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Fable II (Xbox 360) | 
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| From: Microsoft
Category: Video Games
List Price: £44.99
Buy New: £19.57
You Save: £25.42 (57%)
New (14) Used (10) from £19.57
Rating:  76 reviews
Sales Rank: 20
Format: Unknown Format
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: role-playing-games
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Media: Video Game
Operating System: No Operating System
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 9CS-00016
UPC: 882224719681
EAN: 0882224719681
ASIN: B001CSO00A
Release Date: October 24, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Carve out a virtual life for yourself as hero or villain in the fantasy world of Fable II, where nothing is pre-determined. Create your own character, male or female, and control them over their whole lifetime. Watch as they grow up and then make the tough moral choices that will affect their abilities and how the world sees them.
 Some cities are huge, with a complex infrastructure for you to exploit |  Acting for good or evil can have a permanent physical effect on your features |  Guns are commonplace, but swordfighting is still vitally important |  Not all your enemies are human in the world of Fable | Set in the land of Albion 500 years after the first game (such that primitive guns are now in widespread use), you can either seek to rid the land of evil or conquer the realm for yourself. The game features an all new combat system, allowing you to use a range of melee and ranged weapons, while death brings only a loss of experience. But the game need not be about fighting at all if you don’t want it to be. You can buy property and become a mayor, or get married and have children. Many games call themselves role-players, but here the nature of your role is entirely up to you. Key Features - Game of life: Mould your own character and watch them grow into adulthood, their features changing according to the deeds they perform for good or evil.
- Virtual reality: Will you be a charming evil doer or an antisocial hero? The role you play is entirely up to you as you follow the game’s story or ignore it to do your own thing.
- New age of combat: Wield a huge range of weapons, including swords, axes, and newly available muskets. Or master a range of magic spells with up to 80 different varieties available.
- Team up: Invite a friend into your game at any time and play with them in co-operative mode.
- Best friend: Every character gets a chance to own a pet dog, one who will help you to find your way through the game world, attack enemies, or just be a good friend.
About the Developer: Lionhead Studios
Headed by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, creator of the famous Populous and Theme Park, Lionhead are one of the UK’s best known developers. They were bought by Microsoft in 2006 and now produce games such as Black & White, The Movies, and Fable only on Xbox 360 and PC.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 71 more reviews...
 The best game I've played in a while October 24, 2008
41 out of 44 found this review helpful
Before getting hold of Fable 2 I'd seen a few interviews with Peter Molyneux hyping up this game and I was a little concerned that it wasn't going to live up to his hype, but IMO, it does. After just a few minutes of gameplay I was hooked.
Graphically Fable 2 looks great and the story is superb. What surprised me is the depth of the game. For example, you can purchase a house and rent it out, raise the rent, redecorate, evict the tenants, get engaged and move in with your partner, get married and have kids, get divorced. You get the picture!
Despite the depth, it is very easy to pick up and play. A sparkly trail leads you to your current destination (which can be switched off in the options I believe), but you have the option of switching missions at any time, or ignoring the sparkly trail altogether and wandering off to do your own thing. The missions I've played so far have all been good fun and there's plenty of humour thrown in there which is nice to see. The difficulty curve isn't too steep either, ramping up at a reasonable pace.
Combat is fun, with a number of close combat weapons to purchase, along with ranged weapons such as crossbows, pistols and shotguns, and a number of spells. You can earn money by taking various jobs, by renting properties out, completing missions, or by finding treasure chests or digging up bags of gold pieces, all of which enables you to purchase new weapons, clothing, food, properties and so on.
Throughout the game your dog joins you on the missions. He'll sniff out buried treasure which you can then dig up, or attack enemies that you've knocked to the ground. You can teach him new tricks and upgrade his treasure seeking and fighting skills, plus you can pet him, punish him, throw him a ball to go and fetch and so on, which leads me on to.......
Moral choices. This game allows you to play as either a man or a woman. You can customise your character in several ways, including purchasing different outfits that suit the particular kind of persona you want to portray. You will constantly be faced with situations where you can be good or evil and the choices you make impact what happens in the game.
The main negative with Fable 2 is the online co-op. As you wander around the world, you will see orbs that represent other online players. You can set it so that everyone is shown, or only people on your friends list. When you walk into an orb you can enter the other person's world and this is where it gets a little disappointing as you cannot use your own character in your friend's world. You play as a henchman, and the screen and camera are locked so you can't wander very far from each other.
Despite the slightly disappointing co-op mode, the single player campaign makes makes this game well worth the money. If you are a fan of action RPG games, then don't hesitate, buy it now!
