Although Fable is being advertised as an RPG (Role-Playing Game), I wouldn't say it is such in the classical sense. The game is very action oriented and you can expect a lot of button smashing. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you, there's a certain cathartic aspect to it all when you dispose of the enemies in this manner. The story is a bit simplistic and Fable also keeps it very general. Your main character has no name, and is in fact referred to by other characters in the game by a 'title', which for all purposes serves as your name. The starting title is Chicken Chaser and from there on you have the option to buy other titles, like Ranger, Assassin, Avatar and so on. Although the story is in fact simple in my eyes, there are some interesting twists to it that will keep you going at least the first time around.

TECHNICAL
From a technical perspective, Fable is a very well done game. I didn't experience any strange glitches or hiccups while playing. There was some overlapping of models now and then, and it was kind of funny to see two NPCs occupying the same space on occasion. Overall, the engine seemed well polished and doing what it needed to do. AI also seemed fairly consistent - to the point of being a bit frustrating at times even as enemies would come in to take a shot and then pull back to try and get away from you. In terms of loading times, they are there but they are not as annoying as they could be and for me they did very little to disrupt my immersion in the story.

The user interface display is adequate. It displays information that is useful without feeling overwhelming. However, when it comes to the controls it felt a bit clunky to me. The game recycles buttons one too many times and it made me wonder it wouldn't do better in a PC format with an available keyboard to handle all the functions that they tried to cram into the game. To give an example of this, in order to access the inventory you have to use the directional pad, which can be hard when you're trying to fight for your survival at the hands of bandits, lock on an enemy and block any incoming blows.

Although my main character was in fact more of a warrior than anything, I dabbled in magic with him some and found myself annoyed when the directional pad is yet again recycled but this time, you have to hold the 'R Trigger' down to cycle through your spells.

Finally, the camera is quite good. For the most, it did an adequate job of staying out of my way and showing me exactly what needed to be shown. Only in close quarters, like caves and the like did I notice it struggling trying to keep up with the action.

CREATIVE
Nobody could fault Fable for being ugly. The game is quite easy on the eyes. The character models are very nice looking. The team went to great lengths to ensure this game would be very attractive both visually and audio-wise. You do feel like the world they are portraying can exist. From the details of the water to the detail of your hair, to the sound effects and music, it's all nicely wrapped up in one beautiful package.

The animation of the characters is quite good, and you even get a couple of 'emotes' that are used by your character to interact with the world through a combination of sound bits and animations. Things like farting, burping, flexing, laughing - there are animations for all of these and as you progress in the game more will become available for you including my all time favorite, the 'Sexy Hero Pose'.

My only complaint with the art is the lack of variety in certain areas. Although there are a good number of in-game customizations you can do for how your character looks in terms of hair-style, facial hair and tattoos, when it comes to clothing the selection is very limited. Basically, outfits have a Light, Dark, and normal version in terms of coloration and tone, that's it. So there's only one type of leather armor available in the game, and you can get it in one of those tones and that's it. Your choice of coloration and tone will also usually be associated with your alignment in the game, so a good character will probably stick to the Light versions of the outfits and armors although you don't have to do so.

GAMEPLAY
You begin your game as a child then progress to your teenage years and finally to adulthood. The first two stages are really short and in fact serve more as tutorials and to show a bit of the story more than any other purpose. Also, don't expect the progression to be in 'real time'. Rather, when you achieve certain tasks as a child you're given the option to jump to your teenage years. The same happens when moving from teenager to adulthood. Also, the areas you can visit in those two phases are very restricted. When you become an adult, a bit more of the world opens up for you and you are ready to begin your quest to be a hero.

It should be noted, that hero here is used as a very subjective term. As you progress in the game, you have the option to be good or evil, mostly by your actions more than your words. The game keeps track of your evil and good deeds and shifts your alignment slightly accordingly. Your appearance also changes as well - become a pillar of goodness and you'll be shining with light, and even develop a small translucent halo around your head. Become a bastion of evil, and you get horns and darkness surrounds you. This system is probably one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game and I found myself pushing the boundaries both ways to see what the game let me get away with it. Sadly, what you say has very little impact on your alignment as you really don't say anything! Your character doesn't talk, and in fact there are no conversation trees at all, except for a simple selection now and then. I personally think this is a downside to the gameplay, but I imagine some will find it a better pace than if it had been full of different conversations.

Fable doesn't have a level or class system to speak of. You get experience based on how you play the game. There are three main areas: Strength, Skill and Will. Use melee weapons and you gain Strength experience; use your bow and you gain Skill experience; finally, use magic and you gain Will Experience. There's also general experience to be had that can be applied to any of those areas. You use the experience to improve sub-areas under those, like Health under Strength and Accuracy under Skill. The game will assign you a class name as well (like Warrior, Archer) based on how you're playing the game.

Combat as a meleer includes a lot of button smashing. Pulling the moves is easy, sometimes too easy. With a bow you'll find yourself using targeting a whole lot, and that can be annoying as it's very easy to target friendly targets in the middle of a chaotic fight. This also applies to the use of magic, although the variety of spells there are makes it very attractive from that perspective. For the most, you should have no problems surviving combat, though and you won't need to use healing items a whole lot.

So, what do you do after becoming a hero? You take quests! There are main quests, which will advance the story, and side quests. Some of these quests even have good and evil versions to help you form the character you envision. My only complaint is that there should have been more alignment versions for some of the quests. As it is, the way the game works the main quests are rather static, so your alignment has very little to do with the outcome of the game. The story remains the same, regardless of whether you are good or evil (although the endings vary depending on some of your decisions). There are certain important decisions you can make, but I still feel this area could have used more work.

The difficulty of the quests can vary from too easy, to a bit frustrating. There's a particular quest, where you compete against an NPC (that I found annoying) that I always put off for a bit later in the game instead of doing it when I received it, so that I was better prepared for it. If a quest is too easy, though, you can wager some of the winning money by taking boasts that add challenge to the quest but are not necessary to successfully complete the quest. Also, when you fail a quest, you fail the game. You'll have to reload. It would have been nice if they had allowed the player to actually fail quests and carry that into the story.

What else can you do aside from questing? You can get married and you can buy real estate (although you might have to forcefully get rid of occupants to be able to buy their houses). There are a bunch of mini-games to try out at the inn (blackjack and coin golf among others) that will gain you some money. You can fish too - for the most part using it to find the occasional items. There are secret keys to find, and doors that require special tasks to unlock.

In terms of the replay value, I have to admit that I think Fable suffers and it doesn't shine as much as the developers would like you to believe. It's not that you won't play the game again a few times, but the game is short, especially for an RPG. You'll be able to complete the game in less than fifteen hours and this without actually trying to rush through it. You'll probably want to play the game with a different alignment and as a different type (an archer instead of a warrior, or even combinations of types) but the story will remain the same and other than playing the game as the opposite alignment I did the first time, I didn't feel an outstanding need to play the game all over again.

IN CONCLUSION
Fable is a very enjoyable game. Shortness aside, it was very fulfilling and I certainly don't regret getting it. The game might be too action oriented for hardcore RPG fans and the story too simplistic, but I certainly enjoyed it. I admit that any RPG that doesn't have random encounters scores some points in my book. If anything, you might want to at least rent this game so you can see its beauty and experience the fun for yourself.