It took me a while to decide to go with Fable 2, being that its a sequel to Fable 1 on the original XBox, I read a lot of forum posts for some of the bugs within the game, but on the whole, the reviews out there are generally positive. Its worth pointing out that XBox live do provide a sample chapter (part 1) for free which is what I did prior to purchasing the game.

The story mode is very well done, its funny in parts and requires you to complete set tasks in different towns for either cash or renown points. Based on which ones you choose, you can either become evil or pure and the storyline will provide various challenges based on your preferred style of gameplay. I'm a bit of a psychopath on GTA, however, with no real motive on my part, it turned out I was mostly pure on Fable! Your mentality of evil / pure is what the gameplay is centred around and is an original concept in this title (for its time!).

The general gameplay requires you to fight with melee weapons, ranged weapons (guns, crossbows) or use your spells. You build up various levels of these throughout the game and can choose whether you want to be a gun-toting madman or master wizard. The fighting scenes are good but can be a bit repetitive over time, as on the whole they lack a sense of challenge.

Throughout the game, there are a ton of actions you can perform, from buying (and running) shops, market stalls to renting out accommodation. All of which earn you much needed cash! On top of that, it reminds me of a watered-down version of Sims, as you can redecorate the furniture in the houses as well as push up rents and shop prices or lower them if you dont want the cash.

The game would have a 5 star rating if not for the number of bugs in the game. A couple of days in, fighting a main dood, he suddenly dissappears and I get the message I've killed him, which I havent, but I'll take it anyway, just lets you feel that it was a little rushed towards the end of production.

Multiplayer is a nice feature, very well implemented through online orbs. These orbs (when activated), will appear to show other gamers in the world you're currently also in! If they're on your friend list you can join their game session or vice versa. Very well implemented and I found it a nice idea well implemented.

Graphics
Visually, Fable 2 is very appealing. A great deal of work has gone into the scenes, characters as well as cut scenes. The level of detail is excellent, but i think its let down slightly by a lacking 3d model.

Dont let that put you off, as it is very good, but its no Crysis. I suppose they had to maybe compromise on the open world nature, the wide range of actions or high res textures. On that front, I think they made the right decision, as the gameplay certainly makes up for the slight misdemeanour.

The clipping can be quite funny at times, for instance the pet dog who goes everywhere was, on a few occasions found floating about 10 feet above the lake. Made even more funny by the fact when I went to laugh in his face (its a real action you can choose!), it was like he realised and sploshed right into the lake. Again, its more of comic value than a hinderance!

Audio
The voices are provided from a whole host of famous british actors and you'll be constantly trying to think of who is who. Theres a load from what sounds like the cast of Lock Stock in there which is good to hear in a game that there is british people in there.

Again, it can be a bit buggy. Have 20-30 people dancing with you and they all talk at the same time after a few minutes and the sound goes into overload. Not a massive pain, quite funny in fact the first time but after that, it becomes annoying!