Brilliant October 26, 2008
20 out of 22 found this review helpful
Having read the other reviews for this game on here, I would agree with most of them as they share the positive views I have about Fable II and are right to do so. This game is brilliant, almost flawless in its many aspects: the graphics are stunning, the gameplay is addictive, the voice acting is genuine, the plot is deep and engrossing and the absolute freedom of the game is enthralling.
I could go on for many, many words explaining the multitude of options available to the player, but I'm more concerned with the user who decided to give this game a mere one star rating.
I STRONGLY ADVISE YOU not to pay that review heed, as it contains false information. It states that you cannot change character name (there were no character names in the original Fable, only titles that you earned or bought, and Fable II has plenty of them); it states that you cannot change hair colour (barbers sell different coloured dye which you can change hair and clothing colours with); it states that there are no weapon enhancements (a new augment system allows you to buy various additional skills/effects for weapons with augment slots, causing differing enhancements).
Perhaps the biggest falseness in the one star review is the statement that Fable II removed hundreds of freedoms that the first game had. This could not be further from the truth. Think of the original, times it by ten, mix it with elements of The Sims, GTA and an originality that Xbox RPGs have lacked so far and you have this pure gem of a game.
It might not have the longevity of Oblivion (but what else does?), but there are many replay factors involved, the least of which is the ability to play as a male or a female, so if you enjoyed the first game or want an addictive, fun and truly enjoyable gaming experience then buy it right now.
And if you're still reluctant and torn between the views of the positive and negative reviews here, check out the official reviews that the magazines gave it. You won't be disappointed.
Surprising Depth October 30, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Definitely buy this if you like your RPGs, there is a lot more depth than is first apparent. I'll get the bad stuff out of the way first - technically this game has some flaws that you'll need to overcome to get really immersed.
Things like:
Zoning into a new area and watching as ingame characters load.
Slippy/slidy feet movement in places, especially small areas/near objects.
Walking up to something and trying to interract with it by pressing A, then discovering that you have to be at the right angle and distance which requires a bit of shimmying into position.
The very cluttered zone maps which make them hard to read.
You can't play as your own character in someone else's game, you can only play as a default Henchman character (you'll still gain xp, gold etc., when returning to your own game though)
Very short campaign.
A couple of real gamebreaking bugs (don't take your adult character into a co-op game with another player still in the child phase, basically, and try to save regularly) that I believe Lionhead are working on patching.
If these don't irk you and you think you can still get that sense of immersion you like in your RPGs, then read on, because the good stuff makes it all worth it. Personally these factors were a little annoying for me at first, but the game grew on me over the next few play sessions and my initial feeling of 7.3/10 score grew to a 9.4/10 by the finish, hence the 5 stars.
Fable II is set 500 years after the original Fable, which you don't need to have played in advance to follow Fable II's story. The Heroes Guild no longer exists, but the bloodline of the Heroes continues, and forces are at work to bring the remaining Heroes together. You start the game (as a boy or a girl, your choice) in the town of Bowerstone, where you and your sister are struggling to survive. A stranger called Theresa (brilliantly voiced by Zoe Wannamaker throughout the game) sets you on your path to fame and fortune and the short childhood section is swiftly over.
From the outset every decision you make affects the world around you. Play as an evil character and you'll grow horns, your skin will lose its innocent complexion considerably, the world will become a much darker place. Play as a good character and your eyes will develop a serene blue color and you'll get a little halo over your head, the world will be a much more pleasant place.
The first thing that'll hit you is how big the world actually is compared to the original Fable. The first main zone alone has probably just as many secrets, chests, silver keys, hidden dungeons, beetles and bandits, NPCs and so on as the first four or five zones combined in the original. Graphically the game has become truly next gen with lots of neat touches like being able to recognise certain landmarks from the first game, although it's not perfect, the spash animations are a bit inferior when you dive into water.
Combat is a lot easier, X for a melee weapon, Y for a ranged attack, B for a spell, and as you develop the appropriate skills for each type by earning experience orbs during battle you'll learn blocking, flourishes, combos, improve your accuracy, be able to zoom in and aim at bodyparts and ramp up your spell damage. If you're like me you'll be slowing down time a great deal to make certain parts of the game a lot easier.
But what really makes Fable II shine is the way you can either push on through the main storyline (around 15 hours long if you rush through it) or go off the beaten track by taking up side quests, which turns the game into an 80+ hour time-waster. Every time you make a quest your main task, you'll get a magical breadcrumb trail telling you where to go (it's optional, you can turn it off, but it's really handy!) so it's hard to get lost.
The addition of having a dog as your faithful pet is pretty inspired in this regard, your dog will warn you of nearby enemies, bark if it finds treasure chests and lead you to them, dig on the ground if there's something you can dig up, and even join in with fighting if you teach it the appropriate skills (training manuals are available from all good bookstores in Albion). You will become attached to your dog - you can play fetch with him, scold him, reward him, heal him and it is ever loyal. How attached you become plays a major factor later on when important decisions are presented to you, but suffice it to say I became more attached to my dog than I did my spouse and daughter in Bowerstone who tend to play a lesser role in the gameplay.
