I played both Fable and Fable II, and while neither was my favorite game ever I enjoyed playing through them. Fable III started off pretty similarly but the longer I played the more thing I found myself annoyed with. You play as the Prince of Albion. You are the son of the character you played in Fable II, and your older brother is currently king. The problem is your brother is a real jerk and forces you to decide between having you girlfriend or innocent people executed. At this point your servant and one of your Dad’s loyal friends leave the castle with you to start a rebellion against the king.  What I don’t get is why I’d ever leave the castle. The game constantly lets you pick between being good and evil, but the actual events are very scripted. Instead of spending all this time raising up a rebellion why can’t I sneak into my brothers room in his sleep and just assassinate him.  Saves everyone a lot of time and trouble.  Instead you play through a pretty generic story where you have to become friends with all of the King’s enemies to form a rebellion strong enough to beat him.

Even if I ignore the fact the story was stupid there are a lot of other things that are just lame.

Combat – You have a melee weapon, a gun and your magic abilities available for the combat on Fable III. Each of these is mapped to a button.  Hit it to attack or hold it down to charge it up. It very quickly gets repetitive as there is no real strategy or combos to the combat.  Just keep bashing your preferred button and rolling out of the way of the enemy attacks. Even more annoying is that you have to be fairly close to enemies to be able to target them with your gun or magic attacks.  If I see an enemy I should be able to target them, but not in Fable III. Why bother having ranged attacks it you have to be so close to the enemies to use them? I might as well just run over and hit them at that point.

Pacing & Travel- The story’s pacing is all over the place. Some parts take forever and others go too quickly. Most of the time I found it too slow. Making it worse is that your walking speed is pretty slow. They give you a “run” button if you hold down A, but it is not really much faster than just walking. This would not be so frustrating if the Fast Travel system did not suck so bad.  At any time you can go to the map and fast travel to a location near your current quest’s location.  Only most of the time the fast travel just drops you at the far edge of an area and you still have to run just about as far as you did before you fast traveled, and in some cases even further than if you have not used Fast Travel.

Repetition - A lot of the side quests are the exact same thing but for a new person. Go deliver a message.  Go kill all these enemies.  Escort me across the world (while holding hands). You can skip most of the side-quests if you want but then you will not get anywhere near all of your character upgrades unlocked. The interactions you have with all the NPCs in the world are also exactly the same each time.  I mean how many times an I really going to dance or hug a random stranger?

Money - Why is it the prince is flat broke? I mean why couldn’t I take any gold with me when I left the castle?  Can I take the money off the dead bodies of the enemies I kill?  Oh,they are all broke too.  Great I guess I work a job that is basically a 5 step quick time event until I have enough cash to buy some real estate.  Then use the rent money I make to buy more properties until I have all of them.  Yeah, just like Fable II until you about half the country you are going to be broke all the time. Then you have a good amount of rent money to cover buying potions, weapons and outfits. Assuming you remember to go back through all your rental properties every hour or so and repair them – one at a time. If you want me to pay for the upkeep and repair on all the properties that is fine, but at least let me do them all at once instead of having to do each one individually. This is not fun and is possibly the worst idea ever.

Achievements - First, there are a ton of lame collection achievements that will probably require you to use a guide to find them all. I don’t kind if there is one, maybe even 2, collection style achievements, but there are 6 or 7 in Fable III and none of them are fun to try and get.  Worse than that depending on the choices you make in the main story you can completely lock yourself out of certain areas of the world so that you then can’t go to them to get the items you need to collect.

I would highly recommend avoiding Fable III. From the story to the game play mechanics everything about it is frustrating, annoying or poorly designed.

It is not very often that I play four different demos in the same day, but that is how Tuesday panned out.  On the PC, Magicka released and I’ve been looking forward to it for quite a while now. I promised myself after all the holiday Steam sales I would not by any new games until I finished at least a few of those so I just played the demo for now.  So, if you don’t see on Xbox Live check Steam as I’m probably trying to finish stuff up there so I can get to Magicka.

