Fable Heroes, was, at first a game I went into with a very negative tone. On the one hand, they were totally butchering Fable. “What are those? Dolls?” I’d say with a terribly negative tone, but, on the other hand, it looked like a great combination between Mario Party and Castle Crashers. Turns out, the other hand was the right one.
Fable Heroes is Lionhead’s latest game, releasing on Xbox Live as the third game in Microsoft’s Arcade NEXT promotion. With Trials Evolution scoring extremely high and Bloodforge scoring incredibly low, it was impossible to tell what quality Fable Heroes would be.
Heroes is the first major departure from the typical Fable series, with the player taking control of a puppet of a character from the Fable universe. Almost every major character from the series is available to unlock, with the Hero, Garth, Hammer, and Lucien. Characters are unlocked by earning achievements and purchased from the skill board.
Throughout each level you’ll fight through different sections of well known Fable areas killing your typical enemies – clockworks, hollow men, giant flame throwing chickens – and pick up coins. At the end of each level you can pick one of two locations to go to, one always leading to a huge final boss and the other leading to a quick and fun mini game that will get you a few thousand coins. There’s almost no way to tell which is which, so it’s always somewhat random. Littered throughout each map are treasure chests that change the opener in a positive or negative way such as growing huge, shrinking, going invisible, or even becoming disguised as a plush Hobbe so the enemies will leave you alone while you rip them to bits.
After each level your total gold is tallied and you’re given a certain amount of dice based on how much gold you’ve earned. Your characters then walk around a monopoly-esque skill board where you’ll purchase new skills and abilities for your character as well as any AI characters you’re playing with instead of just picking from huge lists like in some other games.
I was extremely surprised with how fun Fable Heroes was. The entire time I was engrossed as I stomped the baddies and
beat up the bad-dudes, crushed the pots and collected the coins. What is truly best about Fable Heroes though, is the replay ability. I the four player local and online co-op wasn’t enough, after completing the games original missions you’re given a “dark Albion” to play through. This dark world is a complete replica of the original game but all the enemies seem tougher and are swapped out with different variations. This doubles the lifespan of the game for those who don’t want to play online and quadruples it for those who do.
The other area Heroes surprised me in was with its stellar looking graphics which gave off a playful look but still amazing in high definition as well as the music in Fable Heroes which was cute and quirky just like that of a Mario Party game but not annoying in any way.
When all is said and done Fable Heroes doesn’t disappoint. While putting an interesting spin on the Xbox Live classic Castle Crashers and throwing in the Fable Characters we all know and love, Fable heroes does a great job. If you haven’t picked up Castle Crashers at this point then your best bet is to skip it and pick up the delightful Fable Heroes, anyone looking to buy the upcoming Kinect title Fable: The Journey should also pick up Fable Heroes, as you can transfer gold between the two when it releases.
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The only concern I had about the game was the saving feature. My husband and I love the gameplay and after playing through the whole local level, it said you have unlocked the dark Albion. Well at that point we needed a break, so we exited the game. I thought then that when we went back we would have the option of playing that game board, but then I couldn’t find the option to do that. I was wondering if you knew how to do that? Of do you have to play the whole game board in regular mode just to play the dark ablion path?
I got this game and it’s a lot of fun for the family on a Friday night. I was disappointed with the magic-user dude at first, but then I began owning everything before anyone else could even get to the enemy hordes. Good fun!
I first thought “oh god, what the fuck are Lionhead Studios doing… First they plan “Fable the Journey” or some shit, now they’ve got puppets…” But i downloaded it from the arcade as a trial and its really awesome, no storyline, but just a fun little 4 player co-op game!
DUUUDE, This looks hot!