I have been a lover of the Fable series since the very first, so when I heard about a Fable adventure that let you use the Kinect to control it, I was fairly apprehensive, but also very excited at the prospect. I was able to pre-order, and have just finished my first run-through and I'm here to give you the "skinny" on Fable: the Journey.
Story: **Caution, some spoilers**
The Journey takes place centuries after Fable III, when the deeds of previous Heroes have become little more than legend and no one believes in magic anymore. The Hero bloodline has dwindled, none left to defend Albion from any of the treacherous creatures native to the land, let alone the great impending Darkness that is after our new hero Gabriel.
Gabriel is a bit of a dreamer, having grown up hearing the stories of magic and heroes and wishing the world was more like that. He and his faithful steed live a relatively quiet life as part of a Caravan moving across Albion trying to make a living and find a better life. He's also stuck in this life, wanting more but feeling like his life has been planned out before he's really had a chance to choose for himself, so he tends to be late, and is well known for falling asleep at the reigns, having fallen in a ditch more than once.
Enter Theresa, the Seer, running from an unknown evil. Gabriel stumbles across her, and helps her escape. The Journey then follows the story of Gabriel in 'from zero to hero' form, slowly accepting his fate as not only a hero, but the only person capable of saving Albion from the Darkness. Those who have played Fable III at least once will notice it is the same Darkness from before, though it has returned stronger and is unfortunately unopposed this time, save for Gabriel and Theresa.
During the course of Gabriel's adventures, you have the opportunity to fight all our old friends, from Hobbes to Balverines, from Stingers to Hollow Men. And as your journey progresses, you learn more about Theresa as well as previous heroes. Some of my suspicions about Theresa were actually confirmed during the stories she tells, so I was gratified to know I had figured her out fairly well. We also see some new information on her as well, and don't worry, I'm not going to ruin any more of the story. That is part of your own foray into The Journey and I won't spoil it.
Graphics:
The graphics in The Journey are absolutely perfect. They are as good as Fable III or slightly better, and for a fully Kinect based game, that's pretty impressive in my book. All our old friends and foes are detailed and beautifully rendered, and the world around you is just as meticulously preserved as you'd want. More than once during the game, you'll have the opportunity to take a gander at some truly impressive scenery, including an early-on view of the skyline around the Spire, which is always an impressive sight.
Gameplay:
The gameplay was a bit disappointing at first, but as I got used to it and accepted the difference in style from previous Fable games, I realized that it was really one of the only ways using the Kinect would've been feasible. The experience is less 'Open World' and more 'Interactive Movie', which is a huge change in style from every other previous Fable, but as I said, once you let yourself get into the action, it is a lot of fun.
The battle sequences are fast-paced and, I won't lie, more than a little tiring sometimes. Your dominant hand, which you choose at the beginning of the game, is the one wielding offensive magic. Your other hand uses more passive magic, the ability to push or move things by magic, a la Force Push from Star Wars. This can be used to push enemies back, throw them into obstacles, or throw obstacles at them instead. You can also use it to stun or hold them in place for a short time. This ability becomes particularly handy when you come across shielded foes, who you need to push or pull to make them vulnerable before you can land any offensive magic successfully. Offensive magic starts with a simple bolt spell, and as you progress you are rewarded with Fireballs, and Blades. Each one of the additional offensive spells is activated by either Voice Command or by certain gestures with your right hand, turning the original lightning bolt into a fireball or blade with a wave, or pulling the bolt behind your shoulder (turning it into a lance).
Once you have the mindset that it is an interactive movie and let yourself enjoy it as such, the game is amazingly fun, and full of humor and jokes just as all the Fables have before it. I also enjoyed a few of the Achievements, because their name or description were based on Memes, music or movie references and the geek in me couldn't help but laugh and love that.
Music:
The music is both beautiful and familiar, bringing you back to Albion easily while helping to distinguish the past Albion from what it has now become. From the victorious and cheery to the dark and ominous, the score was delightful and as good as any Fable before it.
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly:
The Good: Pretty much everything. I have very few complaints, other than it was a bit short (took 3 days to beat, and not very many hours per day either), but most games are shorter than I'd like.
The Bad: Targeting your magic can be imprecise, but you can go through the calibration for it at almost any time. I didn't re-calibrate but I did go through the original calibration several times to get it as accurate as I could. I suggest you do the same. I also found that while my right hand was usually spot on, I had a lot of trouble aiming with my left. Don't know if its just me, though. Lastly, you need to find the perfect distance and center yourself towards the Kinect so it can be as precise as it needs to be. If you're too close, the accuracy goes way down, and when you're driving the cart, the reigns will go crazy on you if you're misaligned. I definitely need the attachment lens to be able to play closer to my Kinect, so that may make the difference for some people.
The Ugly: Hobbes. Definitely still ugly. Also Balverines and Hollow Men. I guess most of the stuff you go up against are ugly, really... but luckily, they don't count against the overall score.
