For anyone thinking to buy fable III today, think hard first...
There will be more dlc and HOPEFULLY they will be long AND FREE!!! I really am dissapointed at this game, because it promissed to be a great sequel from fable II, but with a 6 hours long game, it's just a kick in the groing leaving you wanting more!!!
There are sidequests in this game, but aren't as long nor as funny or fulfilling as in fable 2.
The gameplay is basically the same as in fable 2, y shoot, b magic, x melee and a action button... they said they had improved the controllers, but i don't see anything new here. If you want to pause the game, instead of having a normal menu it transports you to your secret base where you can alter your looks, change your weapons, etc. I kinda liked this aspect of the game but hated it when i was in the middle of battle, wanted to change spells or weapons and couldn't access the menu.... you see, it won't activate if you are in combat... so you cannot change gear in the middle of a fight...
You can now combine two spells to make a really awesome one, like inferno with electricity, making it a fireball with electric current. You can do any combination you can think of with the spells they give you.
They changed the leveling system too, and thats a plus in this game. You will get "guild seals" instead of your normal experience points, which you will be using to unlock abilities and strengthen your range, melee and magical attacks. This guild seals are universal so you won't need to attack enemies using melee attacks for melee experience, you can kill them with magic and recieve the guild seals to strengthen your melee attacks.
The new "touch" feature isn't as big as Peter Molineux tried to explain. The only new thing is that you can grab anyone by the hand and take him/her anywhere, so insted of them running behind you, you controll them by taking them by the hand...
The "leveling menu" or "your kingdome" (that's how it's called ingame) is where you go to spend your guild seals for new abilities. It can only be accessed when the game flashes it's symbol in your screen, making it extremely annoying. Forget about accessing it from your menu, it doesn't work like that. Sometimes you have another things flashing in the same button your kingdom's notice flashes too, like your wife wanting to give you a present, and you have to go to your wife first, get the present, and then the guild symbol will flash allowing you to level up your abilities... this can be extremely annoying when you are in the middle of a quest, got enough experience points, but can't lvl up cause your wife wants something and you can't come out of the quest to get it leaving you finishing the quest without leveling up.
* Kind of Spoiler Alert*
When you are made the king of albion, you will have some difficult desicion's to make, but only two ways to go... so you can be evil but save the people or be good and let almost everyone in your kingdome get killed by a dark force that's comming to attack you... it doesn't have too much variety on what path to chose from.
*End of Spoiler*
The new multiplayer feature is far better than in fable 2, allowing to take your own character to another hero's world and even your dog, so kudos for that.
all in all, i think they tinkered too much with this game trying to make it a "new experience" but i think fable 2 was actually more spot on than this game... It is still a great game story-wise, where you meet a lot of cool characters. but a 6 HOURS long makes it fall short on what could have been a great gaming experience.
By the way, i've read and seen the scores from other fan reviewers out there and am amazed they gave it such a high score... saying the game gives you HOURS of fun and stuff... people, get real! I'm an old fan of fable but have to admit, they messed up on the 3rd installment!!!!