Lionhead’s Fable games tend to be quite over hyped, and Peter Moleneux spent quite a while promoting and pimping up Fable 3 before its release, where it almost appeared that the new RPG would redefine the genre and take things to a new level. Does it live up to its hype? Not really. But it’s still a fun game to play, and something Fable fans will appreciate.

In Fable 3, you play as a prince (or princess), who is set to rule the kingdom, which is ruled by your evil brother, who runs everything with an iron fist. It’s your job to rise to the top and overthrow him, becoming king, and then deciding whether you want to be a good king or a bad one. If you’re familiar with Fable, you’ll certainly appreciate the huge world, lots of quests and stuff to do, and a lot of characters to meet, talk to, engage in combat and so on. It’s one of the richest worlds ever created, and its visuals, while not technically the best, offers a great look of a nation in the industrial age, not to manage all the fun and interesting characters you can interact with.

Combat and gameplay is straightforward, and has been streamlined to the point where everything is simple and accessible. While the open world offers your to be good or evil, and lots of side quests, you still have several key quest to complete before the finish. However, combat is sometimes a hit or miss, while it’s simple to use, it tends to be a bit too simplistic, because you only use one button and often times, it’ll simply be about button-mashing, the lowest form of combat. There are also a few bugs and glitches both in gameplay and game mechanics and quests. Luckily, you can also go through the campaign with a friend over Xbox Live, which is a great addition. However, one things remains great and consistent throughout the game, and that’s its wonderful British humor.

Overall, Fable 3 is an improvement over Fable 2, and while it doesn’t live up to the great hype, if offers a lot of interesting gameplay, has a great art-style and humor, and despite the few bugs and glitches (and some repetitive gameplay), it’s a worthy addition to the Fable franchise.

The Good:
Great, open world
Art-style and visuals
Wonderful humor

The Bad:
A few too many bugs
Visuals are a bit dated
Combat is uninspiring and too simpistic

Overall score: 7/10