Replay Ability:
While the game is definitely fun and I will play it again without a doubt, it doesn't have me aching to go back right away. Instead, it is actually making me miss Fable II and III and making me wonder when Fable IV will come out. I'd say the replay factor is good, though, since it has an Arcade Mode, which you slowly unlock as you go through the game. It seems to let you go through the battle sequences in the game without having to sit through the story, which... well, I wouldn't unless I wanted to exercise by randomly shooting magic at Hobbes and Balverines without knowing exactly why, which suddenly seems like a wonderful exercise regime actually.
Scores:
Story: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Music: 9/10
Replay: 7/10
Overall Score: 8.8 / 10
Friday, October 19, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Dishonored - VG Review
I was lucky enough to pre-order Dishonored and get an early crack at it instead of waiting for the price to drop, and I'm happy to take the opportunity to give everyone a faster review than usual. Dishonored definitely lives up to the hype it has gathered over the last few months. Its graphics are beautiful, its story interesting, and its only flaw is that it is a relatively short game.
Story:
Dishonored takes place in a steam-punk world where everything is run by whale oil, a relatively new technology which is still being developed. The city is the beacon and head of a larger empire, and home to the Empress. You, the main character, are the Empress' Lord Protector, bodyguard, trusted confidante, and very close friend. You have held the position for a number of years, and at the start of the game, you have just returned from a journey across the Empire to solicit aid from the neighboring countries. A plague has befallen the city, spread by rats and previously unseen in the kingdom. You, as her most trusted adviser, were the only person the Empress trusted with this mission. Upon your return, circumstances place you at her side even as she dies in your arms, murdered and assassinated by persons unknown. The assassins vanish and you are left to take the fall for her death, immediately captured and sentenced to death.
Not a bad start to a story at all. Though being sentenced or jailed at the beginning of a hero's journey seems to be a favorite for Bethesda Software, like in the last two Elder Scrolls, they always manage to keep the story fresh and interesting, never letting the scenario become stale.
Graphics:
The game has a beautiful overall look, comic-book style characters in a detailed environment. The city around you as you explore, and all it's seedy recesses are rendered in the 'you're inside the comic-book' style wonderfully. The effects for the powers you come to possess throughout the game are both simple and stylish, and I can't think of a more elegant way to execute them as they did. The only thing that would make the graphics better would be to go for realistic instead of comic-book style, but then the style served them so well that the only reason I even mentioned it is a curiosity over how stunning the world would look if they did.
Game-play:
Through the game, you not only discover different weapons to be used and upgrades, you also learn supernatural powers. The powers system and learning curve is easy to use, easy to learn, and devastating to your enemies once mastered. The weapons, while few, can be upgraded in different ways to suit a player's style, or not at all if one prefers to focus on stealth.
Like most, if not all, power systems, you are given a Mana bar to help you to see how much magic power you have left. Different powers consume different amounts, as per usual, and the powers themselves are quite interesting. You can teleport short distances, possess animals and people, see enemies through walls, call a swarm of rats to attack your enemies or dispose of bodies, and create a whirlwind to knock your enemies back. Under the same powers menu, you can also increase your health bar, improve your health regeneration, as well as add other upgrades such as an increase in agility and the ability to make your fallen enemies crumble to dust so you needn't worry about disposing of the bodies.
The game play is mission based, but with plenty of leeway to explore, find and finish side quests, and learn more about the city around you. Books are also scattered everywhere, helping to fill the gaps with excerpts from literature, history lessons of the world you're thrust in, and notes to you or other characters can also be found, giving you clues and insights into others' motivations.
Music:
The music during game play was spectacular at immersing you into the necessary mood, subtly swaying the mood between suspense, eeriness, or the ever-impending fight or flight. The ending credits had a song, the style of which goes incredibly well with the game as well, though I'm not sure it would've been my choice style-wise.
Replay-ability:
As soon as the ending credits finished, I found myself wanting to go back and try to finish the game a different way. Though I have a preference and a penchant for stealth when possible, I was disappointed at the sheer number of alarms raised throughout my game, so stealthy old me is itching to try to do it without raising any alarms. There is also the possibility of abandoning stealth altogether, or changing key moments when I showed mercy or a lack thereof. Definitely a game to keep to play a second time, or third, or twenty-third.
Cons:
Honestly, to find cons I had to nitpick in my mind. There were very minor things that annoyed me a little, but didn't impede me from enjoying the game inmensely. The ability to blink, for instance, is used so often (at least by me) that I wish that particular power didn't require mana since its a means of transportation. I also think that the game was fairly short, since I was able to finish it in two very busy days' worth of game play time, which would probably translate to less than 8 hours of full game time from beginning to end.
Lastly, in a game with as much fighting as there is stealth, while the First Person view served well, it would've been a nice touch if you could switch from First person to Third Person so you could not only sneak a bit easier, but also see what your character looks like with and without the mask, as well as being able to track those around you less conspicuously. Of course, this may be the Assassin's Creed Addict in me talking, so those who love First Person Views don't hold it against me too badly.
