A different RPG experience.
Story of Fable 2 is, quite surprisingly, not that interesting. You start 500 years after first Fable as a young boy, who together with his sister gets invited to Lord Lucien's Fairfax castle. There it is revealed that Lucien is doing some research and in the process kills both of you. But you don't die and 10 years later you start your quest to stop Lord Lucien. End is always the same in Fable 2, but it's the way you get there that really matters. In this game the journey itself is much more important than the end.
In the course of your adventure there are numerous hints to previous game and even the overall map design resembles Fable from 2004. Story is told through a few cutscenes and lots of excellent voice acting. The ability to choose subtitles makes sure that it's easy to follow Fable 2's story. This game is a slow-paced adventure so make sure you take your time to explore and enjoy the world of Albion. For me it took only 3 days (about 10 to 15 hours) to play through the main quest, but luckily you can continue by completing sidequests after that.
Graphics are average, but it's the colorful art design that really makes Fable 2 to look good. That same light and fairytale mood is always present when you explore different places. Unfortunately there are some graphical glitches, texture popping and occasional frame rate drops, but all of this can easily be forgiven. Sound design relies more heavily on sound effects than actual music, although that too is a high quality product.
Controls are simple and easy to learn, but unfortunately they are not very precise and always feel a little loose. Luckily in this kind of game you don't need pin point accuracy and split-second timing like in Ninja Gaiden for example. Save system is just like it should be: there are occasional autosaves, but you can also save anywhere anytime. This makes sure that you feel like your always moving forward.
Gameplay in short is a third person action game with lots of RPG elements. There are a lot of melee weapons to use and some of them are upgradable with special items called Augments. Same is also true in ranged weapons, but the most interesting is the ability to use and upgrade different magical abilities. Combat in general is not that challenging, so it's entirely up to you how straight forward and boring or varied and interesting you want to make it.
Navigating is made extremely easy and it's impossible to get lost. After choosing a primary quest from the menu a golden trail shows you where to go next. If you've already visited that goal region you can also jump straight to it with a push of a button. This erases the element of pointless running from point A to point B, but this and some frequent loading times between different regions cause that Albion does not feel like a huge big world.
Your constant companion is the dog and it's the best part of the game. You don't really care about any of the characters, but you do care about the dog and it connects you to this fantasy world. After teaching a few tricks your best friend will help you to find treasure chests and dig spots, which is an essential ability in some quests. The addition of a dog takes away that usual aimless wondering when trying to find buried items or hidden treasures.
You need money to survive in Albion and you can get it in a way you see fit. You can get a job for example as a bartender or a blacksmith: this starts a minigame in which you earn gold and fame or you can just kill people and take their money or break into houses and steal whatever you may find. Making yourself famous is also a great way to get discounts in shops and this is accomplished by completing quests and performing gestures in front of people. You can also choose to get married and have children or it can just be you and your dog on the road. What ever you choose know that your actions will reflect on how people behave towards you.
Fable 2 features a co-op mode, in which another player joins to other's game and they can complete quests together. It's a nice idea, but Fable 2 is clearly designed to be a single player adventure. Player 2 will always feel that he or she is just a guest and an outsider, but the camera is the worst thing in co-op. You can't adjust it in any way and especially in caves and dungeons this creates occasionally frustrating events since you really can't see where you're going.
Fable 2 is a different RPG experience that you really should check out. You may not be playing it for dozens of hours and many weeks, but you will definitely remember it afterwards.