Review: Fable: The Journey

<br>Whether you like him or not, Peter Molyneux is a man that’s in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction with the status quo of the industry, and that’s really what makes his career so incredibly fascinating.<br><br>Of course, it’s no secret that Fable is a great game, so the most important aspects of this release is if it's aged well (read above) and the quality of the port. Simply put, the result is leaps and bounds above the original. Fidelity, special effects and lighting have all improved and it’s clear to see the differences in almost every area. Upgrades to characters and building exteriors are the most noticeable, with faces seeming more realistic and less pixelated and buildings revealing never-before-seen nuances. Even trees in the backgrounds and leaves on the pathways of villages are more detailed. Everything has a smooth look which gives it a nice overall aesthetic comparable to other Xbox 360 games. The only flaw in the new look is that sometimes things can be a bit too smoothed over and come across a little smeary. Sometimes the sharp edges of the original helped to keep objects separated, something that can sometimes be a problem here. The other continually noticeable boost is the lighting, with plenty of new shadow effects and nuances between different lighting situations, where as before things were basically light or dark. Overall, <a href="http://Ezproxy.cityu.Edu.hk/login?url=http://Freeweblink.org/details.php?id=298226">http://Ezproxy.cityu.Edu.hk</a>; while it’s not perfect and hampered by the fact that practically every Xbox 360 game now looks long in the tooth, it’s certainly the preferable way to experience the game — nostalgia or not.<br><br>There were many secrets to discover in Albion, which was necessary to pad out the game. The main story campaign was short by RPG standards, so having optional side quests and secrets added value to the title. Demon doors would have treasures such as legendary weapons if you could solve the riddle to open them and there were many silver keys scattered across the land they were needed to open silver treasure boxes. They may have have fixed this in the subsequent reissues of Fable, but in the original Xbox version there was a glitch to get unlimited silver keys. This worked by getting a key, doing a hero save but not a world save and then load the file. The character will have the key in their inventory and the key will be waiting to be collected in its original spot.<br><br>Besides combat and travel, there are plenty of other motion-based opportunities throughout Albion. Activities like corralling chickens, lighting lanterns and moving obstacles may seem mundane, but serve to enrich the experience, making sure there’s always a fresh task to keep players interested. Most of these secondary actions have their own unique movements to avoid redundancies. Not content to let your arms have all the fun, there will be times where multiple paths can be selected from by bending your torso left or right. With all the different movements, it’s clear Lionhead was content on utilizing the full potential of motion-control.<br><br>The sense of freedom became apparent in the early stages of the game during the tutorial. There was no fighter, mage or rogue class; the player simply trained in archery, melee combat and spellcraft. How these skills developed was based on what approach was used in battle and doing successful combos with any of them would multiply the gained experience. The experience was divided into the three combat categories along with general experience that could be distributed as desired. Personal experience seemed that mastering consistently high combat multipliers with the bow was tricky, but by halfway through the game the character would easily be a formidable magic using tank. Bandits, balverines and trolls quickly changed from dangerous enemies to cannon fodder.<br><br>Another cool feature is that of photograph locations throughout the map that when touched display a viewpoint from the original Xbox game. This is quite nifty as it allows you to match up with your television and see exactly what has been improved for the Anniversary edition. It’s also said that backgrounds for key players have been written and are viewable upon meeting them, but I was unable to find how to access these. A title update will be supposedly be released on launch day, so perhaps they will become easier to find then. The only real negative of the experience is that it doesn’t show the NPCs that can be interacted with on the map. Unfortunately, this makes it so you can’t rely solely on your tablet/smartphone, which is a bit of a bummer.<br><br> <br>The stakes don't get much higher than trying to prevent a race of synthetic beings from wiping out every last trace of intelligent life in the galaxy. That's the task that falls to Commander Shepherd in Bioware's Mass Effect trilogy, which is set a long way into the future after humanity has managed to tentatively establish itself in the hierarchy of the Milky Way's alien races. This beautiful and expansive science fiction epic captured the hearts of gamers, and with the right director on board could capture the hearts of moviegoers as w<br>