The side quests themselves are worth doing because they'll eventually lead you to the Legendary weapons - things like searching for 50 Gargoyles to shoot, collecting 50 Silver keys, finding Artefacts for the local archeologist, donating to the Temple of Light or sacrificing innocents to the Temple of Shadows, all these things are optional and yet all worth pursuing.
Other fun stuff includes the expression system for influencing other NPCs in the game, they all have their preferences (some like Thumbs Up, others like to see you do Manly Arm Pumps, most people don't like Flatulence), my daughter loves Belching, for some strange reason.
This leads us onto marriage and children. You can marry whomever you wish regardless of sex, and have children should you wish. Every property in the game can be bought, rented out (set too high a rent and you'll be corrupt, likewise with buying shops, setting the prices low will make you pure) and you can set whichever ones you wish to be your marital home, from Gypsy Caravan right up to Castle. This might seem a bit of a gimmick at first just to get players more immersed in the world, but this dynamic really comes into its own at endgame.
As you progress through the storyline you'll meet an increasingly diverse range of characters, monsters to fight, different types of quests to tackle, and the pirate Reaver (perfectly done by Stephen Fry, I think they included the quest 'Reaver's Back Passage' just for him) and at the fairy tale finale you'll have to make the most important and difficult decision ever faced in a videogame.
You might wonder why this decision is important, but you'll find out after the credits have stopped rolling, and this is where Peter Molyneux reminds us that he is a genius. Fable II doesn't have an ending. You'll arrive back in the game after the storyline has ended, and every single decision you've made along the way results in the world you're now presented with, and it's yours to do as you wish.
You can continue with unfinished quests from before you pushed on through the storyline, new quests will be presented to you (if you have more than one spouse you'll even get blackmailed), new areas will be made available to you, some of the best quests will be offered (if you have children you'll feel a real sense of urgency when you're trying to prevent yours being turned into a Hobbe), you can just tour the world ridding it of evil doers (Bounty Quests) or enslaving innocents (Civilian Displacement Quests) and you can continue your hunt for Silver Keys, Chests, Gargoyles, continue your quest to become a property magnate, even become a benevolent/ruthless King/Queen, it's all up to you.
Longevity is further enhanced by the multiplayer. You can set your options to display nobody, just your friends, or everyone, and you can then see them represented in your game by floating orbs which you can interract with to see their stats (including how many times they've paid for sex) or invite into your own game to help out with bits you're stuck on, like beating the arena best score or nailing a particularly viscious Troll. Or you can just listen to them as they moan about breaking their chain whilst performing a job. (Jobs, as well as income from properties, are a great way to make gold in Fable II, serving beer is probably the easiest).
Achievements are, on the whole, pretty easy to get in Fable II, and they're complimentary to Fable's humour (you get Achievement Points for throwing a swinger party or looking like a Goth), there are also some multiplayer-specific achievements including performing co-op attacks and expressions or collecting all the Dolls available, which can only be done by trading with other players.
Overall whilst Fable II has some major differences to the original game (armor now longer plays a defensive role, there's no fishing) in it's own right it's still an outstanding RPG with some fantastic improvements (better voice acting, the dog dynamic, absorbing quests, environment diversity, new enemies like banshees and hollow men, guns replace bows), perfectly designed to suit both the casual and the hardcore.
I'll keep this short... October 25, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Okay, firstly, no this game does not live up to the hype.
All the features promised are included, but alot are half baked.
!!BUT!! this is a very good game.
The combat is fun, the character progression is simple but very intresting and the environments are very pleasing to the senses.
The depth of the world is amazing and will keep you intrested for a good while.
Fans of the orignal Fable will LOVE this, and new fans will find something to love within fable 2's many features.
It is a very enjoyable game, but you can't help feeling that the ideas and amount of time spent designing this game should have produced more of a CLASSIC.
Great game November 3, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This was one of my most anticipated games of the year, and I am happy to say that it did not disappoint. If you liked Oblivion style games, then you will love this.
The graphics are great and there is so much to do. I read that some people have said that the game is too short, perhaps it is if you just ran through the main quest, but I have been playing it for about 15 hours now and am only a third of a way through the main storyline. It's a game that you need to savour and play the way it was meant to be played, rather than try to rush it through to completion. You will get so much more enjoyment from the game by exploring its many facets.
There are a couple of bugs in the game, but nothing game breaking, and nothing that actually detracts from the game experience.
Overall, I would highly recommend this game, and it is one of my favourite Xbox 360 games ever.
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