Fable 2 Non-Gamer Review

Fable 2 - Gameplay

There is a lot of fighting in Fable 2, which you have probably guessed seeing as it’s an action game. But what is the fighting like? I'm sure that is the question you really want answered.

Well, I enjoyed the fighting and find that I can do it fairly well for someone new to this type of gaming, although I'm not sure if that’s a positive or a negative.

For the experienced gamers out there, you may find it boring or even frustrating because it is possible to mash any old keys and manage to (somehow) win the fight. But if you are new to gaming or, like me, not very good at it then you will find a strange sense of satisfaction when you win a fight knowing that even though you were screaming enthusiasm at the screen, you had no idea what you were doing.

This is the way that fighting in Fable 2 works; you start off with two weapons, a rusty old sword and a crossbow. But don't worry because you can buy lots of different weapons from traders if you earn the money. The more you fight, the more experienced you become at fighting, and with experience points you can buy more abilities in the form of Skill, Will and Strength.


Making yourself good at Skill makes your fighting more dexterous, accurate and speedy. It can make you better at shooting, or blocking attacks, or give you different techniques.

Will is what I personally think is the best of the three though. With Will, it is possible to get a number of different spells; from time control to inferno and even raising dead bodies to fight on your side! Without some of these spells I wouldn't have managed a single proper fight because they are very strong and easy to use. But be careful – getting better at spells is addictive and you will soon find yourself refusing to stop playing until you have mastered just five more spells!

Finally, Strength determines how good Sparrow is physically. It comes in three forms; Physique, Toughness and Brutal. Brutal is a collection of different ways to use your weapons, Physique is how strong you are and helps you do more damage, while also making you faster. And finally, Toughness is your overall health - the tougher you are, the more resilient you are to blows and attacks.


When you fight, it also changes your appearance. The more you use magic spells, the more glowing blue marks appear on your body. Also, the more times you get hit in combat, the more nasty scars you get, making you less attractive to villagers.

I really liked the fighting in Fable 2. I thought that the spells gave it enough variation to make it interesting, but there wasn't so many of them that it was confusing. I would have liked there to be an easy way to switch from spell to spell, and if there was an easier way, I would have liked that way to have been made clearer. I didn’t really want to spend time reading all the manual and the introduction wasn’t very clear about doing that.

There are lots of opportunities to gain experience by fighting in Fable 2 as there is always somebody to fight. Quests often involve a lot of combat, but even on your travels you come across bandits and giant spider things who are just standing around. I wasn't best pleased with all these little fights because I thought that there was too many bandits ready to attack you at every corner. Sometimes I just wanted to get somewhere without spending ten minutes fighting before I even arrived at the destination of my quest!