A demo single player demo for Bulletstorm released today.  It struck me as odd that a game that they keep talking about co-op for does not have any co-op in the demo. Then I started playing the demo. It has a very Gears of War feel to me.  Not that feeling like Gears is bad thing but since the rest of the game was just not that fun I don’t see a reason to get it. I’m not a fan of playing the same levels over and over so I just can’s see enjoying it for any length of time.

I got a chance over the last week to demo Breach for XBLA Ratings.  You can see my full review on the site (here), but I will say that the more I play it the more I’m enjoying it.  It started a little slow and I almost wrote it off but I’m glad I did not because it has really grown on me. The Convoy game mode is really fun and the destructible environments never get old.

The final demo for the day was Crysis 2.  I played a couple matches on my lunch break and it was pretty decent.  Then, in the evening we got a full team of guys from AGErocks.com playing and it was a blast.  It is fast paced but not so fast it is all twitchy. The matchmaking did a nice job of getting our squad on the same team when we joined a match already in process when the next round started and it lest you customize your loadouts while it searches for a match.  These little touches are really nice and allow for more time playing and less time in the menus. There are quite a few customization options and upgrades for the weapons and armor abilities. It was nice that they start unlocking pretty quickly. Plus, as you use an ability it unlocks a stronger version of it.  Like getting 25 air stops unlocks the advanced air stomp.  It would be nice if there was a tutorial explaining all the armor abilities but after playing with them for a while they start to make sense.  All of the armor abilities are tied to your energy bar so you can use them all at once but only for a short time. Or, use one at a time for much longer.  I was not planning on picking up Crysis 2, but if there is a solid group of AGErs getting it I may as well because the demo is a lot of fun.

Every once in a while a game comes along that is so much fun that despite obvious flaws I would gladly recommend it to anyone.  For me Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is one of those games. The guys from AGErocks.com kept staying how great it was so decide to give it a try.  I initially kind of ignored it because the videos for it make it seem like a platformer which I’m not a big fan of.  However it definitely an action/adventure game that lets you traverse like a platformer.  You can’t accidentally jump the wrong way and fall to your death.  You can only jump to places where you can safely land.  There are few cases where you have to time your jumps to miss hazards like fire, but there are not too many of those.

When you’re not climbing and jumping there are a bunch of mechs to fight.  Most of the time this is done up close and personal with melee attacks, but your staff also has an option to fire shots. There is limited ammo for the staff but when you have the ammo using it to quickly down enemies is nice.  The camera takes getting used to, but once you get the hang of the the combat is not too hard.  However, as the camera angle always seems to be changing it takes a lot sometimes to get it where you want it.  Plus, your attacks always go the way your character is facing and not the camera.  These camera issues would have been nice to see worked out.  The game is not overly hard but it is not a breeze either. I just had to remeber to use the block option as I tend to always try and attack the whole time.

Enslaved is really about playing through this awesome story.  You play as Monkey, who gets a pretty raw deal at the start of the game, but you come to find that without the help of Trip (who has enslaved you so that you will help her get home) neither of you would have survived. The dynamic between these two main characters is awesome as it changes throughout the game. Monkey starts off, understandably, really mad at her, but by the end has come to understand and even respect Trip.  This dynamic is played out in the game not just through the dialog but in the fact that Monkey has to help Trip get through the levels.  For me it is the story and the great voice acting that made Enslaved so enjoyable.  Additionally, the games graphics are gorgeous.  The game takes place in the partially destroyed world that is starting to become overgrown. There is a lot of color throughout the world.  It is nice to see a game set in a post-apocalyptic setting that still uses the full color palette.

When I got to the end of Ensalved I was a little sad to see it end.  I’m really hoping for a sequel, but in the meantime I decided to buy the Pigsy’s Perfect 10 DLC and play it as well.  One of the first things I thought when you meet Pigsy in Enslaved was “I hope I get that grappling hook soon”.  While you never get it during the main game in the DLC you actually play as Pigsy. He is quite different from Monkey’s acrobatics and up close fighting.  With Pigsy it is all about the sniping, stealth and gadgets. He is not fast and he has no melee combat ability.  While I thoroughly enjoyed playing through the game as Monkey it was a lot of fun to play a completely different way in the same game world.  Pigsy’s Perfect 10 tells a side story to the main campaign that shows Pigsy in the days leading up to when Monkey and Trip meet him.  There are some really fun tie-ins that happened through the DLC that only would be noticed after playing the campaign. Even though the DLC is a little on the short side for $10 I completely enjoyed it and don’t regret the purchase at all.

