When Fable: The Journey was announced during Microsoft's E3 press conference I was slightly shocked with its new direction, but the frenetic pace of the presentations prevented my confusion from fully setting in. It wasn't until I sat down for a private demo with developer Lionhead's Peter Molyneux that I realized how strange it all was. A Kinect-only mutt of an on-rails first-person shooter and role-playing game, The Journey is nothing like any other Fable game Lionhead has created. Even though I wasn't a huge fan of Fable III, I wasn't expecting them to completely scrap the Fable formula.
From the little I saw at E3, the only aspect I could connect to past titles was the presence of Theresa, the blind fortune teller, and Hobbes, the iconic creepy/cute Fable enemies. The whole thing made me question the studio's motives: Does Lionhead even want to make this a Fable game or is the name just being used for marketing purposes? There are several elements from previous Fable games that are missing or altered beyond recognition.
Freedom
One element that makes Fable a great series is the ability to do what you want. Bake pies or chop wood for money, fart in the middle of the town square, turn in criminals, or become one by murdering innocents. How much or how little you do is up to you.
Fable: The Journey feels claustrophobic in comparison.
You're tied to a horse and buggy until you hit a scripted 'dungeon' area, and then you'll automatically hop off the carriage in order to fight enemies. Peter Molyneux assured the demo attendees that you'll be able to guide your horse around Albion as you see fit, but only time will tell if this is actually true. Molyneux has failed to deliver on Fable promises before. Lionhead needs to show off other activities players will be able to partake in. If it ends up that you can only run around and find dungeons, that's going to feel extremely limited.
Customization
I loved customizing my character in Fable II -- my heroine was decked out in a black corset, short-shorts, boots, and long orange dreadlocks. She was awesome. Fable III didn't include the same amount of customization as its predecessor and now, by making The Journey a first-person game, they've taken that element away completely. Unless there are options to decorate your horse's ass, it's safe to say you'll be staring at a relatively unpleasant sight until you dismount. After all, if you aren't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.
Storytelling
So far we just know the basic premise of The Journey -- the blind seer Theresa (the only character present in all three Fable games) needs safe passage to the Spire (from Fable II), so she hitches a ride with you. Hot on your trail is the mysterious darkness from Fable III. While I'd really like to figure out what the hell was up with the dark matter and learn more about Theresa, I'm not sure I care enough to motion-control my way through The Journey.
Previous games in the franchise haven't been known for solid storytelling, but they had great gameplay to fall back on (except in Fable III, in my opinion). A possible benefit to the more linear style is that it could actually help bring focus and sense of urgency to the story .
Good vs. Evil
Though the morality system in Fable is more black and white than shades of grey, the drastic options offer some replay incentive. Being decidedly good or evil also alters the aesthetics of your character and, in some cases, the world of Albion. It was extremely entertaining to mess around with the purity/corruption and good/evil scales in Fable II to see how it affected your character. It turns out that sleeping around is bad for your looks.
So far there's only an inkling of morality in The Journey, (namely whether or not you'll choose to zap energy from cute woodland creatures), but hopefully Lionhead will be able to elaborate on this more in the future. Although Fable never had the most realistic moral meter in gaming, it would be sad to see the franchise lose one of its definitive features.
Combat
The most intriguing feature in Fable: The Journey is the magic casting: using Kinect you'll make different motions with your hands to perform different types of spells, which is how I imagine it would work in real life. However, from the demos I saw it appears there's no need to aim -- your spells always hit a target -- and the enemies just stand there waiting for you to kill them. I'm hoping that's because it's an early build. Without an actual challenge I'm afraid I'll find it as boring as Fable III's combat.
I wonder if the new spell-crafting idea (examples include creating a shield or spear) means that Lionhead has abandoned other Fable staples like guns and swords. Granted, I have little desire to swing my arm around as if I'm holding a sword and zero desire to fake firing a gun without an actual trigger to pull. If they are included, it'll be a challenge for the developers to convince gamers that miming actions is better than pushing a button.
Lionhead has a difficult task ahead -- deliver a game that doesn't feel like Microsoft forced it to produce a gimmicky Kinect title.
What are your thoughts on Fable: The Journey? Let us know in the comments below.
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