Pride of the Lions
When Microsoft purchased Lionshead studios back in April 2006, many worried that it would dull the creativity of the small independent game publisher. A key part of the acquisition was veteran game designer Peter Molyneux, considered by some to be one of the field's creative geniuses, whose resume of popular games stretches all the way back to his days with Bullfrog in the late 1980s.
Not All Change is Bad
Despite the appeal of Molyneux's games, Lionshead never managed to be much of a commercial success. Games like Black and White 2 and The Movies created a very loyal and devoted following, but they still failed to create the sales and revenue that Lionshead was seeking and at times the company's financial situation negatively impacted its product.
That was definitely the case with the original Fable. Molyneux's plan for the game where the very world around you changed based on your character's actions, where you could shape the lives of a generation depending on the choices you made. Lionshead invested a great deal of resources into designing the game, but were forced to cut back features dramatically due to budget and time constraints. The final product was graphically attractive and fun to play, but lacked many of the promised features, and became notorious for offering only sparse hours of game play. The success of the game garnered Lionshead enough funds to offer an expansion, Fable: the Lost Chapters, which added on some of the quests that had been left on the cutting room floor but many fans were left feeling that Molyneux hadn't quite delivered.
Regardless of whether one considers Microsoft an evil empire, it has offered Lionshead the stability and the financial backing to put together the sort of game that Molyneux always envisioned. The question becomes if it will still live up to expectations that have already been dashed once before.
Fulfilling the Dream
Fable 2 will be the epic and dynamic story that was promised by its predecessor, taking place 500 years after the end of the original. From early on the player will have a chance to interact with an assortment of characters, from lowly street thugs to bumbling inventors, and how the setting around them grows and changes will depend on how the player treats each of them. Unlike the first Fable, which simply offered a good or evil ranking based upon your actions, the sequel will show the real tangible consequences of decisions made.
Since the world around you will fluidly change based on your choices, so will your chances at adventure. A lot of Fable 2 will be about the flow of time. In the original game, your character could get married, but in the sequel the game will stretch generations with your offspring depending on your choice of husband or bride, giving the game an added level of depth. Characters will come and go depending on how they're treated, or simply if you've kept them alive, and the setting and storyline will alter as a result.
Rather than redesigning the character control from the first game, the designers have used a similar system but embellished it. Fans of the first game will find the same fluid controls, but as your character advances you can add combos attacks that involve hitting buttons in sequence or map different functions to different spots on the controller for more variety. Interestingly, quests will no longer offer gold as a reward, only fame which will give the game a certain level of reality. Even if you're a pious hero, you'll still need a day job or some other sort of business venture to pay the bills.
Molyneux feels that second time around, Lionshead has managed to create a brand new gaming experience. Only time will tell if gamers agree, but the signs look highly promising.
