You won't be having squeaky lights-out money-sex in Fable: The Journey. Or conjuring a pie with rhythmic abandon. There's no pretence at smoke-and-mirrors morality either, and certainly no funny voices. Actually, there are a few silly voices but that's part and parcel of the Fable experience. In fact, just about the only recognisable trait that's made it into this unlikely spin-off is arguably the series' strongest - the distinctive world of Albion.
Don't despair though. It might not be the Fable you were hoping for, but Fable: The Journey is undoubtedly the most consistent, cohesive Fable offering Lionhead has delivered so far. In large part, that's down to the elegant design purity running throughout this Kinect-exclusive on-rails cart-and-magic escapade.
In actual game terms, The Journey translates to a handful of tightly focussed concepts that do their damnedest to play to their strengths of Kinect's notoriously finicky whims. You trot sedately through gorgeously crafted locations - from haunted swamps to Hobbe-infested fortresses - cracking the reins or steering your cart with natural, intuitive motions. Experience-granting orbs and road-bound obstructions provide an excuse to wind back and forth along the predefined path while occasional branches tempt with undiscovered treasures.
That's only part of the story though, with an on-foot spell-casting combat system that counters subdued cart ambling with big set-piece thrills. Here, one hand metes out defensive manoeuvres - knocking back enemies or flinging them about on magic tendrils - while the other delivers more direct justice on the small but focussed parade of opponents.
Expel-your-arm-us!
As the game progresses, your primary mana-leeching bolt attack is supplemented by other more powerful spells - including a fireball and crystal spear. That enables a rock-paper-scissors approach to encounters, delivering a satisfying layer of strategy as you slowly pinpoint your opponents' weaknesses. Slight RPG elements let you spend XP on spell upgrades, but its the nifty Aftertouch system that really shines. Fire off a spell and flick your wrist to redirect it mid-flight, sending blasts about the place with all-conquering precision. It's incredibly fluid and genuinely rewarding - particularly once you start stringing attacks together, landing blows and hurling enemies in perfect dual-handed synchronisation. Forget Harry Potter - this is proper wizarding.
Each new location finds creative uses for your limited arsenal, adding a bit of a physics challenge here or a head-scratching puzzler there. There's even some welcome downtime in the form of horse-based pet care. What each element lacks in sophistication, Fable: The Journey more than makes up for in studied variety and sheer bravado spectacle.
Away from the main offering, Arcade Mode attempts to deliver moreish high score-chasing with a series of set-pieces plucked wholesale from the solo game. Multipliers and kill counters deliver frenzied moments of tension while style bonuses encourage experimentation. If there's one concern here, it's the length of each stage - with ten minute encounters perhaps a bit too beefy for the kind of immediate point-gathering gratification Lionhead was clearly aiming for. All other issues come down to Kinect itself. Despite some clever design choices to compensate for Kinect's lack of precision, there are still moments when those sensors develop a frustrating mind of their own. That inherent motion focus means too that this is a Fable game shorn of much of the series' sprawling depth. Approach Fable: The Journey with an open mind, however, and it's easy to revel in the game's achievements.
Strong characters entertain throughout the game's uncharacteristically involving story, with sheer imagination turning those limited core systems into something just that little bit more magical. There are tears, laughter - and most importantly, the first successful stab at Kinect-enhanced immersion - as Fable: The Journey gallops toward its epic conclusion.
21 comments so far...
JamieRIOT on 9 Oct '12 said:
It's a shame there isn't more good games on Kinect, otherwise I would already own one. I won't be buying one especially to play Fable: The Journey, but it does look quite good. The environments look fantastic.
Kachi on 9 Oct '12 said:
I'm really looking forward to this. I preordered it based on the strength and enjoyment of the demo - so nice to actually have a demo before a release - and I really can't wait for it to arrive. Also, very happy it's a Kinect game you can sit down and play...
CunningSmile on 9 Oct '12 said:
Was this Log or Ed? Or have yet more members of OXM staff had loved one's kidnapped and held hostage by Lionhead?
OXM ETboy on 9 Oct '12 said:
It was one of our freelancers, actually. I'm hoping to take a copy home tonight.
ChillieBonBon on 9 Oct '12 said:
"You won't be having squeaky lights-out money-sex in Fable: The Journey"
But they were what made fable magical...
