was to enable a connection with the world, and just a new way of interacting with it.

Unfortunately, this is impeded by the fact that ALL of the touch expressions are glitchy as hell. Holding hands with someone results in them following behind you, but your hands are never usually touching unless you're standing still. Plus, they forgot to mention that you will be holding hands with someone if you have to lead them anywhere. This means that escort missions involve taking a frightened and grown man by the hand and leading him through the forest. It's as odd as it sounds.

And I played the game for a little over 20 hours, and I was only asked to drag a few prisoners back to the guards. Even then, I didn't start dragging them until I was a few yards away. Until then, I was just walking hand-in-hand with a convicted criminal.

I can deal with that, I guess, but what about the other expressions? Are they still fun to use?

Not really. You don't have a menu from which to pick which expression you want to use and when. And you can no longer perform expressions for a group. You walk up to someone, click the "A" button, and you will transition into a "minigame" of sorts, where you have three expression options. Three, and they're usually always the same three, no matter how you're interacting with people.

That kinda sucks.

It does when you go to haggle over a price and have to do a very complicated dance to make him see things your way.

Okay, but what about all of this "It's A Revolution" business? Does that suck, too?

Actually, no, it doesn't. The expressions are a big flaw with the game, but they're only a small part of it. The story, the characters, the locations: all of them are improved over the last game. The revolution bit is fun and rewarding, and allows you to make more than a few tough decisions once you take back the throne. I will say from experience that every decision you make will have dire consequences. Dire.

I see. So, is this worth buying then?

I think any fan of the FABLE series will enjoy this game. It improves on most of its predecessor's shortcomings, but takes a few steps back in terms of things that didn't need improvement. The game is still absolutely funny, and the world is startlingly beautiful. It's FABLE II with a fresh coat of paint and a few surprises up its sleeve. I recommend it, with the caveat that there are still some bugs that need to be worked out, if bugs absolutely bother you.

****

Fallout: New Vegas

I hate your face.

Go fuck yourself.

So, is this pretty much FALLOUT 3 (2.0)?

If you want to look at it in terms of visuals and gameplay, NEW VEGAS is pretty much the same game that FALLOUT 3 was. But now that we have the actual creators of the FALLOUT series (Obsidian Entertainment) behind this one, the game feels much more entrenched into the lore of the series.

Stop being so cryptic.

Okay, it just really feels like Obsidian knew this property inside and out. There's so much more history in this game, so much more complexity to the way the world has been set up, and everything just makes much more sense. That, and the game actually involves the New California Republic, which made the game hit closer to home in my case. NCR Represent!

But what about the rest of the game? How has that improved?

The improvements are few, but they really make the game something special. There are a bunch of factions that you have the option of appeasing or destroying. You can now aim down the sights of your gun. The writing is better. The voice acting is better. With this game, its the little things that really add up.

I don't want to buy a game for the little things.

Then stop buying HALO.

But seriously, if you're looking for a game that's miles better than its predecessor, you won't necessarily find it here. You're getting more of the same, but this is a very good thing if you liked FALLOUT 3 as much as I did. You'll be getting a more refined world, one with a sense of humor laced throughout, and a few new gameplay quirks that really smooth out the experience. Add to that some very in-depth lore, and you've got a game that is to FALLOUT what OBLIVION was to ELDER SCROLLS.

So, final question: Is this worth the money?

If you were a fan of FALLOUT 3, then I cannot recommend this game enough. This is no expansion; this is a whole new world.

Sin City, baby.

First Impressions: Fable III

The Fable series has had a rough go of things over the years. Thanks to numerous instances of over-hyping the games, the insanely high expectations people have going into it, and the fact that although Lionhead Studios deliver a good product every time, they're not game-changing, and I think for that anything carrying the Fable brand will have undue stigma upon it.

Now, I absolutely LOVED Fable II. I cannot begin to describe how much I loved that game (though, a while ago, I tried), it was just the perfect blend of the fantastical, British humor (humour), and a level of customization that really let you feel like you were a part of the world. Fable III had A LOT to live up to in my mind. Still does. I think I'm roughly about six hours into this newest story. So far, I'm getting those same warm feelings I got while playing F-II. But Lionhead have also made a few changes to the formula: some of them welcome, some of them rather frustrating.

