Gameplay
The core gameplay of Fable involves hack and slash combat with a little spell casting here and there. At least, that's how I chose to play and I suspect most people will follow suit. You have three ways to fight: melee weapon, ranged weapon, and spells. Using your melee weapons involves the typical button mashing; however, you will find melee combat quite smooth and fun. Fighting multiple enemies at once is well designed. You'll be swinging left and right and backwards and forwards with ease, taking out your foes with skillful broad strokes. If you feel overwhelmed, a well-timed spell such as push will knock all your foes back and off their feet. Combat is very satisfying.

Your ranged weapon can be deadly at higher levels of skill. I found myself picking off enemies one at a time with my bow in one shot, maybe two, before they could even get to me. The aiming system is pretty solid, but sometimes if you aren't careful you will end up targeting and thus bashing a friendly.

You have a very good mix of spells to choose from, but ultimately only using about four spells frequently. Some spells almost felt like I was cheating, making it way too easy to beat some enemies. The Assassin's Strike is one such spell, allowing you to instantly teleport behind your opponent and then nail him from behind. This works very well against certain slower, larger opponents such as the trolls.

You never really die in Fable as long as you keep a good stock of "Resurrection Phials". These potions instantly resurrect you if you do die. You'll also make use of the typical mana and health potions to keep you alive and full of spell casting energy.

While combat is the most prevalent gameplay element, there are several "mini-game" elements littered throughout the world. The two that come to mind as I write this are the spade and the fishing rod. Scattered throughout the world are places where you can use the spade to dig up treasure (usually a silver key used in opening chests) or the fishing rod to "catch" treasure in bodies of water where you see a disturbance (ripples). There are "Demon Doors" that require you to solve some sort of riddle to open them and get to the treasures within. You can show off trophies of "boss" monsters you kill to townsmen in order to increase your renown. This must be done within a time limit, making this a game unto itself. When you take on quests, you can also make boasts to get extra money. These boasts can include thing like doing the quest naked (no armor), using your fists only, etc. There are other tabletop games throughout the world as well in the taverns: Coin Golf, Black Jack, Guess the Addition, and several others. These games will win you coin as well as some other quest items if you do really well at them.

You can purchase and rent out homes in the towns. You can marry men and women and even have sex. As you gain fame, you also gain special "expressions" which allow you to do things such as fart, belch, insult people, perform heroic gestures, or evil gestures, etc. These expressions all have effects on NPCs. You may augment your weapons to do more damage with special gems you find. I'm sure I'm missing something. There's just that much to do in Fable. The world is highly interactive. While there aren't really that many main story quests, there are several side quests and a lot of other things you can do in the world as well, providing for a very full gameplay experience.

Art
Fable is a beautiful game, simply put. While the characters are heavily stylized, their movements (animations) are smooth and texturing is well done. When they move, their hair bobs gently. Your character leans into his turns when running. Fighting reveals yet more smooth animation and blends between those animations. The spell effects are uber-cool, making use of some of the new DirectX 9 shader effects as well as some well designed and executed particle effects. The game world is breathtaking. You will find none of the harsh 90-degree corners you see in most games. The ground smoothly slopes up against the walls of houses, etc. Everything appears to be lit by the same lighting model so nothing appears out of place. Bright objects in the world appear to glow some. I'm not sure if this was done with a glow shader or a high dynamic range shader (maybe I should have done my research a little better), but the effect is very cool. You can see this right off the bat by looking at your white shirt when you are still a boy. Notice how it kind of glows and appears "brighter than white". The water is well done as well and includes nice ripples and splashes when you walk through it. The environment feels "full".

The in-game menu system is easy on the eyes as well as easy to use. The HUD is well thought out and presents all the important information you need without cluttering the screen. One thing I thought was cool was that, as you complete certain parts of the story, a fresco is painted to depict that part of the story. These frescos can be viewed again at any time by walking into the "Guild Caves".

Audio
The music in Fable is as good as it gets. It's fully dynamic, changing as the situations you encounter change, and the quality is top-notch orchestral work. The sound effects are equally impressive. The musical scores and sound effects blend with the artwork masterfully to create a fully immersive game experience.

Tech
The engine behind Fable is solid tech. I saw no bugs during gameplay. The combat engine allows for fast paced, satisfying fights. The AI, while not groundbreaking, was smart enough to do what it had to do and not look stupid doing it. I've seen many reviews complaining about load times, but I didn't really feel like this was a huge problem. The interface was well thought out and easy to use. The controls felt natural and helped rather than hindered gameplay, with the notable exception of the aiming system not always working as expected. The graphics engine steals the show.

Concluding Thoughts
My biggest gripe about Fable is the length. Lionhead Times claims 100+ hours of gameplay, or 30 hours if all you do are the main story quests. I was very sad when I beat the game in 16 hours. I could have beaten it even quicker, but I chose to do all the side quests, and walked around the world digging up and fishing for all the extra goodies you can find. I opened all but one of the "Demon Doors". Sixteen hours just isn't long enough for a true RPG. I understand that a game of this magnitude takes a long time to make and lots of people to do it; hence, the length. This is not really a shortcoming of the designer. It's more an indication of where the industry is going. I had a blast playing this game. Peter's sense of humor came out as usual (love the British flag on my underwear). Well thought out and masterfully executed. Is it worth 60 bucks? Maybe if it were longer. If you have 60 bucks lying around then definitely give some thought into buying it. If not, at least rent it. A very fun, though very short, game.