Eurogamer reviews Fable 2

[Vandenh]

The Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=263778) lads have managed to be the first to review Fable 2 and the result is pretty impressive.
The swashbuckling animation and on-the-fly environmental details, along with your gradually expanding arsenal of moves, elevate Fable II's combat so much that it's the game's strongest point. Impacts are meaty, and enemies are varied in both strategy and appearance: massive trolls burst from the earth and bandits drop down from the trees, while hollow, skeletal men lumber towards you en masse before shattering under gunfire in a dry explosion of bones.
And the rush of the good games has began!

[menage]

And the rush of the good games has began!

Fucking finally:p,

I can't stand another week of watchhing games like Saints Row or Mercs 2 and wonder if I'll just buy those when I want to play something else.

[sgtslappy]

Glad it got some high marks. I really don't like Eurogamer that much though.

[DCIII]

So they score it a 10/10, yet there is no mention of that in the initial post...

[Atorak]

It was a great review, pretty in-depth. I was barely considering Fable 2 since I have Fallout 3 coming so soon, but after that review, this game is definitely getting purchased.

[ElektroDragon]

Fucking finally:p,

I can't stand another week of watchhing games like Saints Row or Mercs 2 and wonder if I'll just buy those when I want to play something else.

Dude, it started with Dead Space.

[Elrik Murder]

Dude, it started with Dead Space.

I second this! :D To each his/her own however.

[menage]

Dude, it started with Dead Space.

Dude, that's not out yet in Europe, also this week.

[Windsong]

Just release it for PC already. Molyneux the Mad already implied it was in the works.

[grimgore]

And the rush of the good games has began!
Don't we all look forward to the festive season, the last Quarter of the year
always brings the best games

[Mr. Lake]

I'd be really interested to see if any reviewers take Molyneux's challenge and give someone who doesn't play games a run through to find out what they think. I mean, the reviewer in this write-up admitted to being unskilled and still enjoyed the game enough to give it the highest score possible... I'd like to know what a complete non-gamer thinks.

[Zowie]

Been counting down the days for this game for months. Got tomorrow and wednesday off of work and school to just veg out and play co-op with all my friends! :D

[Vandenh]

So they score it a 10/10, yet there is no mention of that in the initial post...

We usually never mention scores in post... people need to go to original source.

[Asmodan]

Glad it got some high marks. I really don't like Eurogamer that much though.

Luckily for you there is another review out there (http://arstechnica.com/reviews/games/fable-2-review.ars). It's also pretty heavily positive so I'm fairly excited. I actually like the original Fable but I'd love to see more of the potential/hype realized on.

I'd be really interested to see if any reviewers take Molyneux's challenge and give someone who doesn't play games a run through to find out what they think. I mean, the reviewer in this write-up admitted to being unskilled and still enjoyed the game enough to give it the highest score possible... I'd like to know what a complete non-gamer thinks.

And from the same site your request is filled (http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/10/20/molyneuxs-request-the-fable-ii-non-gamer-experiment). The problem is it's a complete and total non-gamer. So it sounds like half the problems come down to them having no idea how to use the controller.

[DarkDaY]

Read them both, was buying it no matter what, but so good to read the praise.

[JazGalaxy]

Wow.

I was actually interested in Fable 2 from a passive point of view until reading this review. This makes Fable 2 sound absolutely disgusting. As a gamer, it is not somehow miserable for me to experience challenge and to lose. THAT'S THE GAME. THAT IS WHAT'S FUN.

This new breed of gamer who plays games to feel good about themselves or something is in every way the opposite of what I consider fun. I'm 26 years old. I don't need a babysitter. If I'm not being taxed in some way, what's the point?

Challenge, like Megaman 9 reminded us all, is fun. Risk/reward systems are fun. Overcoming obstacles is fun.

I understand some people just want to be fed new information and visuals on a regular basis, but that's why they have movies and books.

I don't know. I'm sad that my favorite hobby is dying a sad disgusting death.

[DarkDaY]

Wow.

I was actually interested in Fable 2 from a passive point of view until reading this review. This makes Fable 2 sound absolutely disgusting. As a gamer, it is not somehow miserable for me to experience challenge and to lose. THAT'S THE GAME. THAT IS WHAT'S FUN.

This new breed of gamer who plays games to feel good about themselves or something is in every way the opposite of what I consider fun. I'm 26 years old. I don't need a babysitter. If I'm not being taxed in some way, what's the point?

Challenge, like Megaman 9 reminded us all, is fun. Risk/reward systems are fun. Overcoming obstacles is fun.

I understand some people just want to be fed new information and visuals on a regular basis, but that's why they have movies and books.

I don't know. I'm sad that my favorite hobby is dying a sad disgusting death.

? wow, thats rather extreme.

Breathe...just...breathe.

[JazGalaxy]

? wow, thats rather extreme.

Breathe...just...breathe.

I suppose. But it's rather extreme text, isn't it? To say that this is the "regime change" of gaming? And it's not a new sentiment. A lot of games and game reviews have been positing this same thing about the new wave of challengeless games, and it's depressing to hear as a gamer when we already are getting fewer and fewer games released every year.