One of the major changes is the story. It's so totally simple, you don't even have to think about it. Which, I think, is a good thing. A reviewer on Joystiq asked, "How many of you can actually remember the story of Fable II?" and at first, I was like, "Shit, I can remember that in like three seconds ago. Let's see, you had the sister getting shot by that one dude, then you, ah..."

Damn. Doesn't matter, I played more for the real estate, exploration, and sidequests, anyhow.

In Fable III, you play as "The Prince" or "The Princess," one of two children of the Old Hero King (or Queen, depending on who you played in F-II). The other child is your brother, Logan, who is now the King of Albion. He is King amidst Albion's industrial revolution, and he is perfectly a-okay with allowing child labor, political assassinations, and standing by while the lower class crumbles into absolute poverty.

Yeah, I guess you could say he's...*sunglasses*...a royal dick.

So, after King Logan handles a certain situation with just the right amount of plot-catalyzing evil, which is actually really messed up, the Prince(ss) must embark on a journey to start a revolution against the throne. This is where I'm still roaming around as I type this.

Thus far into the game, I'm really pleased with what I've seen. The environments are just as beautiful and absorbing as they were in Fable II, if not BETTER in some cases (Brightwall Village, for instance, is amazing), and Lionhead has taken things a step further by designing little cultural differences between each town. Mountain dwellers will mostly wear heavy fur clothing, and people down in Bowerstone will mostly wear fancy garments, depending on which part of the city you're in. I liked that.

The writing is better, the humor is more prevalent, and the voice actors are very top-notch. Bernard Hill (King Theodin from Lord of the Rings and Captain Smith from Titanic) is fantastic as your teacher/companion, Sir Walter. You'll also run into Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Sir Ben Kingsley, who also gives a great and very, very funny performance as a ruler of a village of mountain dwellers.

And let's not forget John Cleese, who plays the part of the royal butler, Jasper. He is a part of a new feature of the game which I adore: when you press the start button, you are instantly transported to a sanctuary where you can save the game, look at your various outfits, weapons, trophies, and gold stockpile. It is amazing to me how seamless this feature is. You'd think you'd have to fight some sort of loading screen, but there is almost no transition at all when you press that button.

Now, onto the things I'm taking issue with: the bugs, there are a lot of them. Surprisingly, they're a lot more noticeable than some of those I discovered in Fallout: New Vegas. Your dog will bark about a dig spot, you follow it, and suddenly it decides to forget where it was going. That golden breadcrumb trail that leads you from quest to quest will sometimes disappear and not return, or will appear as just a few sparkles that you try to keep track of. You will hear vendors talking as if they're standing right next to you, but they'll actually be across the town somewhere.

And there is lag at times (mostly during cutscenes). I'm not sure what causes it. The minigames (jobs) will stutter as you play them, making it very difficult to keep that multiplier going.

All of that is manageable. I could live with those bugs, because they don't, by any means, make the game unplayable. But the one thing that I'm just not liking are the expressions. In Fable II, you had a radial menu where you could choose what you wanted to do, and then do it. You could play a lute out in public and people would gather around to listen to you play, or dance, or fart, whatever you felt like doing at the time. This time around, there is no menu. There are no expressions you can perform for a group at large; you will have to interact with each person individually, which is made all the more worse by the fact that there is a slight transition/loading screen each time you want to interact with someone.

And if that wasn't bad enough, you can't actually select what you want to do with people. You are literally given two or options - good, bad and neutral interactions - and you have to choose between them. Then, after you've performed one, the options will refresh and two or three new options will appear. I'm hating this, mostly because I don't like not being able to actually choose what I want to do. It all makes interacting with people an actual inconvenience, which is a sharp contrast to a feature I adored in F-II.

Anyway, I'm dealing with it, and I can always hope for a patch in the future, can't I.

Meh.

That's the game so far. Gripes aside, this is a marvelous game. At this point, I wouldn't dare hesitate to say that if you liked Fable II, you'll like Fable III. It's got everything that made the last game great, a few new/welcome surprises, and only the slightest of road bumps...so far.