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly:
The good is definitely the replay factor and the storyline. The bad is the lack of more, longer story. The ugly? ... I want to say: "The bad guy's face." He wasn't pretty, I'll tell you that.
Overall Scores:
Graphics: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Replay: 9/10
Music: 9/10
Total Score: 9 / 10
So for the TL;DR crowd:
Dishonored is an awesome game, and a keeper for those who love a good fight as well as a good covert mission.
Story:
Dishonored takes place in a steam-punk world where everything is run by whale oil, a relatively new technology which is still being developed. The city is the beacon and head of a larger empire, and home to the Empress. You, the main character, are the Empress' Lord Protector, bodyguard, trusted confidante, and very close friend. You have held the position for a number of years, and at the start of the game, you have just returned from a journey across the Empire to solicit aid from the neighboring countries. A plague has befallen the city, spread by rats and previously unseen in the kingdom. You, as her most trusted adviser, were the only person the Empress trusted with this mission. Upon your return, circumstances place you at her side even as she dies in your arms, murdered and assassinated by persons unknown. The assassins vanish and you are left to take the fall for her death, immediately captured and sentenced to death.
Not a bad start to a story at all. Though being sentenced or jailed at the beginning of a hero's journey seems to be a favorite for Bethesda Software, like in the last two Elder Scrolls, they always manage to keep the story fresh and interesting, never letting the scenario become stale.
Graphics:
The game has a beautiful overall look, comic-book style characters in a detailed environment. The city around you as you explore, and all it's seedy recesses are rendered in the 'you're inside the comic-book' style wonderfully. The effects for the powers you come to possess throughout the game are both simple and stylish, and I can't think of a more elegant way to execute them as they did. The only thing that would make the graphics better would be to go for realistic instead of comic-book style, but then the style served them so well that the only reason I even mentioned it is a curiosity over how stunning the world would look if they did.
Game-play:
Through the game, you not only discover different weapons to be used and upgrades, you also learn supernatural powers. The powers system and learning curve is easy to use, easy to learn, and devastating to your enemies once mastered. The weapons, while few, can be upgraded in different ways to suit a player's style, or not at all if one prefers to focus on stealth.
Like most, if not all, power systems, you are given a Mana bar to help you to see how much magic power you have left. Different powers consume different amounts, as per usual, and the powers themselves are quite interesting. You can teleport short distances, possess animals and people, see enemies through walls, call a swarm of rats to attack your enemies or dispose of bodies, and create a whirlwind to knock your enemies back. Under the same powers menu, you can also increase your health bar, improve your health regeneration, as well as add other upgrades such as an increase in agility and the ability to make your fallen enemies crumble to dust so you needn't worry about disposing of the bodies.
The game play is mission based, but with plenty of leeway to explore, find and finish side quests, and learn more about the city around you. Books are also scattered everywhere, helping to fill the gaps with excerpts from literature, history lessons of the world you're thrust in, and notes to you or other characters can also be found, giving you clues and insights into others' motivations.
Music:
The music during game play was spectacular at immersing you into the necessary mood, subtly swaying the mood between suspense, eeriness, or the ever-impending fight or flight. The ending credits had a song, the style of which goes incredibly well with the game as well, though I'm not sure it would've been my choice style-wise.
Replay-ability:
As soon as the ending credits finished, I found myself wanting to go back and try to finish the game a different way. Though I have a preference and a penchant for stealth when possible, I was disappointed at the sheer number of alarms raised throughout my game, so stealthy old me is itching to try to do it without raising any alarms. There is also the possibility of abandoning stealth altogether, or changing key moments when I showed mercy or a lack thereof. Definitely a game to keep to play a second time, or third, or twenty-third.
Cons:
Honestly, to find cons I had to nitpick in my mind. There were very minor things that annoyed me a little, but didn't impede me from enjoying the game inmensely. The ability to blink, for instance, is used so often (at least by me) that I wish that particular power didn't require mana since its a means of transportation. I also think that the game was fairly short, since I was able to finish it in two very busy days' worth of game play time, which would probably translate to less than 8 hours of full game time from beginning to end.
Lastly, in a game with as much fighting as there is stealth, while the First Person view served well, it would've been a nice touch if you could switch from First person to Third Person so you could not only sneak a bit easier, but also see what your character looks like with and without the mask, as well as being able to track those around you less conspicuously. Of course, this may be the Assassin's Creed Addict in me talking, so those who love First Person Views don't hold it against me too badly.
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly:
The good is definitely the replay factor and the storyline. The bad is the lack of more, longer story. The ugly? ... I want to say: "The bad guy's face." He wasn't pretty, I'll tell you that.
Overall Scores:
Graphics: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Replay: 9/10
Music: 9/10
Total Score: 9 / 10
So for the TL;DR crowd:
Dishonored is an awesome game, and a keeper for those who love a good fight as well as a good covert mission.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)