Fable is the brainchild of Peter Molyneux, whose name should be familiar to you not only for this game, but also for the PC game Black and White. When Fable was announced, it promised quite a few things, all of which were to result in changing the way RPG’s were experienced and played. Unfortunately, the incredible amount of hype around the game caused it to fall a bit short of its lofty goals.

You begin the game as a young boy who has narrowly escaped death after his hometown and family are (supposedly) destroyed. You’re rescued by a mysterious man and brought to live at the Heroes Guild, where you’ll then undergo training to become a world-renowned adventurer. The game then flashes ahead into your teen years, where you pick up your melee and long range combat skills, as well as learning to wield the oh so important ability of magic.

Now, for a lot of RPG fans out there, that premise is probably pretty damn familiar. Where Fable excels isn’t so much in the story presented, but in the execution of things. You won’t find a 40 plus hour experience like in Final Fantasy, nor will you find the world depth that a game like Morrowind or MMORPG’s will present, and the combat system isn’t anything to write home about either (in fact, it bears a passing resemblance to the Zelda series). However, Fable really drives home the point of changing character based on the actions you involve him in, whether its simple aging, or changes to body due to use of magic, the years and battles will really take a toll on your character. The end result is a bond created between player and character, something that quite a few games try to create but often fail at doing. It’s a game worth experiencing if you haven’t done so already, and probably easier to immerse the casual gamer into than the standard fare RPG’s.

Graphically, the game looks really nice. Your own character will change over time due to age and battles, but you can alter his current appearance by a change in outfits, weapons, hairstyles, tattoos, etc. The surrounding areas are beautiful to look at, and there’s enough difference between townfolk and enemies to make them all visually appealing.

Fable’s music is a fitting, albeit standard, RPG style of sound. Weapons clink off armor, magic crackles thru the air, and the people and creatures you encounter in the world all have their own distinct sounds and noises that help to immerse you in their world. The townsfolk speak a form of “Sims Gibberish” but are able to convey their feeling thru voice inflection and visual gestures.

You’re presented with long range and close attacks when it comes to combat. A lot of magic attacks will be geared towards long range, and you also have a bow and arrow at your disposal. For the most part, however, you’ll find yourself relying on your close combat attacks. Most enemies you encounter will either be by yourself or in small groups, so there’s not much need to snipe around the edges or split them up. You’re provided with the ability to side step attacks and perform blocks, and also create small combos by pressing the attack button in certain multiples. It’s all quite simple to get into, and can get a bit dull at times, but the variety of magic attacks you’ll have available later on tends to make battles a bit more fun.

For those of us who have played thru the original build of Fable, there were a few things referenced in game that seemed like they should have been present but were not. To a certain degree, this is what The Lost Chapters edition provides. Most of the additional content has been tacked onto the end of the game, in the form of a new continent to explore, complete with new enemies, side quests, etc. Before you encounter this you’ll come across some slight changes, both to the stories and areas, but nothing too significant. The real shame is in not being able to access your previous Fable save, forcing everyone who has played the original to once again play through the game again to access the majority of additional content. It would have been better served to treat the game as an expansion of sorts than in this manner, especially because quite a few of us have grown to like the character we already created with the original game.

The new content is pretty fun to check out, and does manage to tack a couple more hours of gameplay onto the original build (which was quite short, and really, still is) and at $20 it’s hard to say that you could go wrong with picking this up, even if you already own the original Fable. However, if your interest in Fable was only lukewarm at best, there won’t be enough here to keep you interested all the way to the end and the new content. Hardcore fans of Fable should check this out, however, along with those few of you buried underneath rocks when it originally released.