If you have not played Enslaved yet you really should download the demo.  It is one of the best stories in a game that I’ve played in a very long time. Plus, the game world is beautiful while still looking war-torn, and the voice action is excellent. The camera controls do take a while to get a handle on, but even with that the game is way too great to miss.

For the last three weeks Microsoft has been running their “Games for the Holidays” on Xbox Live Arcade. The three games they released during this time were A World of Keflings, Raskulls and ilomilo. I really enjoyed all three and have reviews up for them on XBLA Ratings.  Just hit the links if you are interested. The thing that I really enjoyed is how they tied all three games together even though they are all from different developers.  In Keflings you can build a house for ilo and milo as well one for the Raskulls.  Once you build it they come and live in your Kefling’s world.  You can kick them around like and of the other Keflings. Then, in Raskulls you get Doug the Kefling and ilo as playable characters for multiplayer.  Finally in ilomilo you get Kefling and Raskulls costumes to wear.  None of these play a huge role in the games but it is really cool how they tie in together. Sure games in the past have costumes or characters you can unlock that are from other games, but this is the first one I know of that actually checks to see if you have achievements in it first.  Hopefully more developers can start doing little stuff like this.

I’m a long time Wii Fit Plus user. When I don’t feel like heading over to the gym I can just pop it in and get a decent light workout in. I decided to give EA Sports Active 2 a try after seeing it in action at E3 last year.  I was a little skeptical of the arm and leg bands, but the idea of not having to use the Wii balance board was enticing. I’m actually don’t really notice the bands once they are on.  Sports Active 2 does have the option to use the balance board, but I specifically chose not to use it because I’ve found the board to be very inaccurate and frustrating to use.   The setup for Sports Active 2 is pretty simple.  You tell it your weight, or use the balance board to take it, and then pick how intense of a workout series you want to do.  I chose the 90 day moderate workout series.I then picked which 4 days of the week I wanted to be my regular workouts and which 3 are for resting.

The daily workouts are about 30 minutes long and each one focuses on activities relating to a specific sport. There is your general warm up activities, then a solid 20 minutes of intense exercises and finally wrapping things up with a few minutes of cool down.  The middle set of activities are where you do activities related to a sport.  I like this setup as each day is a different set of items in the workout regiment. So while there is a routine pattern to the workouts the individual pieces change each day. Sure, they seem to find a way to tie in squats and lunges into almost each sport, but sometimes it will be to block goals in soccer and others it will be tied to running.  The variety keeps things fresh and interesting.  By then end of the workout I’m definitely sweating and have had a much more intense workout than anything in Wii Fit. I can’t imagine how hard the activities for the even harder workout series would be.

Ive been using EA Sports Active 2 for a couple months now and one thing I’ve come to really enjoy is how the game tracks my stats online as well.  It lets me see quickly how I’m improving without having to dig around inside the game to find that info.  Like most at home workouts, EA Sports Active 2 is only as helpful as you make it.  If you’re disciplined and do each activity without cheating it can be a useful fitness tool.  For me I’m liking it a lot more than Wii Fit Plus.  The games in that have a place and my son likes doing them but for a more active and sports focused workout EA Sports Active 2 is the way to go.

I was luck enough to get a chance to review the Dead Money DLC for Fallout: New Vegas for VGRevolution. I did not really know what the DLC was about before I started playing other than it involved robbing a casino. The real challenge is getting into the casino and then into the vault to rob the place.  The actual robbery takes just a few minutes. I don’t want to spoil any more of the story but I actually really enjoyed it.  What most surprised me about the DLC was how much fut it was to completely change my play style to deal with the enemies and challenges. I normally avoid up close combat in Fallout, but in Dead Money that was not an option.  Maybe it was because I spent 30 levels (and over 40 hours) playing as a run and gun shooter, but for whatever reason the complete change in tactics really rang home for me.  I’m looking forward to whatever DLC they make next for Fallout: New Vegas and would recommend giving Dead Money a try.

