When I first stepped into the world of Albion in Fable II, I intended to do good.
This new Xbox 360 role-playing game, like its predecessor, challenges players to enter a world in which their every action affects their character's development. Killing people for fun makes you evil, but so might raising their rent. Fable II delivers on this promise much better than the first game, although the good-evil distinctions are still not especially subtle. Although some technical glitches and bad design decisions hurt the final product, this is still an excellent RPG.
My choice of the "good" path was not out of some moral obligation. I have no emotional attachments to computer-controlled characters, no matter how eloquently they deliver their prerecorded bits of dialogue. Experience with videogames that let you choose your moral code has taught me that a player's choice of good over evil has little to do with peering into their soul and everything to do with pragmatism: You usually can't explore all the little nuances of gameplay if you stray too far from the light.
Since my ultimate goal in Fable II was to become a real estate magnate, I set about doing good deeds to win over the populace. And yet, no matter how many evil beasties I vanquished, the townspeople still muttered obscenities under their breath whenever I passed by. Turns out I was charging them too much for rent, and the prices on goods at the three or four pathetic shops I owned were a bit higher than the town's average rates. What, I'm supposed to leave money on the table for these chumps?
So when I tried to buy a meat vendor's stall and he jacked up the price because he didn't like me, I snapped. All of that time spent fighting their bandits and working odd jobs, and these peasants dare call me corrupt? In a fit of blind rage, I killed him with a fireball. And when the guards arrived, I tore into them, too, carving a bloody swath through the town square before scampering out into the wilderness, sick with regret. I couldn't just load up a saved game, so this act would mar my character forever.
I knew right then that Fable II was something special.
The world of Fable II is a rich, inviting place. Though the game has its darker sections, there's an undercurrent of joy and humor that's refreshing. Strolling through towns and listening to the statements characters make is a game in and of itself, particularly if you're on the extreme ends of the good/evil spectrum.
Albion is a gorgeous place, and there are plenty of quests and jobs to complete – you can tackle as many or as few of them as you want, in any order you choose. An optional "golden trail" points you to your next destination, but will work differently for every player. Mine served as a guide to help me explore – I just went wherever the trail wasn't pointing.
There are quite a few diverse towns and regions, but you needn't wander all throughout them – there's a fast-travel option that lets you immediately zip anywhere you need to be. I'm torn as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. While I loved the feeling of roaming in a game like Oblivion, it's hard to deny that walking past the same pack of trees over and over again can become a bit boring.
It's the people of Albion that make it feel like a living, breathing world. Whether or not you're personally invested in their quality of life, you'll find yourself balancing the needs of its citizens with your own motivations. For "good" players, that means taking careful stock of the economy and injecting gold into floundering towns by way of spending sprees, improving the quality of life.
"Evil" players, try suiting up in your most sinister garb and strolling through a village, striking fear into passersby and imposing your will on the weak. The townsfolk will hate you and the economy will suffer. If you're an outlaw with a bad reputation, this is an excellent tactic for swooping in and buying property on the cheap.
There is an impressive amount of depth here, and Fable II makes a strong attempt at wrapping it all in a user-friendly atmosphere. The problem is that the game's systems are utterly transparent. Within an hour or so of play, you're likely to have a complete grasp on how the binary reward/punishment system works.
Every action you take affects your ranking on two charts: Good versus Evil, and Purity versus Corruption. Generous vegetarians are pure, while thieves who eat a lot of meat will soon find themselves sprouting horns. There are a few more gauges that measure how you interact with individual people in town, whether they like you or hate you. Once you get the hang of these, you'll know how to interact with people in a way that furthers your gameplay objectives.
You can use a whole variety of bodily "expressions" to communicate. These seem at first to be a whimsical way to inject your own creativity into the world, but soon become a means to an end. Need a spouse? Find a male or female who isn't terrified of you, check their stats to see what sort of gifts and expressions they like, and proceed to act like an idiot in front of them until they love you enough to accept a proposal.
But Fable II isn't all cold and calculating. There's also the dog.
Your character has a constant companion, a dog that follows you, adventures with you, and loves you unconditionally. While the humans in the game often feel like easily manipulated robots, the dog feels like a dog. He'll bound alongside you with palpable excitement as you explore. Whenever we explored dark caves and he became scared, I dashed over to comfort him, out of pure instinct. And when the occasional villager kicked him out of spite or malice ... well, let's just say the survivors still speak of my fury in hushed tones.
Your dog's appearance will change alongside yours, but his personality does not. The townspeople reviled my evil dog's dark coat and sinister red eyes, but he remained the jovial and exuberant yin to my genocidal yang. I'm convinced that this is directly related to how he was raised: I showered him with praise and treats, frequently played fetch and taught him all sorts of tricks. I'll probably never be sure, though, as I haven't had the heart to use the "Punish" option on my dog, and probably never will.
For a game that excels at setting up such an immersive atmosphere, Fable II's shoddy interface is a bit devastating. Much of the problem lies with a context-sensitive system that enjoys making decisions for you, guessing what it is you're trying to look at or deciding what item you'd like to use.
This second issue is a serious technical problem. For whatever reason, Fable II consistently stutters and hangs while you're scrolling through the menus. What should be a simple matter of handing a gift to a potential mate becomes a slog into Menu Hell.
You can't assign items to a particular button for fast use in combat. Instead, the game suggests an object for you to use, which usually isn't the one you were hoping for. Do you settle for that piece of fish when you wanted a potion, or fire up the inventory and deal with the choppy scrolling and poorly organized interface?
That's not the end of Fable II's technical issues. On a few occasions the game froze completely, usually after I had fast-traveled from one location to another, or left me inextricably stuck inside a wall.
Despite these technical troubles, Fable II remains a captivating experience. There's a real opportunity to direct your own narrative, whether you just want to slog through the story and get cool gear or shape the entire world as you see fit. And it comes close to succeeding, too.
Nevertheless, in an industry that spends so much time going for scripted cinematics and that Hollywood dynamic, a game where a player's actions can have real consequences is a step in the right direction.
Images courtesy Microsoft
WIRED Vibrant atmosphere, deep gameplay, pick-up-and-play design
TIRED Technical difficulties, iffy targeting system, character interactions not very subtle
$60, Lionhead Studios
Rating: 
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