Review: Fable: The Journey

Choosing to be good or evil was usually straightforward. Several of the main quests had an optional way to end them depending on the outcome, typically spare the foe for good points and kill them for evil. There were a couple quests where there were two available quests but they were the same event, the choice was just to determine what side the player was on which actually was a cool way of making it feel like you were choosing a side. A more fun way to rack up the evil points was to just go on a Grand Theft Auto style rampage in town and kill a bunch of guards and civilians, but again no killing children since they take away your weapons in the towns with kids. This can actually cause some problems, since you may want to go to town but end up having a massive bounty in several towns that doesn't expire for a few days.

While Molyneux’s inventive mindset gave rise to the "god game" genre (a genre loved by many a PC gamer), he’s also earned himself a number of negative connotations with how he promotes his games. It’s become a running joke that Molyneux tends to hype up any project he invests in to absurdly high levels, only to have the games miss their mark in one way or another. Fable became one of the most noteworthy examples of this "Molyneux Paradigm." During the game’s development, Fable was regarded by Molyneux and Lionhead as a paramount innovation in role-playing games. Using more open-ended role-playing elements like morality and personal alignments was pitched as this rejuvenation of the role-playing idea, a way to give players more options in creating an avatar and playing to their liking. Molyneux himself even referred to Fable as what would be "the best game ever" during the development.


With prosthetic limbs becoming ever more advanced, the world of cyberpunk shooter series Deus Ex is starting to seem like a realistic vision of the future. As human beings start to use technology to evolve their own biology, the player is faced with some hard choices regarding what the future of the human race should look like, and how it should be governed. The original Deus Ex is still the pinnacle of the series, but Deus Ex: Human Revolution was the title that really demonstrated just how great a movie adaptation could l

The combat mechanics played a big part in creating an enjoyable game, but a lot of the fun came from just exploring the world and seeing what sort of trouble one could get into. The goal of the hero was to gain fame, which was measured by their renown which was acquired by completing quests and the reaction of the NPCs was determined by the character's alignment, which was also influenced by their actions. Good characters would seem to develop a bright aura around them and a halo, while evil characters would grow horns and attract pestilence. The NPC behaviors weren't quite as unique as early claims from Project Ego days would have you believe, but they did react based on those factors, though just about everyone gave the same reaction based on the hero's current renown and alignment.

Another cool feature is that of photograph locations throughout the map that when touched display a viewpoint from the original Xbox Adventure game missions. This is quite nifty as it allows you to match up with your television and see exactly what has been improved for the Anniversary edition. It’s also said that backgrounds for key players have been written and are viewable upon meeting them, but I was unable to find how to access these. A title update will be supposedly be released on launch day, so perhaps they will become easier to find then. The only real negative of the experience is that it doesn’t show the NPCs that can be interacted with on the map. Unfortunately, this makes it so you can’t rely solely on your tablet/smartphone, which is a bit of a bummer.

In fact, it’s such a classic that describing such a widely-known story seems irrelevant until you realize that there are prospective gamers who weren’t even out of diapers when the game was originally released, so here goes: Fable sees you take the role of "The Hero of Oakvale" who begins his quest as an unassuming boy until his village is brought to ruins by invading barbarians. The hero survives and is rescued by an even older hero named Maze. Maze sees great potential in the boy and takes him under his wing at the Heroes’ Guild. The hero grows up here, honing his skills and training for the perils that lie ahead. When he’s finally old enough, he sets off on his quest and can choose to either be the savior of Albion or its reckoner. This is of course the major gimmick of Fable, a game that allows you to choose the path of your character throughout their entire life. It was a concept that was ahead of its time in 2004 and remains interesting even after ten years and countless imitators. Of course, it’s major flaw is still the missed potential that was put in the spotlight thanks to the endless hyperbole from Peter Molynex.


As we mentioned in our previous video, " Movies You Didn't Know Were Shaped By Video Games ", Crank is modelled after the insanity of games like Grand Theft Auto . In turn, Grand Theft Auto was heavily influenced by classic crime movies like Heat , Scarface and Goodfellas . So why not keep the cycle going by making a Grand Theft Auto movie, complete with all of the violence, satire and gleeful immorality that made the video Adventure Game Blog series such a hit. With a dream director like Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese or Robert Rodriguez behind the wheel, Grand Theft Auto could take over movie theaters as successfully as it took over games conso