After playing through the Call of Duty: Black Ops campaign this week and being really disappointed I moved on to playing a bunch of downloadable titles. I’m glad I just rented COD:BLOPS because I’m not really into the multiplayer style and the campaign was not great.  The actual story was pretty interesting this time around but the game play was really annoying.  Too many times I would shoot enemies only to have nothing happen.  Plus,all of the enemies seemed to be able to kill me with just one or two bullets.  Shouldn’t I be able to do the same to them?

Fortunately, X-Men Arcade released on Xbox Live Arcade this week to distract me.  I’ve got a quick review of it up here, but basically it is as fun as I remember. The 6 player co-op over Xbox Live is great when it is not lagging or kicking people out of the room. Still, overall if you enjoyed the arcade game I think this version is worth getting to play with some friends.

Radiangames Crossfire 2 is quickly becoming one of my favorite Xbox Live Indie Games. Radiangames has not made a title I’ve not enjoyed yet, but Crossfire 2 night be their best one.  It takes a Space Invaders fixed cabinet view and adds a full upgrade system.  Plus there is a score based mode with online leaderboards for when the campaign has been completed.  I’ve got a full review on XBLA & XBLIG Ratings here.

I’ve also started Soulcaster II. The way it mixes tower defense and action RPG is really nicely done. The first game was great and the sequel only improves on it. I’ll be getting a review together later this week over here.

After enjoying the demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 I was very disappointed with the full game.  First off, it was short, like 6 hours short.  There were only 5 missions.  A couple of them are fairly lengthy but still 5 missions is not much.  SW:TFU2 could easily be a $20 expansion to the original game based on the size.  Yes, there are new enemies and you dual wield light sabers this time, but nothing so outstandingly better that it deserves its own game. I found the story line frustrating because I had no choice in the decisions that my character made until the very end.  He consistently did things that in an RPG I would not have done. But, since this just an action adventure title I was stuck just playing through the story.  There are still too many jumping and quick time events for my tastes.  Just let me attack the large boss enemies and don’t make it be a stupid quick time even to kill them. When you are just fighting storm troopers the game is fun.  The force powers and the  combos that use end with using the force are really nice.  Unfortunately, a lot of the times you get a couple storm troopers and then a mini-boss instead of large groups of fun enemies. If you enjoyed the first SW:TFU then the sequel is probably worth a rent. Just don’t get your hopes up to high.

I’ve been playing a lot of downloadable titles this week with a mix of Rock Band 3. I’m working on getting better playing keyboard, but that gets mixed in with my normal gaming most of the time anyway.  This week has been heavy on Xbox Live Arcade and Indie Game titles.  Harms Way release on Xbox Live Arcade for free this week so I checked it out a little.  I played some of the single player mode and I’d like to try the multiplayer but every time I try it tells me there are no rooms available.  I tried hosting my own room but after 15 minutes no one had joined and I gave up.  I’ll try it again over the weekend and hopefully can find some people to play with because it seems like it would be fun against actual people.

Costume Quest for a DLC pack titles Grubbings on Ice. It release Wednesday for $5 and I finished that night.  It was only about 3 hours but I had a lot of fun playing it.  The new costumes were fun and the story was a nice addition.  I really hope they release more DLC like this for it. I’ve got a review on XBLA Ratings: here.

I also have been playing Commander – World 1, Epic Dungeon, Decimation X3 and Score Rush on Xbox Live Indie Games.  All are $1 each and well worth checking out.  Hit any of the links for my review of the game on XBLIG Ratings. The Xbox Live Indie Game devs have been really stepping it up with great $1 games recently and I’m taking full advantage.

I’ve been playing Marvel Pinball for about a week now for a review on XBLA Ratings, and now that the DLC pack for Pinball FX 2 is out I can finally talk about it.  I’ve been having a blast with it.  I enjoy Pinball FX 2 and these 4 new tables are even better than the original ones because they add fights between Marvel characters.  The four tables are Spider-Man, Blade, Wolverine and Iron Man.  Each Marvel hero has 3 enemies to face off against. The Blade table is my favorite, but the Iron Man one I found really frustrating.  Still, for $10 I think this is a good addition to the game. You can hit my review for a full breakdown.