Fable III

Ah Peter Molyneux. Where would we be without you? As the leader of Lionhead Studios, he has been responsible for such titles as Black & White (a God game where you're either good or bad), The Movies (a sims style game where you make movies), and, of course, Fable.

Fable is, and always has been, about the battle between good and evil, right and wrong, and the choice is always made by you.

Fable III is the third in the series of Fable games (incase you were confused by the numbering system), and is set 50 years after the events of Fable II. The kingdom has been ruled by the hero of the previous game, and was left to his older brother, Logan, after his death. Logan rules the roost with an iron first, and a tyrannical heart. This particular story focuses on your struggle to form alliances and build support for a revolution in order to overthrow the eeeeeeeevil king!

But how will you do it? Will you be good? Or will you be bad? Every faction you form an allegiance with, you make them a promise that they will be rewarded when you are in charge. You can keep these promises or break them, but both will come at a steep price...

Fable III is a beautiful game, in keeping with tradition. Everything is beautifully animated, the characters all wonderfully voiced, with an unparralled level of interaction with the NPC's. You can love 'em, marry 'em, have a kid with 'em, then kill 'em. Or just start strutting around with another member of the rabble, male OR female, and drive your spouse away through jealousy. You can even collect STDs, if that's your thing... freak.

So what's new in the PC version that wasn't in the 360 version? The Windows version comes with extra goodies for PC fans, including the addition of a new and more challenging Hardcore mode, all in-game content and quests from the Xbox 360 Limited Collector’s Edition, full 3-D functionality (which requires the monitor and the specs to use), and access to both Fable III game add-ons, “Traitors Keep” and “Understone Quest Pack.”

Even with all that, and as much fun as Fable III is, it's just not as good as its predecessor. The original Fable was alright, but had lots of empty promises made for it that simply never came to fruition. Fable II made up for that and then some by being totally spot on, but Fable III just feels like it has something missing.

If you're a massive fan of Peter Molyneux/Lionhead/Fable then you'll want to pick this up, otherwise it falls just under the bar Fable II raised last time around.