I bought an Xbox 360 for two reasons: Halo 3 and Fable II. About two weeks ago Fable II came out. I rushed out to buy it and brought it home and sat down for an indulgent hours long session of Fable playing. Naturally an hour into the game my 360 gave me the red ring of death. I sat on my couch for a good long time in disbelief. Of all the times it could have died why in the first hour of Fable II? Obviously the universe is against me.
I had joined that always growing club of 360 owners who have had to box their console up and send it out to be repaired. Surprisingly, the whole process took ten days and went pretty smoothly. Microsoft’s customers service people were friendly and helpful and it didn’t cost me a dime. If you can live without your 360 for ten days there are worse things that can happen.
So far Fable II has been fun. I’m still in the very early portions of the game so we’ll see what happens along the way. Three quick observations: 1) the character movement is clunkier than the first game. I remember in the original Fable that the character smoothly moved through the world. This time he doesn’t feel like he’s of the world but stumbling through it. 2) There’s no world map! I am having a hard time getting a sense of where I am on the map. Part of the fun of an RPG is experiencing the world. What’s the point of traveling to a new region if I can’t visualize where it is in respect to the rest of the regions? It’s a strange oversight. 3) The region map is almost useless. It’s too small and you can’t zoom in. Another strange oversight.
Speaking again of the world map. I have found a hand drawn world map on Flickr. You can view it here. I haven’t had a chance to use it and evaluate it but I will tonight.
