Home Gaming E3 2014 – Being bad is oh so good in Fable Legends

E3 2014 – Being bad is oh so good in Fable Legends

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fable-legends

Fable has always been a franchise that has never been as good as it could have been. Overpromised features and watered down gameplay saw to that, but the franchise is now entering a new age at Microsoft. And for the first time in quite a while, I found myself enjoying a Fable title.

Much like every other big game announced at E3 this year, the big hook for Fable Legends was on co-op action. On the surface, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Four adventurers, plenty of monsters and a few health potions to keep your party alive sound pretty decent. Decent, but not exceptional.

What actually made Fable Legends one of the biggest surprises at E3 however, was the addition of a tactical element where a fifth player could grab a controller and assume the role of a villain who could torment the heroes.

That fifth dastardly player (This handsome bastard in the hands-on demo that we got to try out in this case) gets a top down view reminiscent of classic strategy games and can control his troops in real-time while the heroes battle it out. As Lionhead explained to me, my goal was to essentially keep chucking minions at the players until they ran out of health and were down for the count. In other words, Zapp Brannigan tactics.

One thing that was stressed to me however, was that Lionhead wanted to to make the control scheme as intuitive as possible. And their efforts have paid off. Each face button controls a specific class of minion, while holding in the right trigger allowed to me to initiate special attacks on the heroes.

It felt simple, became second nature quickly enough and it was rather satisfying to hear one of the journalists behind me curse my name as he went down to another Ogre poison fart attack when I controlled the battlefield and cordoned him off from his allies. I could throw down smoke bombs, send in stealth minions and lay down mortar fire, while the screens behind me exploded with my actions and more cursing.

It’s a remarkably simple yet addictive system. And if this is the direction that Fable is going in now, then I’d gladly want to play more.

best-E3

Last Updated: June 17, 2014

29 Comments

  1. Good to know it’s looking better than the boredom that was Fable 3.

    Reply

  2. Badass Eyepatch Man

    June 17, 2014 at 10:07

    So….this is basically a psuedo Mario chase from Nintendo Land….Nintendo, as always, doing things before they’re cool

    Reply

    • DarthZA

      June 17, 2014 at 10:14

      Yes, in the same way The Last of Us is a psuedo The Lost Vikings…

      Reply

      • Badass Eyepatch Man

        June 17, 2014 at 10:15

        I have no idea how that comparison works

        Reply

        • DarthZA

          June 17, 2014 at 10:36

          The similarities between Mario and Fable are that someone is controlling the bad guy. Mario chase has just as much in common with it as it does with Evolve. They’re completely different games, even their genres are different. The Lost Vikings, you have to get across the world, sometimes having to rely on stealth, sometimes on combat, while protecting your allies. Almost nothing in comparison at all, just like with your comparison.

          Reply

          • Badass Eyepatch Man

            June 17, 2014 at 10:38

            Fifth player getting a top down view of the field where the other players are competing in?………Yeah, no similarities at all then

          • DarthZA

            June 17, 2014 at 10:57

            That is one similarity. One. The Last of Us is in third person, just like God of War.

          • Badass Eyepatch Man

            June 17, 2014 at 11:01

            It’s a big hook for the game, being touted as a huge feature…Which was done by Mario Chase already. A major feature is not comparable to a viewpoint

          • DarthZA

            June 17, 2014 at 11:11

            In Mario Chase, the person using the Gamepad can only run. Literally, the face buttons do nothing. The other people can run and tackle, and they’re trying to catch you. You are comparing a common viewpoint, and not a major feature. The major feature that this game has is not shared with Mario Chase.

          • Badass Eyepatch Man

            June 17, 2014 at 11:22

            Fair enough fair enough mister! True, yes the fifth player can just run. but it’s the fact that there is a fifth player acting as an influential component (in a top down view) to the gameplay that I’m basing my comparison on, but yes, you make a fair point and I concede!! lol

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      June 17, 2014 at 10:19

      So they’re the hipsters of the console wars.

      Reply

      • Badass Eyepatch Man

        June 17, 2014 at 10:20

        Cafe latte and all

        Reply

      • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

        June 17, 2014 at 10:21

        But hipsters don’t create, they merely copy and then critique everything else…. :/

        Reply

  3. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    June 17, 2014 at 10:08

    Ugh… Fable.. Foible.. Mehble… As someone who marginally enjoyed Fable 1 (regardless of all it’s missteps), and then suffering through the mediocre Fable 2 and eventually the really shit and soulless Fable 3 (ugh), I can only say… “Piss Off Lionhead”

    Reply

    • The D

      June 17, 2014 at 10:30

      It’s genuinely better IF you have a group of friends to play with. Think Left 4 Dead with swords and sorcery and some bastard behind the scenes making your life hell.

      Reply

      • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

        June 17, 2014 at 10:34

        I don;t know man, I’ve been burnt by Fable far too many times, so I’m going to play it safe, and stick with Borderlands the Pre-Sequel and Destiny (for my late 2014 and early 2015 co-op brofist pyjama-party gaming).

        Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        June 17, 2014 at 10:35

        “Think Left 4 Dead with swords and sorcery and some bastard behind the scenes making your life hell.”

        That sounds more like my job, but without the swords.

        Reply

      • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

        June 17, 2014 at 10:39

        By the way, I finally killed Terramorphous! Muahahaha!

        Reply

  4. Rince&exhale

    June 17, 2014 at 10:21

    Is it me or does it seem that every developer is making us want to play coop? What happened to single player? Witcher 3 I look forward to you…

    Reply

    • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

      June 17, 2014 at 10:22

      As an anti-social gamer, I just want to play alone in my man-cave, surrounded by a packets of doritos and empty bottles of mountain dew.

      Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      June 17, 2014 at 10:25

      We must all be connected all the time to everyone & available at an instants notice while constantly getting updates on everything. Online is the future O_O

      Reply

      • Ryanza

        June 17, 2014 at 10:27

        NSA mission statement?

        Reply

      • Rince&exhale

        June 17, 2014 at 10:28

        Resistance is futile?

        Reply

    • ToshZA

      June 17, 2014 at 14:36

      Amen. And shit.

      Reply

  5. Xcalibersa

    June 17, 2014 at 10:31

    No thanks.

    Reply

  6. Pieter Kruger

    June 17, 2014 at 10:56

    Superb! ????

    Reply

  7. Dutch Matrix

    June 17, 2014 at 10:58

    A good Fable game is exactly just that: A fable…

    Reply

  8. Kensei Seraph

    June 17, 2014 at 11:19

    It’s always fun hearing people cursing your name.

    Reply

  9. Kromas

    June 17, 2014 at 12:03

    Nice Futurama reference. While using his tactic will you also be wearing velour? 😛

    Reply

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