Fable "hands on"
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Our coverage of Big Blue Box's monstrous Xbox adventure concludes with a detailed look into the most important issue: how the heck does it actually play?
18:46 Over the last week, we've brought you everything you could ever need to know about Fable, and then some. With one major exception. How it feels to play.
After a full day's guided tour around the studios of developer Big Blue Box, and a lengthy discussion with the game's creators, we finally, finally managed to sit down in front of an Xbox dev-kit, grasp the oversized joypad in our moist, twitching palms, and play...
BBB was the first to admit that there still isn't a massive amount that's ready for playable consumption by outsiders. The years of development have instead been wisely spent of painstakingly creating the technical foundation upon which Fable is built. And for a project of such colossal scope and ambition, exploring ideas never before attempted, it's absolutely essential that this aspect is right, so the team is able to piece the rest of the gaming jigsaw together.
And BBB MD Simon Carter offered an intriguing insight into the complexity of a project like Fable, telling us: "Each eyeball contains more polygons than the entire Magic Carpet engine." (Magic Carpet being an old Bullfrog 3D PC title).
The final game will feature a range of environments, from forest to mountain and glacier, but the only environment currently up-and-running is a forest landscape. And while there are still early framerate issues (we were assured, however, Fable will run at a rock solid 30fps upon release), this location is beautiful and awash with pleasing detail.
We were able to wander around this section in adult form, (sporting, incidentally, an awesome jet black ninja outfit, more of which later) and what's immediately apparent is the rich, fertile detail of the environment.
Jogging around feels nice and comfortable via the left stick, with the shoulder buttons used to rotate the camera in either direction. In fact, holding one down causes an amusing Michael Jackson-style spin-on-the-spot, though we're probably missing the point somewhere along the line...
Things to interact with in our brief demo were still limited but we were treated to an opportunity to put the combat system through its paces. This is where the ninja outfit (one of countless items you'll be able to wear, including women's clothing, no less) becomes blissfully apt.
Combat is breathtakingly straightforward, but that doesn't automatically mean shallow. BBB has worked hard to make the game as much like an arcade/console title and as little like the often tiresome turn-based Final Fantasy as possible. Thus, you have one button for attack and one for block. Simple, see?
Our hero was appropriately tooled with a deadly ninja blade and able to use it against various generic bandits in the village in which you begin your adventure. Fight moves are straight out of Capcom action titles like Devil May Cry and Onimusha, with the hero swooping and swishing with style and panache, pulling of a range of combo attacks if button presses are timed correctly, or getting twatted back if not.
Incidentally, BBB is currently undecided as to what to do over enemy bodies, though it believes they will remain in the world for some time, with your hero able to drag them out of vie or ransack them for items, Metal Gear-style.
The immediacy of the combat, and the delight of running someone through with a sword is great fun and gives the title an unexpectedly instant appeal, with satisfaction gleaned easily from running around simply beating people up.
And then there's the magic system, which will enable your hero to learn a variety of spells which, in the words of MD Dene Carter, will make you: "Feel almost like a Jedi." We're sold.
Though still under construction, we did get to try out a cool Matrix-style slo-mo spell, allowing our hero to move at twice the pace of enemies, making victory in battle a breeze.
We were further shown the aging process in real-time. Although each day in the world of Fable last roughly 48 minutes, over the course of the adventure your hero will age from 12 to around 50 or 60, his physical appearance reflecting the way in which he has lived his life.
Taking the character and removing his ninja costume, leaving him looking rather hapless in a pair of Union Jack pants, BBB was able to alter characteristics at the touch of a button.
Muscles can swell to rippling proportions or shrink to the scrawniest sinews; skin can become tanned or hauntingly pallid; skin can crack and age lines form, and a beer belly will sure enough sprout should your lager-swilling antics be considerable.
And depending on your physical appearance, villagers' reactions alter. A towering, brute of a man with menacing eyes scares children, while a cowardly, gangly freak is made fun of. Such is the unique nature of Fable that, by the time the adventure is finished. Each gamer should have their own distinctive hero, shaped by their particular playing style. Awesome.
Though our playing time was short, the developer's apparently contradictory description of Fable as 'action-RPG' becomes a perfect tag once you've played the game.
The accessible controls and satisfying combat make exploring the world a joy. And beneath this surface fun lies one of the most adventurous, complex, compelling game ideas we've seen in a long, long time. Which, if BBB pulls it off - and from what we've seen we firmly believe it will - could create one of the greatest, most immersive experiences yet seen on a console.
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