CunningSmile on 10 Oct '12 said:
Well please give us a second opinion if you do get the chance. I know you really liked the previews you played (despite much ribbing from me) and I'll be interested to know if you think the whole game lived up to the hopes you had.
OXM ETboy on 10 Oct '12 said:
I've played about an hour and a half, and the spell-casting recognition definitely goes to pot at times. It's nothing you can't adjust to, though, and my room isn't brilliant for Kinect - I generally have to push my chair into a corner before the sensor notices I'm there, and it sometimes confuses me with my wardrobe.
The storybook presentation and visuals are as charming as ever. Some of the jokes are a bit wooden.
SidTheSloth on 10 Oct '12 said:
You guys and girls have me baffled with this one. I've paid attention over the past few months as you've told us this will be better than we think - you'd played it, i hadn't, I was listening...
Now don't get me wrong, i hate the inevitable comments after nearly every review nowadays that suggest the reviewer can't play games/get a boyfriend or girlfriend/succeed at anything because they gave something a 7 instead of an 8 (and don't worry, i'm not going to suggest any of those things), but with reviews elsewhere landing and being less than complimentary about F:TJ i had to raise an eyebrow when i read this one.
The score is the score is the score etc - if the reviewer is happy with it and stands by it, then cool, i'm not going to question his/her integrity (like the recent conspiracy theorists who've been lurking), but from what i read and compare he/she seems to praise a lot of the elements that are being damned with faint praise, or just being damned? Kinect is a strange beast in that once configured results can still vary greatly from day to day even if no one goes near the bloody thing, let alone breathes in its general direction - so again, that's something else to take into consideration (but worrying if only a handful of so many reviewers could get it configured right?).
To my main point, the one thing i feel 'missing' from the review - and maybe it was cut for editing - is the quality of this game in context to others. It praises it as a Kinect game, and compares it to Fables past, but by your guys own standards, shouldn't it then be made to stand up against every other 360 title - especially as this is what Lionhead & MS said it was going to be, the kinect solution for core gamers/kinect haters? Criticism was thrown when darksiders 2 got a 7 as it's 'bigger & better than the original' - yet quite rightly you compared it to other games around at the time and felt it did nothing to stand out from them and reached the conclusion it was good but not amazing (obviously 7 being above average on a 1-10 scale). By giving this an 8 it would suggest it falls only just short of the greatness of XCOM/Dishonored - but compare the reviews themselves away from the scores and the latter are lavished with praise almost to the point of bursting, whereas the fable one - seemingly like the game - trundles along saying nice things but never has you thinking 'WOW'...
Being the official mag you guys & gals are unfortunately open to easy, if unfounded and wild criticism/speculation, and when there's such disparity it's inevitable there will doubtless be extra scrutiny - and i'm not sure in this example the review stands up to that....? People shouldn't just compare scores, but they inevitably do, and with an 8 it puts this alongside Max Payne 3, Battlefield 3, Dragons Dogma and even Fable 3 - something the review itself never seems to back up?
Just my thoughts/ramblings anyway - hopefully it reads as constructively as it was meant!!
EDIT: Bugger, written all this and Ed's already given his second opinion!!
FishyGinger on 10 Oct '12 said:
Even with Ed's comments I agree with Sid. There does seem a considerable difference between other reviews and this one. Obviously different tastes and all that jazz but it seems like a core game for kinect, one of the biggest of recent times and a fable game which is the flagship microsoft rpg. So why is it out to a freelancer?
I know one opinion is just as valid as another, but seems like something you would have done in house. Same with the CVG review of resi 6, that was pushed out to a freelancer for what was supposedly a big title.
OXM ETboy on 10 Oct '12 said:
It was given to a freelancer because we didn't have time to do it in-house (I'd have loved to review it, but I've got other fish to fry). Things are pretty busy right now, with Mike's post still unfilled and all these gosh-darned open world titles to review.
I'll let you know how I get on with this, but I think the key thing - as ever - is to try the demo. Kinect gaming is such an ambiguous beast - some people fly off the handle at the slightest hint of misrecognition, others are happy to overlook such flaws providing the overall experience is an entertaining one. I do think some people (naming no names, etc) need to rethink their assessment criteria, though. It doesn't seem to occur to them that having to control their gestures, posture and so forth might be part of the challenge, rather than an imposition.
