As with the dog from Fable II , The Journey’s designers clearly want players to emotionally invest in Seren. Gabriel can brush her, feed her apples, and occasionally has to tend to her injuries – players mime the motion for pulling arrows from her flesh, then use the magic of the gauntlets to heal the gaping wound left behind. For that matter, Seren is rendered beautifully: shiny coat with distinct hair, attentive, believably alive eyes – but it’s all for nothing. She has no agency, no obvious personality or bearing on events. Seren’s defining characteristic is that she’s a pain in the ass to control, and dramatic story points that hinge on her fall flat as a result. Gabriel may care deeply about Seren, but the player never d
There is also the matter of Seren herself. There are some great horses in video games: Epona in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and (especially, so far as I’m concerned) Argo from Shadow of the Colossus . Seren won’t be joining that list, despite Lionhead’s intentions to the contr
As 2019 comes to a close, DualShockers and our staff are reflecting on this year’s batch of games and what were their personal highlights within the last year. Unlike the official Game of the Year 2019 awards for DualShockers , there are little-to-no-rules on our individual Top 10 posts. For instance, any game — not just 2019 releases — can be conside
There’s something odd about an HD port built for a console which itself has Adventure Games Mounts that are being ported to a superior console. Let’s reflect on Fable Anniversary for a second: it’s a 2014 Xbox 360 remake of an Xbox game from 2004. We’re in an age where people are demanding for spectacular looking games like Grand Theft Auto V and The Last of Us to be ported to Xbox One and PS4, and this is an Xbox 360 port of an original Xbox game. As such, judging it is fairly hard to do after spending countless hours over the past few months scrutinizing next-gen ports like Tomb Raider, Madden 25 and Call of Duty: Ghosts, when Fable Anniversary would be a resounding success if it matched the 360 quality of any of them. Still, while a remake of Fable might have been better suited for release before Fable II or as a three-pack with its sequels on Xbox One before Fable IV (please?), the sheer fact that Lionhead and Microsoft care to do it at all is great fan service for players who have had to deal with an antiquated game — classic as it may be.
I’d rather play a 30-hour RPG 4 times than a 120 hour RPG one time. The Outer Worlds seems to understand that mentality and delivered an experience that can be quite diverse depending on one’s character build and choices. It was just barely edged out of being my game of the year and is certainly a must-play for those who have ever remotely enjoyed an RPG at some point in their lives. On that positive note, Parvati is my daughter and if any of you hurt her, you’ll be hearing from my lawy
Project Ego sounded like nothing I had played before. Being able to pick and choose which quests to take wasn’t exactly groundbreaking, but the idea of the game taking place across the character’s lifetime was intriguing. There was talk about how the character would be designed and uniquely tailored to the player’s gameplay and they would be able to have children that would have a significant impact in the world. The character would receive unique scars from battle, they could plant a sapling and watch it grow in a massive tree throughout the course of the game and the NPCs would have unique reactions to the player based on their deeds to create the sense of a living world the player was truly a part of.
Needless to say, spell casting becomes increasingly complex as more attack options are enabled. Fireballs must be primed by either shaking your right hand before attacking, or speaking the word “Fireball” out loud. Attacking with Shards, meanwhile, requires that the player holds his or her right hand over and behind their right shoulder, as if throwing a spear, or by saying “Magical Shard.” Generally, motions are recognized more quickly than speech. Each of these actions, on their own, are simple to perform reliably. The trouble is that in the heat of combat, players will need to perform multiple actions, often simultaneously, and Kinect gets confused by the commot
In fact, it’s such a classic that describing such a widely-known story seems irrelevant until you realize that there are prospective gamers who weren’t even out of diapers when the game was originally released, so here goes: Fable sees you take the role of “The Hero of Oakvale” who begins his quest as an unassuming boy until his village is brought to ruins by invading barbarians. The hero survives and is rescued by an even older hero named Maze. Maze sees great potential in the boy and takes him under his wing at the Heroes’ Guild. The hero grows up here, honing his skills and training for the perils that lie ahead. When he’s finally old enough, he sets off on his quest and can choose to either be the savior of Albion or its reckoner. This is of course the major gimmick of Fable, a game that allows you to choose the path of your character throughout their entire life. It was a concept that was ahead of its time in 2004 and remains interesting even after ten years and countless imitators. Of course, it’s major flaw is still the missed potential that was put in the spotlight thanks to the endless hyperbole from Peter Molynex.
