I don't play many video games but every once in a while I'll find one that really catches my fancy. Fable II is one of them. First of all, it puts me into a fantasy world of magic & sword fighting, which is right up my ally. The storyline is fairly interesting. The graphics are good & fun to watch & the scenery is beautiful, at times.

You can chose whether to play as a male or female. You start out as a child, then the story skips ahead about 10 years to adulthood, when you start your quest. One fun aspect is that you have a pet dog that travels with you on your journeys. He finds treasures for you, warns you of danger, & even finishes off your enemies. I'm sure some players will find him annoying but I liked it.

Your character is somewhat customizable. You can change your hairstyle, hair color, & wardrobe & add facial hair or makeup. You can have two weapons equipped at a time, a melee weapon (cutlass, katana, longsword, axe, cleaver, hammer, or mace) & a ranged weapon (light crossbow, heavy crossbow, repeater crossbow, clockwork rifle/pistol, blunderbuss, turret rifle, flintlock pistol, etc).

In the game, magic is referred to as "Will." There are 8 spells you can learn. As you gain experience, your spells become more powerful. After playing it through once, I decided I really only needed one spell. It gets a little confusing during a battle when you have multiple spells. So, the next time I played it through, I only learned the Inferno (fireball) spell.

There are a series of expressions for you to learn with which you interact with the villagers. Some expressions include laughing, dancing, growling, & seducing (I was a little surpised when I discovered condoms in the game). If you get villagers to like you enough, they will give you gifts & even fall in love with you.

You can get married & have a family or, if you find a willing villager, just have a one night stand (but make sure to use a condom if you don't want a STD or babies).

You can purchase almost any house or store in the game & chose to rent them out for profit or live there. Buying better furniture will improve the property's value. You can make a fortune in rent if you have enough property. There are also jobs (woodcutter, bartender, blacksmith, bounty hunter) that help you earn gold. As you improve, the jobs become more difficult but you also earn more gold.

You can play with two players but the second player cannot play with their own character (unless you're playing online). I had a free trial for Xbox Live, so I was able to play online, which isn't much different. Other players are represented by a floating orb with their gamertag & avatar picture. I'm sure it's probably more fun if you have friends that are playing but I didn't, so it was mostly annoying. People trying to sell/buy weapons or beg money from you. Sometimes they are helpful, or trying to be helpful.

Overall, it's a pretty fun game but not necessarily for kids.

I bought Fable 2 as a Christmas gift for my 14-year-old god-daughter, who enjoys fantasy games. I, too, enjoy fantasy RPGs, but didn't think I'd get into Fable 2 as I prefer more "serious" games. Sitting with her and watching her play, I was captured by the beauty of the landscape, the interesting storyline, the well-choreographed combat graphics, and the distinctly British humor that permeates the game. I started to play just to mess around a bit, and ended up getting caught up in it and playing the game all the way through (a couple of times).

Fable 2 is not as "open" as Elder Scrolls: Oblivion--you can't just wander anywhere you want on a map, anytime you want. There are cut scenes and and scripted in-game scenes that interrupt gameplay to forward the story. This is fine, but sometimes I found myself wanting to be able to skip through the dialog (particularly after the first play through). However, this less-than-fully-open approach allows Fable 2 to deliver a much more cohesive story, and the lack of complete openness isn't really a big limitation. There is still plenty of free space to explore, and flexibility in where you go, and when. The biggest criticism I have is that, if you replay the game, there is a very long tutorial-esque opening which is mostly story and little interaction, and the interaction that does take place is mundane and time-consuming (especially after the first play through; it takes about 30 minutes to get through it). I definitely would like to see a way to skip through such an opening in the next episode of Fable.

This is not a "difficult" or particularly challenging game to play. Learning to be effective in combat is easy, as is accumulating wealth in order to afford the things you need and want. It's the beautiful world and interesting story than make this game a thumbs-up. These, and a lot of quirky humor and novel details (like being able to belch, fart and do other things that inspire a reaction from NPCs nearby, have sex and start families, and if you so desire, turn the "safety" off and rampage through what would normally be a "friendly" area--earning an evil reputation and appearance should you do so).

Fable 2 was a pleasant surprise and I'd recommend it to those who enjoy the softer side of fantasy RPG games. I'm looking forward to the next installation. Delivery was on time even during the holiday season, and the DVD arrived in perfect condition.

This is a fantastic game for young and older gamers - the story is full of depth and mystery, the lands are detailed and challenging, your decisions make a huge difference in the future and it is a rare thing these days where you have to deal with your decisions. The way you play will affect your appearance and the world around you in very dramatic ways. Angel or Devil you will reap what you sow.
You start as a child and become involved in a far reaching plot by Lucien, years pass and you continue your adventure in the world you helped change (for good or bad), events unfold and you again skip into the future once again experiencing the aftermath of your own choices. The story ends a little abruptly but there are so many things to do even after the story arc ends that you will be playing this game for months.
For the price you can't find many deals that will keep you engaged and entertained for nearly as long as Fable 2 will. The Downloadable Content is worth the extra MSPoints to enrich the already beautiful scope of this game.