FishyGinger on 10 Oct '12 said:
Fair play. The frying fish comment sounded a bit threatening though
am I going to have to look over my shoulder on the way home tonight.
Why don't you hire patrick moore, he must be getting bored looking up at the sky. Pay him a monocle a week and I'm sure he'd be all yours.
SidTheSloth on 10 Oct '12 said:
Cheers Ed, not sure if my main point didn't get lost in the midst of my ramble. I wasn't so much talking about my own perceptions of the game and whether i'll buy it, just more how i perceived the review and how it may be received by others. I don't care one jot about Resident Evil, but seeing scores so varied i read a few reviews out of general interest and your guys one was one of the higher scores, but was backed up by the piece itself, something i'm not convinced this one does too well at all - it tends to read that it's pretty good, not too bad with some really enjoyable bits but all the way through i can almost feel the writer struggling to avoid the almost inevitable caveat of "for a kinect game". I could well be off the mark but it just reads and appears like it got an easier ride (and thats not an attempt at a terrible pun) because it's a kinect game, whereas surely it shouldn't matter if it's kinect, controller or both - above all else it's a 360 game...?
As for the other reviews, i can take an educated guess as to who you may be referring and yeah, to be honest there is plenty more feedback i could throw in that direction - and it might not be as constructive - but i'm not a member of that site. Annoyingly, i tend to think said person often picks up some good points and has a good understanding of games as a whole but tends to lose all respect from me by descending into largely myopic and ego/controversy seeking rants that do himself no justice - but then others love him so go figure...?!
Freelance thing doesn't bother me one jot really, doesn't mean they're any less qualified!? Doesn't Log (as one example) still moonlight for a few other mags now and then to review a few non xbox games - same difference?
As for Señor Salmon up there, call me crazy, call me paranoid, call me psychic, but i've got this ever so sneaky suspicion he may not actually be a fish...! Shocking i know, but even with touchscreens nowadays you generally need fingers to type, and whoever heard of a fish with fingers? You'll be telling me next they're a delicacy found in places like iceland and people eat them on sandwiches! To be honest, i bet he's not even really ginger - hows that for a midweek conspiracy theory?
OXM ETboy on 10 Oct '12 said:
I don't know mate - by my lights, the writer makes a case for the storyline, pacing and articulation of the core concepts being worth your time, irrespective of Kinect's contribution. I agree that it's tempting to become a Kinect apologist when you're sticking up for a Kinect game, but I don't think that's a problem here. Is anybody else of the same mind?
Agreed that there are some writers out there who are more interested in making names for themselves than offering a considered opinion, though I wasn't really talking about any single reviewer. As regards the alleged gingery fishiness of FishyGinger, I shall presently undertake a proper enquiry into the matter. We must study his habits...
FishyGinger on 10 Oct '12 said:
Oh god my cheeks might just puff out so much I float at an accusation like that. The truth is when the chernobyl disaster struck shortly after my birth, the radiation went as far as the norfolk broads. Due do centuries of inbreeding, mixed with the powerful radiation, I became the human fish! Ne'er dowells despair, I am the finger licking good fishy b*stard crime stopper.
Anywho, I've no idea this mystery reviewer of which you hint at, in the words of my village idiot, who (s)he? As for freelancers, of course they are no less valid and I'd imagine some of the better ones can afford to be freelance, but when you have a fairly close circle of reviewers constantly on the case for a site/magazine such as this you get a feel for the reviews and what games they've done previously....not sure where I'm going with this but maybe someone gets my meaning. Demo is the best idea indeed.
As for kinect getting an easier ride, well shucks, I don't know. Games should be reviewed as games overall, not based on how you play them. If the controls are tart, that should be taken into account. I think to a degree the problem is with scores in general. The average game nowadays don't get 5's, so 5 can no longer be average, 7 is closer to an average game by most reviewers.
NB I am ginger. Issues regarding my fishy...ness, could be disputed. As much as Batman is a bat I suppose....
