A return to the franchise but not with out its flaws
You are 1 of 2 children (Prince or Princess) of the king and your tyrannical brother is ruling Albion with an iron fist. Your goal is to over throw him. Though this sounds like a simple enough game, there are a few truly inspirational sequences that will make you laugh with joy, scowl and say words that aren't exactly child friendly, and ones that will bring you close to tears.
A large portion of the game is dedicated to raising a rebellion among villages and factions through out the kingdom. This is a good idea as it opens up a wide array of sidequests and allows you to preform certain actions that have efects on your moral standing. However, some parts of the main story can become repetative and drone on with no sign of ending.
The story itself is much darker than previous stories and will have you wishing for the carefree trips to Oakfield from Fable 2 that we all came to love. The threat of death lingers over you for most of the game and make you wonder about the past and what could have caused you previously lighthearted brother to turn.
Now combat is where the game takes a turn for the worse. You are given 2 melee and 2 ranged weapons, that were left by your heroic father- a sword and hammer, and a pistol and rifle. These will change to fit your chararcters personality and past. Kill civilians an guards and your weapon will become black and jagged. Make virtuous choices and your weapon's handle will become silver. This helps add personality to the weapons and makes them feel unique.
The magic has been simplified down so much, a drunken hippo could use it effectively. You can only cast 1 spell at a time by wearing a specific gauntlet, theis is improved later on in the game as you are given the ability to "weave" spells and combine 2 at a time. This, though incredibly fun, is also incredibly easy. To succeed in combat all you must do is simply cast fire+shock (the 2 most effective spells) in an AOE radius and you will win. This make the combat shallow.
As mentioned up above, the main stories quest can get repetitive and turns old soon. But the variety in the side quests redeems it. Many of the quests are redidiculously fun and will have you crying with laughter. These will range from trivial matters such as a simple rescue my fiance to the down right hilarious, capture the escaped chickens while dressed as a giant one to gain there trust as they are "crafty" beings. My personal favourite being the one where you enter the game known as "Hobbes and Hollows", a parody of dungeons and dragons,with demonic fire breathing chickens in an evil teddy bear factory wielding the "+3 sword of Baron Slaying"...don't ask.
However as mentioned above there are some major flaws with the game, I have already mentioned some of these but now I will cover he ones that really ruined the experience for me. For starters, the map feels a lot smaller than previous games and has changed dramatically, leadiing you to question,"How have so many places dissapeared in 50 years?" This is helped slightly by the New continent that holds some of the darker more disturbing quests, but alas this place has roughly 4 locations...
Fable games are renowned for the way your character changes to match your gamestyle. You eat pies and raise income on your houses, you become uglier and fat. You eat celery and other vegitarian meals while giving gifts to the poor, you become skinny and beautiful. In this one your character has lost all of this exept the skinny and fat part. I became fully evil on the promise of awesome devil wings by a friend and what do I find? Do I find a 6 fooot tall demonic warrior Shooting fire from his hands, as villagers gawk in horror at his badass black horns? No, I get a guy who looks like he's wearing mascara with pale skin...very dissapointing.
OVERALL
The Good:
Side quests
Interesting story
Fable's family charm
Graphics
Your children actually grow up now
Demonic fire breathing chickens
New fun jobs are available
The Bad:
Short story - took me 8 hours at max with many side quests
Combat simplified
The ending feels quite rough and I would have liked more time as king before *SPOILER* went and *SPOILER* the great big *SPOILER*
Lack of customisation makes you pretty angry at the games end.
I would highly recommend this game to people who are fans of the series or those who just want a few laughs..