Fable Preview

It’s hard not to get excited by a title that’s got the name Molyneux attached to it, despite all the years of constant hype and to a slight degree disappointment we still find ourselves longing for his titles and hanging on to his every word. <br /> <br /> The latest title to do just that is the recently renamed Fable from Big Blue Box Software – one of the Lionhead satellite developers – due for release on the Xbox sometime (we hope) in 2003. <br /> <br /> Already being hailed as ‘The next generation in role-playing-games’, if you believe the hype surrounding this title then you can’t help but trust what they say. Interest in the game has slowly grown from the first murmurings a few years back of an RPG that allows you to truly craft your own way through the adventure, a game of heroes that allows you to be anyone that you want to. Although it’s still a long time away, those murmurings have become fact as specific details trickle out of Lionhead’s operations in Guildford. <br /> <br /> It’s now known that players take on the role of a young boy at the start of the game whose mother and sister are kidnapped. Your first action is to travel across the magical land of Albion to find your famed father, the Hero. However before you can find him you’re plunged into danger; a dark force is gathering, a power to bring evil to every town and village in Albion, and to destroy the fairytale lives of the inhabitants. This evil force has turned the very Heroes into power-crazed, ruthless warriors. Only your father has resisted. That's why your family has been taken. And that's why the fate of your family is now in your hands. Oh, and the fate of the entire world. <br /> <br /> To begin with players will not have any specific skills or major attributes, but as you begin to progress you’ll find yourself evolving over time. We’ve been told the basics of how this will be structured; use a sword and watch as your body grows slowly developing muscles, use your wisdom and you’ll become wizard-like and wise. Not only will your attributes change to depict this, but also your characters very own visual appearance will change as they grow older. Taking a nod from Black & White you’ll find that your own moral decisions have an impact on your appearance and reputation; being the noble hero will result in a grand looking and bold man who’s respected by everyone, however those that stray down the path of evil slaughtering the odd maid here and there will find their characters looking evil and finding villagers bowing down in fear. <br /> <br /> This of course is the major allure to Fable, the fact that your actions completely determine what type of character you are and not just selecting from a few basic attributes and character classes. If the promises come true, then this could be bigger then simply ‘the next step in role-playing-games’. <br /> <br /> Backing up the character creation system is a selection of neat features, for example cuts will eventually heal and lead to scars that will be with your character for the rest of their lives, eat lots and you’ll find your character gains weight, skin tans when exposed to the sun and stubble grows if you can’t find a razor! <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Perhaps the most ambitious nature of the game is that it’s not just you who evolves and change, the very world of Albion and its inhabitants will change depending on your actions thanks to sophisticated AI routines. At the heart of the game it’s all about notoriety, if you’re famous enough you’ll find children wearing the same hairstyle as yours, however be warned as it’s a world of heroes out there and if another is outperforming you in the hero stakes then your popularity will severely decline, your hairstyle suddenly becomes last years fashion! <br /> <br /> Molyneux himself is promising gamers that they’ll be able to do whatever they want in the game. However it seems that he has learnt a few painful lessons particularly from the development of Black & White. Realising that true freedom is boring to the gamer, the actual gameplay will be strongly scripted, so they’ll be a definite plot and storyline to the game, however what you do in between these critical moments is completely up to you, even running into a town completely naked is possible. <br /> <br /> If the game’s scope wasn’t ambitious enough for you, the visuals should surely knock you over the top. Fable is brimmed to the top with small details; trees have individual leaves that cast realistic shadows as the sun rises and falls; populated towns are crammed full of activity; individual blades of grass and character’s clothes flap in the wind. It seems that there’s nothing these guys haven’t thought about.