Fable: The Journey; The Kinect Leftovers of Fable III?

Not too long ago, I used to love me some Fable. Regardless of how much of a jackass Peter Molyneux is, Fable and Fable II were solid games, even if they never delivered on everything Petey Hype promised. Then came along Fable III to ruin everything the first two games built. 

So here's the Kinect entry in the series, Fable: The Journey. Hey Petey Hype, wasn't Fable III supposed to have Kinect support? Is this the component that was cut out? The bad part of The Journey is that it appears to be an on-rails shooter, where your hands are the gun and magic are your bullets. I won't lie, it looks kind of cool to actually be able to use your hands to cast a plethora of spells, but I'm keeping my expectations tempered. And by tempered, I mean I'm expecting Fable: The Journey to be just better than terrible.

Though on the positive side of things, without the controller there will be no way to hold A to become king and win the game. Cup half full, people.

REVIEW: Fable III

As a Peter Molyneux project, Fable III is immediately the greatest thing since sliced bread. Or so Mr. Molyneux would have you think. The master of hyperbole has once again set expectations incredibly high for his latest tale of adventure and morality. While never quite living up to Peter's word-weaving (that would be impossible), the series has always been a solid adventure, and an enjoyable RPG-lite. Does Fable III build upon its predecessors and become the wise, prosperous king? Or does it sour the townsfolk, leading to its untimely overthrow and execution?

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A Farewell to Kingmakers

Riding the rising popularity of the check-in app, Fable III standalone mini-game Kingmaker is set to release for your smartphone. Kingmaker, in similar fashion to Fable II's Pub Games, is a nice way to earn some in-game cash before the game's release.

You choose a fictional Albion alignment, Rebel or Royal, and proceed to run around your city, smartphone in hand, dropping virtual flags around territories to claim them for whichever faction you've aligned yourself with. It's like Foursquare, except you won't get laughed at when both your Facebook and Twitter account proudly announce you have become the mayor of the porta-potty on Bleecker Street. Instead, for claiming territories, you compile gold that can be transfered to Fable III and used to purchase armor, weapons, and player customization options.

Sounds like fun for us boorish Americans, right? Lionhead Studios doesn't think so, so they've decide to keep Kingmaker as a European exclusive. Do they not realize the check-in craze here in the States? You got people killing each other in the streets for that Foursquare mayorship, son! The New York Times, in all its prestigious glory, wrote a two page article on the battle for mayorship of a freaking alleyway. Shit is going down, this is serious business! We can't get any Kingmaker love? Okay Lionhead, I see how it is.

Fable III Just Got a Little Awkward

Fable is a great series, that for some reason flies under a lot of gamer's radars. The idealistic creator, Peter Molyneux has a penchant for grandiose declarations regarding his brainchild. One of the things developers Lionhead Studios tried shoehorning into Fable II was online co-op. That didn't work so well. Molyneux is on record recently saying the Fable II's co-op was flawed, rushed, and a badly implemented throw in to what was a very solid game.

Enter Fable III, which looks to fix the issues that plagued gamers in the first two series entries, including the botched attempt at co-op. The awesome Fable experience, coupled with a proper online multiplayer will only enhance gameplay and replay value, of course. But, it'll add a whole lot of weird. MyGamerCard.net (minor spoilers within) has outed Fable III's list of achievements, which get a bit on the odd side. Case in point:

• He’s a Woman. She’s a Man Wear a full set of clothing intended for the opposite sex
• Long Distance Relationship Get married to another Xbox LIVE player
• Cross-Dimensional Conception Have a child with another Xbox LIVE player

So, not only can I, but I am rewarded for cross-dressing, marrying, and having children with other human players, who are most likely fat, smelly, pock-marked geeks, just like me? Awesome, sign me up! 

The Fable series has never been without it's quirks, good or bad, so just add these to the list. I'll excitedly pop a copy of Fable III into the ol' box and play for hours. But let's just say I won't be going for the 1000 Gamerscore. 

Fable III releases on October 26th.

Fable III Initiates Operation: Pre-Order

Lots of new Fable III tidbits floating around the web this week, folks. There's the game's opening cinematic, which we'll touch on later. More importantly, Lionhead Studios is ramping up the release of it's opus in one of the most interesting ways possible; by allowing you to create your own in-game non-player character!

Visiting Fable III's Villager Creator will prompt you to answer a few questions to establish your NPC's background. Once that's set, you have a limited number of hair, headwear, and clothing options to jazz up your townie. Finally, choose a voice for your creation and a villager is born! It's a cool time killer if you don't plan on buying Fable III, however if you do, and you pre-order, you'll be able to import your villager into the game. Once you fire the game up, the product of your five minutes of labor will offer your Fable protagonist money, information, and possibly indecent sexual proposals. Schwing! 

And now onto the trailer, which you can view below. It's kinda like the movie Up; presented well, well animated, and well written, with an underlying tone of sadness.  I'm not sure what the trials and tribulations of a dead-chicken-flying have to do with uprising and overturning a dictator, but hey.. What do I know? I'm just a broke-ass, volatile, incorrigible flirt and sex addict (according to Fable III's Villager Creator.)