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GC: Fable 2 Hands-On

by Kevin Prince August 26th 2008 12:04 PM CDT1 Comments

Fable 2 is set to be one of the biggest games this holiday season, and during this week’s Leipzig Games Convention, I was able to sit down with audio producer George Backer from Lionhead Games for a quick walkthrough and play test.

For those not familiar with the game:

Fable 2 has been in development since 2006, and is the sequel to the successful Xbox games Fable, & Fable 1.5: The Lost Chapters. It is set in the same world of Albion but around 500 years later in what appears to be the age of enlightenment, when guns were still primitive, building a castle was cool, and you could still be a knight who rides around on horseback. Check out the rest of the preview after the jump.

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Killing chickens is bad?

One of the core game play mechanics of the first Fable was the good versus evil challenge that you encountered with every decision i.e. killing chickens was considered evil. This has been taken one step further in Fable 2 with the inclusion of new attributes such as corruption versus purity, rich versus poor and because of this you could create a rich corrupt evil character, a poor pure good character or a rich pure character depending how you play the game and what decisions you make.

Citizen of Albion

As you travel through Albion, you will have the ability to change your new country for better or worse. If you came across a gypsy camp, decided to buy a small house, and buy products from the traders it is likely the camp will slowly become a small town. But if you came across the camp and proceed to massacre the populatio, the area will become abandoned, and fall into disrepair.


On the point of houses, if a small house in a rundown gypsy camp is not enough for you or your looking to become a landlord, why not start investing in some properties, rent them out, then repeat, and soon you will be the mayor of the town. It is possible to buy every property you can enter, so let your bank balance take you as far as it will; alternatively you could beg for money.

During your travels you will also interact with lots of NPCS; during the demo George’s character was wooing a young maiden, and the expression you use, along with what your doing at the time can change the her opinion of you. Drawing your sword will likely make her run away in fear, while doing a dance will make you look like an idiot, but might get that big night you’ve been dreaming of since you met her.

The opinion system, also impacts on other parts of the game for example, traders who like you will offer goods at a lower price while those who despise you will try to empty your sack of gold before they hand over the goods.

One nice thing is if your wondering how well your doing with a person, you can view a personal bio of the NPC which includes their sexual orientation, and there like or dislike or you etc. The bio screen also lets you rename people to “Stinkle Toes” for example.

Keeping it in the family

“The word family means only one thing a mom married to a pop raising 2 point 3 little scamps.” – Stephen T Colbert

Based off that quote Stephen better not play Fable 2, because the game really breaks the traditional family mechanic. Just like in the original you can woo either a female or male suitor, then proceed to marry them, and have children. Where Fable 2 twists this traditional approach is first with the ability to start as a male or female character, meaning if as a female character you get pregnant you will go through a full set of physical changes before eventually giving birth.

The player will also be given the option of deciding if they have protected or unprotected sex. Having protected sex will limit the chances of catching the in-game sexually transmitted diseases and having children, while unprotected sex almost certainly means your going to be a mom or pop.

In the game polygamy is permitted, however you best make sure you keep them far enough apart unless you want to have divorce proceedings which will leave you with 50% of your assets.

To Arms!

The game gives players the options of 3 different combat types: they are melee, range, and spell. Each takes place on a specific button, melee on the X button, ranged combat on the Y button, and spells on the B button. Melee fighting appears to be of the hack and slash type where drawing your sword, and running in are in order. Range combat involves the primitive guns we spoke about earlier; sadly Longbow fans will be disappointed as the guns replace them.

During my demo, a few of the spells were shown off. The magic spells can be combined or charged up over five levels, depending on experience to deliver a decisive end to nearby opponents. Depending on how you decide to fight your character will increase you skill in that area.

Lassie is out done eventually

Ever since that super dog Lassie graced our screens so many years ago, everyone has wanted to own a super dog of there own. In Fable 2, you get that chance without having to argue with your parents.


The dog, which you encounter early on during the game, will become your best friend and is governed by three primary laws (do not irate the player, unconditionally love the player and self-preservation). Based off these, you can expect the dog to not keep asking you to throw a ball every 30 seconds, but also not to follow you in to a pit of fire.

From the demo and what has been said previously, we know the dog features an advanced AI, behavior that is based on context (will run away and come back in countryside, but stay close in towns), and to some extent is trainable. The dog’s main role in the game is to alert the player of threats, interesting things, and to fight. During battles, the dog will intelligently decide which enemy is a bigger threat, and attack them first.

Bring a friend, but not a freeloader

Ever since Gears of War showed off the drop in co-op feature, many games have attempted to copy, and Fable 2 appears to have done one of the best implementations yet. In the online mode, you can just drop in via XBOX Live and while offline a friend can just pick up that spare controller and start playing. In the online mode, the host can decide how much of his experience / loot he wants to share with the other player before continuing. In offline, a new player will be able to select a pre-built henchman and not earn anything.

This is all well and good but how does it play?

The build which I was able to get my hands on after our walkthrough was based very early on in the game's storyline. The graphics need a final spit and polish, and the controls could do with getting away from this annoying hold (A) for 5 seconds to confirm an action.

All in all, I can definitely say this is a game to look forward too later this year, and should be a must-buy once it releases.