SidTheSloth on 10 Oct '12 said:
Like i say, i could be talking out of my proverbial - it's just my interpretation. I agree he makes it sound worth investigating, but then goes and scores it so close to Dishonored - the review of which makes it sound essential and amazing etc - just seems a bit inconsistent? I'm not exactly one to get bent out of shape over a score anyway - i tend to make my own mind up (as some of the horrors in my collection confirm) as i go along - but this was 'the one' we were told many moons ago that would prove Kinect could provide games to rival Gears/Halo, and whilst i'm seeing a score to suggest that, i'm not feeling it from the review - it suggests more that it's a great kinect game, and a decent game worth a look as a game in general - imo of course. Maybe i've just spent too long thinking about this anyway, i'm going on like it's life endingly important, and all it started out as was a quick observation!!
Agree 100% with your last point sir (and the point above it actually), and i think ultimately that's the point i was trying to make about this! I'm awaiting Edge's review quite eagerly as they're my other go-to site for reviews and stuff. I know other people think they're over harsh sometimes but i've always found them quite honest. Noticed a few of the people on their site are asking them what's going on as they gave out two 9's this week which is unprecedented for them apparently!
And of course i jest Mr Fish, with the internet growing ever touchier it's refreshing to insult someone who knows a joke when he sees one, regardless of how little humour may actually be involved!
msbhvn on 10 Oct '12 said:
I was quick to bash the Darksiders 2 review, but once I'd finished the game I ate my words and agreed with the score.
A lot of people take critical reviews (and these people think anything under 9/10 is overly critical) as saying "you're stupid for pre-ordering this". They don't want to believe they've backed a lemon, so they attack the reviewer.
I think Fable is well suited to Kinect. This is the series whose developer decided having more than one attack button was too complicated. In my opinion, a game with an unpredictable and dodgy control system shouldn't really be getting 8/10, but I haven't played it or any Kinect game for that matter, so Fable The Journey might have the best Kinect controls ever.
It all comes down to having reviews be one person's opinion. It's all too easy to attack them, saying they don't understand the genre or didn't know what they were doing. The amount of hate a certain IGN reviewer got for scoring Zelda Skyward Sword 7.5/10 and citing finicky controls as a negative was unbelievable. They said he was a moron who didn't know how to use MotionPlus and dismissed his entire review on that basis. The trouble is, he was right, to a certain extent. The overuse of MotionPlus, it was even used in the menus, was a pain and slightly spoiled my enjoyment of the game.
I think going forward that having one person review a game is inviting trouble. Two or more people's opinions are harder to dismiss. Having more eyes on a game will highlight things that are love-or-hate, references to other games in the genre that one reviewer might not have played or things that are easily missed. When a review is published in a magazine, it is authoritative, and a review that is overly critical or overly generous can reflect poorly on the magazine's reputation. Thankfully, that doesn't happen often with OXM, and it's the reason I read OXM's review of a game before any others.
Alaric14 on 13 Oct '12 said:
If you look at Fable: The Journey for what it is, an arcade shooter, it becomes a lot less impressive. The Kinnect control method is a bit of a gimmick, really, and the little points of interaction with your horse and the world at large for pitiful amounts of experience are barely more than cute mini-games. When all is said and done, it's the world of Albion and the characters that save it and raise it up to a reasonably high standard.
I've yet to see a game that makes me say to fellow gamers, "This is why you should buy a Kinnect", and Lionhead's latest offering doesn't really cut the mustard in that regard either. Still fun in parts, though, and learning more about Theresa should be interesting to fans.
Spartan Edge on 16 Oct '12 said:
I really cant see this game getting anywhere near this score in any other review. Reviews like this only reinforce peoples skepticism of 'Official' Magazine reviews,especially when the game is by the console manufacturer..
hujiki on 16 Oct '12 said:
I hope know that they have released this and will be starting a new project please Make a another classic fable experience i miss that sort of game...
SidTheSloth on 16 Oct '12 said:
The game may be better than we expected, but the sales have been as bad as we expected according to >whispers< other sites and chart info...
Surprising lack of advertisement from MGS may i suggest too?
schwepterbrowser on 16 Oct '12 said:
Just saw that GameSpot gave the game an 8 as well (Click Here) and they tend to be quite critical of Kinect.
I'll be picking it up at some point regardless of any reviews; I like Fable and it looks fun, that's enough for me. Well that and I've already seen it for less than £25. Can't argue with that price - I probably won't even bother with the demo.