It lacks a bit of depht, but still, this game has the potential to become a winner franchise: Good gameplay and fun.
Grab yourself a mug of ron and let's have a talk about this game I've played...
Well, it's really cool that someone took a step further into this alignment system in the world of RPG's. I've seen some try this before, like Neverwinter Nights, Temple of Elemental Evil and some other games, but this is the first time that someone makes it changes the way that the plot of the game is told to you.
Fable is a really fun game to play. Microsoft has crafted a solid title here, and even thought it was made initially for the Xbox, Fable: The Lost Chapters for the PC feels just like a PC game should be.
The game starts with you being an infant, and then, fate has you joining the heroes guild to receive combat training. That's when you'll be introduced to the gameplay, which is a basic hack'n slash system, what leaves you free to move during battles and use spells or items. The way you shoot with your bow, or crossbow is the best system up to date I've ever seen in a game. The crossbow is even slower than the bow, as it is supposed to be... (Bow users take about 3 sec between the arrow shoots, and crossbow users about 12 sec.) He does more damage, thought, and probally more range than the bow too. Such detail really had me amazed.
If you ever felt like playing a medieval RPG game, this is the most emersive so far, and simple too.
You can play the good guy or just be the devil on earth. Some of the quests allow you to choose which side you wanna fight on: Participate in an attack to a village alongside with some bandits, or join the city guards and help defending it. Your actions will be rewarded with aligment points and fame points, and based on that, the reaction of the NPC's to your character will change as you progress. But be warned, if you get too evil, your appearance will be equally evil.
Your character will also age along the game, as you expend experience points to get skills. There are barber shops and tattooists so that you can customize your appearance, and if you want even more customization, you can eat some pies and become obese, your design your own tattoos and insert them in the game.
There's little to complain about it, the story maybe be cheesy, but it's okay. Most of the deficiences are in the interface of the game... Like the few room for the spells in the quick bar, and the spell rotation system in the mouse is a bit ackward, but nothing that can ruin the game. A redesignin the menus and tradings screens would've been a good thing too, it's a little too much "windowesque".
All in All, Fable: The Lost Chapters is a great game. It has some flaws here and there, but it has the potential to become a great franchise. It's inovative both in customization, with it's alignment system, and in the gameplay, and I wouldn't doubt that someday in a near future microsoft promotes it to a MMORPG. That would be really sweet.
Arrr, I guess that's all...
If you are still in doubt about this game, I'll gladly answer any question.
Cheers,
Cap'n Daccat