Fable III: And so our story begins

It's like you're meeting celebrities: Stephen Fry, Michael Fassbender, Simon Pegg, Jonathon Ross...

From the beginning you are given the choice of either Prince or Princess (yes that's right, we begin at the end – you're already royalty). After this first choice we are woken, rather abruptly by our butler, voiced by Mr. John Cleese. Who then gladly sends you on your way to your lover, with your dog at your heels.




Needless to say, things go bad and your brother disowns you after he does something stupid, and you run away from the castle with your butler and your mentor, Sir Walter (Bernard Hill). You are the son/daughter of Albion's last Hero King – your character from Fable 2 – and as such you are swiftly given the 'fabled' (forgive the pun) Guild Seal. This seal allows you to hear voices, communicate and teleport to and from places. And then you are taken away by Sir Walter to try and make friends with the people of Albion, do quests, and create a new regime to overthrow your brother's tyrannical rule.




This is storytelling taken to the next level. As always, the Fable story much like 1 and 2, is wonderfully told. The morality system in this version is also much better than the other two. Oh there are no halos or devil horns in this one. Instead, your weapons resemble your moral upbringing. They evolve; yes evolve, to however you use them and to who you use them on. Turn evil and get your weapon dripping with the blood of innocents, go good and it shines with holy angelic light. And not only that; in the final sequence, to show your true form of moral standing, you are given wings – not useful flying wings, but a cool appendage to your good or bad self.




The characters you meet are completely relatable, if a bit more heroic than normal people, and it's like you're meeting celebrities; with the voices of people like Bernard Hill, John Cleese, Zoe Wanamaker, Michael Fassbender, Simon Pegg, Jason Manford, Stephen Fry, Jonathon Ross, Sean Pertwee, Ben Kingsley (who plays a Welshman), and many more. So with a high spec and high brow movie cast willing to put their name to it, you can just expect the script, plot and storytelling to be as good as any film.




So apart from the general story and the voice acting being great, there are a few new features: such as 'Lute Hero' – it's like Guitar Hero but playing GreenSleeves. You get the usual job of Blacksmith as well as the new Pie Making role. There's an entirely new continent to explore in the second half of the game. Instead of collecting experience, you collect followers. And there aren't any menus this time round – you're given, instead, new places with which you can interact and select your goodies.




The difficulty of the game, isn't really that challenging; but it is fun, there's no doubt about that. And there's a sense of pride when you do become King/Queen half-way through the game (yes that's right, half-way).




But don't let this review hinder your progress young hero – it's fun, there's no doubt about that.