Introduction
There’s a lot I don’t like about the 40k RPGs. The fact that they’re split across several books, classes and levels instead of the career approach of WFRP, the extremely tight and constricting focus/construction of the games. That said, there’s a lot to like as well. Having waited for a 40K RPG since the original Rogue Trader hardback wargame came out and being steeped in the influences that lead to its creation (primarily British fantasy/SF art, Moorcock and 2000AD) I love the 40k universe like no other and, despite not having been involved in the wargame hobby for some years, I seem to have assimilated the newer stuff (Dark Eldar, Tau, Necrons) by sheer gaming osmosis.

Deathwatch ‘completes’ the series of three books and three settings for the 40k RPG, each in ascending order of sheer munchkinism being Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader and Deathwatch.

In Deathwatch you get to play Space Marines.

Mwahahahahahahaha!

Background
It’s the grimdark future of the grimdark 41st millenium, it’s grim and dark and there is only war, grimdark war on a thousand grimdark fronts against the grimdark alien threat. You’re part of the Imperium of man, which is still pretty grim and dark but not quite as grim and dark as being the slave of orks, the torture-porn of Dark Eldar or being twisted into a spiky-death ball by the ruinous powers of chaos.

Honestly, the commie-pinko-liberal Tau are looking pretty good right now, but then most imperial serfs don’t know about them.

In this iteration of the game you’re Space Marines, knights of the Imperium, augmented supersoldiers of legend. Members of one of a thousand chapters, each of akipedia thousand marines, the elite of elite, the matchless warriors of the Empire of Man and, what’s more, your characterskipedia are members of the Deathwatch, an even more elite cadre drawn from the best of all the chapters and unleashed upon the threat of the alien.

The best way to think of Deathwatch is to think of the player group as a special forces unit, sent wherever the action is hottest to do the tasks that others – even other space marines – cannot be trusted with. It’s hard to do an investigative game when you’re an eight-foot tall, power-armour clad, scripture-spewing fanatic but with an ‘impossible mission’ slant you can do a pretty wide variety of things.

Mechanics
The mechanics are the same as with the other games in the series, d10s are used and most rolls are percentile (save damage). You can save your arse and modify your rolls with Fate Points. Marines are not normal in the slightest and are suitably boosted and powerful with rules that reflect all their implants and their superhuman status, with weapons to match.

Given the emphasis on unit action there are rules for the group to act as a team, a ‘Squad Mode’ as well as a ‘Solo mode’ with different benefits and tactical options. There are also rules for engaging a ‘horde’ so that your unit of marines can mow down large numbers of lesser enemies in a suitable fashion.

You get a good number of enemies as well, with a particular emphasis on the Tyrannids. Rounded out with the material in the other books in the series you have a half decent bestiary though, personally, I feel that each book on its own is a little scant in the enemy stakes.

Atmosphere
The writing and quotations do a good job of setting the atmosphere and the briefings on the situations and war-fronts in the sector. It does feel a little too shiny though, where I feel that there should be a more battered and cathedral-like, ecclesiastical feel to the presentation. Perhaps that’s my old-school sensibilities coming through though, since the ecclesiarchy and their troops are very much separated from the other parts of the Imperium now. Otherwise, one thing 40k has always had going for it has been atmosphere, drawing on a rich geek-culture strain of ideas that are found across many forms of British fiction.

Artwork
As mentioned above I think that the presentation could have been a bit more atmospheric but the Space Marines are an iconic image and there’s plenty of appropriate imagery, heraldry and various aliens being punched in the head and shot to keep you happy. My printing looks a little muddy in the colour images and they look a little fuzzy but that and the overal thematic choice are my only – mild – complains.

I do miss the old pointy-nose power armour though.

Conclusion
The circle is complete and we end on a high, supersoldier special-operations. Military SF is easy to make up adventures and missions for and the hook is a simple ‘You’re ordered to…’ which can be convenient for a GM but, like all the 40k RPGs I can’t help but feel this a little tight-focussed though, of all of them, it has the best excuse.

On the plus side:

• Space Marines that feel like the dangerous adonai they should be.
• Worthy adversaries.
• Completes the game line.

On the minus side:

• You really need all three books for a ‘complete’ game. Especially if you want to do something off the wall like space pirates in the same setting.
• The design/art could have worked harder to promote the ascetic/religious warrior aesthetic.
• Hard to mingle marines in with existing groups unless they’re very experienced.

