Gamespot's review didn't do this game justice.
User Rating: 9.9 | Fable XBOX
I can honestly say this is the single best game I've played in the last two years. Not since Grand Theft Auto 3: Vice City has an experience like this come along. Everything about this game just *screams* polish. To start with (and just get it out of the way), the graphics are everything you've come to expect from the Xbox. Top-end and stunning. I had a friend mention "Oh yeah, they stole that shiny bright effect from Prince of Persia.". I corrected him and let him know Black and White was the first place I ever saw that, and the game did have Peter Molyneux as the prime creative consultant. I'm sure that was part of his input regarding the visual style for a game who's core is 'good and evil', nor would I have the effect removed, it completely adds to the feel of the game. Fable does alternate from the shiny happy <-> dark and dangerous landscapes, with variations in between. The "level" design (for lack of a better term) is practical, well laid out and at the same time with a sense of realistic architecture. Weather and day/night changes are also magnificent. Between each area there is a short load time, with a display of the map so you can look it over before you enter. For some reason Gamespot found this load time to be an "issue". Yet it loads in a mere quarter of the time than Knights of The Old Republic does and they didn't have a problem with it then.... The music is simply epic and exactly what this title needed. The main score was done by Danny Elfman and it's one of his best pieces I've ever heard. The sound effects are also right on the mark. In fact the only thing I can even say detracted from this game were some of the voice actors (some, not all, only a few secondary characters). Considering the hours of voice work that went into this title as well, this is nothing to be surprised about. These aren't even horrible sounding voices, just a few that don't quite fit their part and throw you out of the experience for the 10-20 seconds of their talking, nothing worth worrying about. Now that I've gone over all of the technical aspects, I can go into the gameplay. Fable by far is one of the top 3 role playing game experiences I've ever had (and trust me, that's saying something). Only comparable to the likes of Fallout, Knights of the Old Republic and Final Fantasy 3. I know it wasn't too long ago when people were raving about how Morrowind let you play the game the way "you want to play it" by allowing you to become better at the things you work on. Well, Fable took this one step further. It completely abolished the experience level system (good riddance!). Growth is handled via 2 ways. General experience (that can be used to further any type of ability) and catagorized experience for strength, skill and willpower. An example being, that I want to learn the "fireball" spell (a willpower ability), if I have enough willpower experience I can simply purchase it outright, or use some willpower experience and some general experience together to buy it, or simply buy the ability completely using general experience. The only stipulation being that I couldn't use willpower experience to learn a strength (fighter) ability, for example. You earn experience both in general and in the catagory you use in your travels, so the growth is in part due to your play style and also due to your choices. In essence, you are not only now freed from the level grind, but at the same time, you are no longer forced to define yourself into a set class. You are free to be the person you choose to be, and your actions reflect who you are, both in ability and in appearance. I won't go too far into the appearance, simply to say that your alignment, age, eating habits and style of battle all play key factors in determining who you turn out to be. We come to something that many games have as an afterthought or are lacking altogether, story. This game has a gggggreat! story that is completely engaging, while at the same time it somehow leaves you open to still be whatever type of person you choose to be. It's dynamic and from what I've seen hasn't even "glitched" once to pull me out of the experience. This could only have been achieved thanks to the four years of polish they were given to work on this. It's so refreshing to play a game that wasn't simply a cash-grab, but a work of art. Speaking of the art, even that is outstanding. The menus all have generic yet defined artwork depicting the choices to be made, this immediately reminded me of Fallout and it's varied character generation art. There are also great narrated squences at key points in the story, focusing on what appears to be a mural and spinning a tale (much akin to the intro to Beauty and the Beast). The AI in this game is outrageous, working on so many levels is sometimes shocks you. Your every deed and action is taken into account and reflected in the way people treat you, making comments at even your smallest achievements. Outside of the core story, there is a multitude of side-quests, addtional adventures, hidden items, mini-games, gambling and even chicken-kicking (it records the farthest dictance you can kick them). You can go to your statistics screen to see what goals/records you've set, just like in Grand Theft Auto (even find out the number of times you've had sex). All in all, this game is perfection and EVERYONE who owns an Xbox needs to have this title, period. Halo and Fable should stand side by side as Xbox's greatest achievements. Lastly, I want to touch on a minor point that Gamespots review focused on. The ability later in the game to pay out gold to modify your alignment to it's opposite (pay to become evil if you were good, vice versa). They seemed to find this as some kind of major fault with the game design, instead of realizing this is completely optional, and saves some players from building a new character from the start simply to see the alignments differences. However, let me point out that assuming these temples were not added, the main game had been completed and I was a good character, i would easily be able to slaughter townsfolk and become evil immediately, however making the change from an evil character to a good one would have been an arrgavating task that late in the game. So the addition of these temples did nothing more than even it out so despite which side you played the game through as, you could see the change at the end. It's simple game dynamics that, if avoided, would have heavily criticized. Looking at the community ratings as well, it's obvious that this game was undervalued and I'd hope to see Gamespot bite the bullet and admit their mistake, and have another staff member give this game the review it deserves. 8.5 might be good enough for a racing or fighting game. But get a grip gamespot, Fable DESERVES better. Even if you aren't into Fantasy settings (yes, the same people who couldn't get into Lord of the Rings but still knew it was a fantastic movie that just wasn't their thing), you know this deserves at least a 9 out of 10. Everyone needs to buy this game. The studios need to see that the consumer is willing to pay for this level of quality in their entertainment. 
