Fable: The Journey Review, 7.0 out of 10 based on 11 ratings

Some games just never stand a chance. After Peter Molyneux did such a terrible job of promoting Fable: The Journey back at E3 in 2011, the latest title in the Fable series has been universally condemned as “rubbish” before it even hit the shelves. It would take something dramatic to change people’s opinions on the title. So, it is, despite belonging to the group who considered this game’s eventual release to be nothing but a disappointment, I have to approach Fable: The Journey objectively. I’m glad the game asked me to sit down before I started playing.

In a serious departure from series staples, Fable: The Journey is a (semi) on the rails first person adventure. You play the role of Gabriel, a young boy who lives among a Nomadic society. Before long you are separated from your community and have to set out alone. Along the way you meet the ever present Theresa, who leads you, inevitably, on the path of becoming a hero of Albion. Constantly harassed by a great evil, Gabriel and his horse Seren must overcome the odds and save the world. Mainly, this is done through arm flailing.

Fable: The Journey is most certainly a Kinect game with the comforting cold plastic of a controller nowhere to be found. Unlike the majority of Kinect games, The Journey asks you to sit down. Having twisted my right knee recently, the humorous tutorial video performed by Hobbes, explained that sitting comfortably is a necessity was quite welcome. To be honest, I doubted the Kinect’s ability to pick up subtle movement when sitting down, having had issues with The Gunstringer. While my doubts were founded in experience, I was pleasantly surprised to have them completely shattered.

This may be the first Kinect game where I haven’t complained, become frustrated with, or shouted about, the controls. Quite frankly, every single movement acted as the game suggested it would. This is even more surprising considering the game suggests you keep your arms very close to your body at times, which normally causes the motion sensor to have a fit. It’s like someone actually figured out how to make the Kinect to do what Microsoft promised it could.

A large portion of Fable: The Journey is spent on your caravan, riding through the world of Albion with Seren. I was seriously stunned to discover how enjoyable it was to play. With a flick of both my hands the reigns would crack and my horse would be off, a pull to my left while pushing my right hand forward steered the horse gracefully round the corner. All the motions The Journey asks you to perform, make sense. You really feel like you are sitting at the reigns of a horse and eventually the movements become second nature.

The rest of the game is spent on foot. From here you are asked to get involved in mini-games, challenges and more, but for the most part, you’ll be kicking ass. After a rather lengthy introduction to the game, Gabriel learns the power of Will. Much like the horse controls, combat is also a joy to play. This is mainly due to the games insistence on calibrating the Kinect to suit you. While this can start to get on your nerves, if this is the result, it is well worth the time.

Sometimes it’s nice just to kick back and enjoy the ride.

With a flick of my hand I unleashed a bolt of energy, which proceeded to miss, and with a quick motion from my hand, I redirected it into my foes back. Incoming attacks were no problem, with my arm coming across my chest like a shield, I deflected shots back upon my enemies. This is what the Star Wars Kinect game should have been like. Never have I a felt more like a Jedi. You even have a force push and pull, allowing you to manipulate enemies and the environment and, I can’t stress this enough, it works!

The first thing that will strike you about Fable: The Journey is not the controls, but the high production value. This isn’t a cheap Kinect game that Lionhead just pumped out. One thing you have to give the Fable games is that they always showed imagination with vast, rich locations and excellent character design. Perhaps this is why, when the games ultimately revealed their flaws, it was that much more heartbreaking.

Gabriel and the world around him have been carefully crafted and it shows. With a name like The Journey it was vital that “the journey” be a character unto itself. The world needed to be as engaging as the people traveling through it. From rocky mountains in the rain to lush fields and forest in the blinding sun, there is always something to see. Keep your eyes open and you might even spot some familiar locations and references to previous titles.

Along the road you will meet all kinds of folk, all with that bungling Fable charm. Once again the voice acting is top notch and, as expected, Zoë Wanamaker returns to reprise her role as Theresa. Jeff Breton does a superb job in the role of Gabriel, expressing the young hero’s reluctance while still expressing his focus and strength. With the wrong voice actor Gabriel could have come across as very whiny.

Don’t you just hate it when some flame breathing monster destroys a nice day out?

The world and story are both engaging and entertaining to be involved in. Without over doing it, the game instills in you the profound relationship Gabriel has with Seren, while at the same time making you deeply afraid of Theresa and questioning her classification under “good guy”. It’s not going to win any awards, but Fable: The Journey does exactly what it says on the tin and see’s you taking a journey physically and as a character. It’s a coming of age story, with badass magic.

“It can’t be all roses and parades for a Fable game,” I hear you cry, and true enough, this adventure does have its flaws.

First and foremost, if you don’t like Kinect/motion control games, this is not going to change your mind. This is not the reinvention of the wheel, simply someone finally achieving what seemed impossible and created a round one. The game may play brilliantly for what it is, but it comes with all the flaws that other motion control games come with, most notably the slow burn in your arms after a couple of hours.

This isn’t the kind of game you are going to complete in one sitting. While not exasperatingly long, there is only so much waving of the arms a person can do. Even the game suggests you take a break every so often. It was only after I had my face smashed in several times while attempting to hold my arm out to pause, that I discovered that shouting “Xbox Pause” works in game. Would have been nice to know that earlier. Thanks game.

The game does include an XP system, which involves, once again, the collection of different colored orbs. This experience can be spent to upgrade your character or horse with obvious bonuses and benefits. The problem is that collecting XP on horseback is a pain in the ass. Different colored orbs have to be collected at different speeds, which would be fine, if overshooting while riding wasn’t so easy to do. While the controls work, fine detail isn’t exactly the Kinect’s strong point and with something as precious as XP on the line, this can become frustrating quickly.

Adding your own sound effects of “pew pew pew” makes the whole experience that little more awesome.

Fable: The Journey also has abandonment issues. If anything even considers crossing in front of your TV, the game shoots off to a pause menu where reactivating the sensor by holding your arm up must be done. In a house like my own where others in the room will have to pass the TV to get to another room, this initially understandable function becomes rage inducing.

For some the game may get a bit tiresome too. The developers have done their best to mix things up with optional side quests, mini games and a constant shift between riding and combat, but ultimately there isn’t much depth to the gameplay. This is to be expected with an on the rails title, but it won’t be to everyone’s taste.

The truth is, if you can see past the flaws, there is an excellent experience to be had here, both as a game and as a piece of technological evolution. This is the first title I have seen produce the quality out of the Kinect that Microsoft promised and in itself that is an exciting thing to me. Fable: The Journey shows it can be done, and as an in-house developer, I am sure Microsoft will be getting Lionhead to share their experience with others.

Combining the production quality of a Fable game with a pre-scripted series of events has produced a truly unique title. Fable: The Journey seems to have defied expectations and brought to the table everything it needed to. The visuals are stunning, the soundtrack is (as always) superb, the voice acting spot on, and the story enjoyable to the credit sequence starts to roll.

A lot of thought and effort have gone into this game. Perhaps with the departure of Peter Molyneux from Lionhead studios, realistic goals were set and achieved, rather than the scatter gun approach that previous Lionhead games have had in the past. I am a fan of previous Fable games (and Black and White), but in an effort to do everything they tended to never reach excellence in any one place, and usually have serious flaws in others. Fable: The Journey is a much more focused experience and benefits from it.

This game was provided by the publisher for review purposes on Xbox 360. The game was played for roughly 8 hours and was completed. The game contains a single player mode only.

Fable: The Journey Review

By Yousif A.

Ever wanted to ride a horse by swinging your arms wildly in your front room, but were afraid without visual aid you would look like a loon? Now there is a game for you!