I read an interesting q&a in game informer where a guy complained that games are getting mind numbingly easy and the magazine snapped back that games were actually getting "differently challenging" because nobody wants to subject themselves to "archaic torture" anymore.

That to me is like the MLB coming out and announcing that they've improved the game of baseball by getting rid of the opposing team and placing tees on home plate. That way every batter can hit homeruns and, afterall, that's what the fans came for right?

[menage]

Wow.

Challenge, like Megaman 9 reminded us all, is fun. Risk/reward systems are fun. Overcoming obstacles is fun.

I understand some people just want to be fed new information and visuals on a regular basis, but that's why they have movies and books.

I don't know. I'm sad that my favorite hobby is dying a sad disgusting death.

Wow, I didn't think Megaman 9 was fun. I bought it with all the sweet memories of and totally found out that games evolved for a reason. Bottomless pits, restarts at the beginning, etc. I cant bother sweating over tiny tiny bits too long, let alone restart all over again only to die again. Ive got more stuff to do

I just finished Uncharted and that game took me back to a very close point from where I was before dying. Giving me an opportunity to take on the same challenge once again. It was still challenging, due to challenging gameplay, not cheap ass deaths or lack of foreknowledge how the level works and getting a bit further every time. Challenge can still be in the gameplay, been able to die has nothing to do with it, it can, but it isn't essential.

If the idea of this disgust you you're still getting your Gears 2 on hard or Bionic Commando rearmed on expert. Not every game has to suit all tastes. It certainly isn't the end of all gaming as you said.

Comparing one game (Baseball) with all videogames (there's still baseball games as well) is kinda ludicrous. Every game has it's rules, you decide if they suit you or not. But to turn every videogame into the same old mega challenging titan battle would have meant gaming would have died 10 years ago. It did already once, know what resurrected it? Change. They used to be all out scoring attack with a blob going around a maze, if no one added a story, bosses, and level design to Megaman he would still be trapped in that maze.

[Duskfire]

Wow.

I was actually interested in Fable 2 from a passive point of view until reading this review. This makes Fable 2 sound absolutely disgusting. As a gamer, it is not somehow miserable for me to experience challenge and to lose. THAT'S THE GAME. THAT IS WHAT'S FUN.

This new breed of gamer who plays games to feel good about themselves or something is in every way the opposite of what I consider fun. I'm 26 years old. I don't need a babysitter. If I'm not being taxed in some way, what's the point?

Challenge, like Megaman 9 reminded us all, is fun. Risk/reward systems are fun. Overcoming obstacles is fun.

I understand some people just want to be fed new information and visuals on a regular basis, but that's why they have movies and books.

I don't know. I'm sad that my favorite hobby is dying a sad disgusting death.

But you do lose; you can get heavily scarred. Its the sort of game where you come to care about your appearence, where it means so much in the scheme of things. Not only that, but the game isnt about being difficult or not, its about choice. Its not a game where you are going to have to slog your way through time and time again; its a game where you get to fully immerse yourself in the world and do what you want, literally do what you want.

I agree some games need to be difficult, but I think if that was the case in Fable 2 it would take away from the immersion of the world. thats the way I see it anyhow. Its not about getting your ass kicked in combat; its about the world and you influencing it the way you want it to be influenced.

[vallor]

I used to be hardcore. I don't have the time, patience, or reflexes for it any more. I'd rather play something with deliberate long term thinking involved than ye' ol' button masher or boss combo memorization.

People change and the games change to suit the people spending the money on them. The "casual" market right now is the golden apple of gaming and very few people want to risk alienating that huge group of people.

[thomasc]

I'd be really interested to see if any reviewers take Molyneux's challenge and give someone who doesn't play games a run through to find out what they think.
Sounds like a huge waste of time.

[DarkDaY]

I suppose. But it's rather extreme text, isn't it? To say that this is the "regime change" of gaming? And it's not a new sentiment. A lot of games and game reviews have been positing this same thing about the new wave of challengeless games, and it's depressing to hear as a gamer when we already are getting fewer and fewer games released every year.

I read an interesting q&a in game informer where a guy complained that games are getting mind numbingly easy and the magazine snapped back that games were actually getting "differently challenging" because nobody wants to subject themselves to "archaic torture" anymore.

That to me is like the MLB coming out and announcing that they've improved the game of baseball by getting rid of the opposing team and placing tees on home plate. That way every batter can hit homeruns and, afterall, that's what the fans came for right?

No, I see where you are coming from, but I think we are far from loosing our hobby, there are many great examples out their, just not like they were.
Thing is everything popular grows and we either grow with it or stay in the past with an al bundy complex. With evolution there comes a shit load of extremes, some great some horrible. Roll with the hits.

[Asmodan]

The problem is you're equating punishment to challenge. It's entirely possible to have a challenging game while removing most of the traditionally harsh punishments for failure. Rock Band 2 has a 'No Fail' mode, but if I try to play Everlong on Expert it's still HARD but I'm just not punished for failure.

What it sounds like to me is that you are unable to judge a challenge for yourself unless there is some form of draconian retribution involved.