Score
Style: 3
Substance: 5
Overall: 4

Introduction
This was a bit of a disappointing book. It may be my mind playing tricks on me but I seem to remember Dark Sun having a lot more naturaHaving not so long ago having gotten through praising Monster Manual 2 for making all the monsters at least look scary I’m afraid to report that some of the ones in this book end up looking either ‘meh’, or ‘ridiculous’. Not flumph-scale ridiculous, but really not great. This is a shame as the wildlife of Athas is meant to be some scary-ass stuff, terrifying and dangerous. Not silly. Somehow that isn’t conveyed by this book and topping out at 150 pages, somehow it feels a lot thinner.

Background
As a Monster Manual by any other name, the Creature Catalogue only contains a couple of paragraphs of information on most creatures but it does also contain a section on ‘Personages’. This goes into more detail on the various movers shakers and interesting folk of Athas and fleshes out some meat on the bones of what was covered in the main setting book. While this is a good thing there can be a tendency for statted figures to end up just being another thing to kill, rather than a villain per se. It may have been better – in this instance – to forego the background data and include more monsters as the personality entries take up 2-3 times the space of a regular monster entry.

A few of the entries are Athasian spins on existing critters from the Monster Manuals and they’re presented complete here – which I’m in two minds about. Again, space could have been saved for new creatures by leaving these out or noting the differences, but it’s nice – for once – that they’re not trying to get you to buy another book and that everything’s there.

Mechanics
The monsters use the newer stat block from MM3 – my first encounter with it – and I can’t say as I see that much difference, all things considered, in terms of clarity or ease of use. In addition to the standard critters we get rules for customising other creatures to fit Athas – an example being given is a silt-shark – and a number of themes for creatures such as those bred to fight in the arena or infused with elemental power. The book wraps up with some fantastical terrain, unique to Athas, which makes for some colourful encounters, especially the arena ones which are suitably bloody and delicious.

Atmosphere
Atmosphere is pretty hit and miss in this book, the artwork is a bit of a culprit for that but what amounts to a list of monsters can’t help but be a little dry. It’s the nature of the beast to be such. This makes the artwork all the more important and, as I’ll cover in the next section, it falls a bit short.

Artwork
Having not so long ago having gotten through praising Monster Manual 2 for making all the monsters at least look scary I’m afraid to report that some of the ones in this book end up looking either ‘meh’, or ‘ridiculous’. Not flumph-scale ridiculous, but really not great. This is a shame as the wildlife of Athas is meant to be some scary-ass stuff, terrifying and dangerous. Not silly.

On the ridiculous side we have the Belgoi, the Cilops and the Mekilot.

On the ‘meh’ side we have the Anakore, Braxat and Zombie.

Genuinely fearsome looking, fortunately, we have the Chathrang, Dune Reaper and Megapede.

Conclusion
A bit of an essential if you’re intending to run some Athasian games but even so, it’s a bit disappointing. I remember Athas being a lot scarier and deadlier and too much of what we have here feels familiar and/or looks silly and that’s a bit of a let down having gotten so excited over Dark Sun.

On the plus side:

• Nice creature modifiers/themes.
• Fantastical terrain/hazards are interesting.
• Athasian essentials covered.

On the minus side:

• Mixed bag on the art side.
• Strange choices of what to include.
• Feels ‘light’ on material, despite the size.

Score
Style: 3
Substance: 4
Overall: 3.5

Introduction
I remain largely unconvinced of 4e’s worth for playing your more usual fantasy settings. It seems too high powered and kitchen-sink to me. When it comes to certain, specific settings however I can see it working much better, though for a couple of different reasons. 4e works better with Eberron and – in theory – Planescape because of the inherent gonzo and high-power qualities of those settings. It, theoretically, works for Dark Sun because 4e’s emphasis on personal training and powers suits a material-scarce setting where the individual and their ability has more importance. To that extent, the sheer appeal of Dark Sun has ‘turned me on’ to 4e in a way the previously existing material hasn’t.

Of course, that may just be nostalgia speaking.

Background
The book feels more like a primer than a full setting guide. It just doesn’t feel like it goes into remotely the amount of depth – overall – that a setting book necessarily should. I feel it could have done with being about fifty to a hundred pages longer or could have left out some of the mechanics (epic destinies and alternate class fittings) to make more room for going into the background.

While there’s bits and pieces of information about the background mixed in with the stats and other material the initial introductory guide to Athas is only 17 pages out of some 220 and feels a bit inadequete. I’m a whore for setting information though and while the overall information is fairly scant there’s plenty of information that’s more specific, going into the Atlas of Athas – the world of Dark Sun. Everything is covered, so there’s a lot of information, but not a lot is really gone into in depth.

I’m not sure there’s enough here to get a truly Athasian feel if you hadn’t played Dark Sun in a previous edition and while what is here was enough to – finally – get me excited about 4e this book feels a bit too much like a ‘re-skin’ of the basic game, particularly when it comes to crowbarring in some of the races that didn’t exist in the setting beforehand, especially Dragonborn and Eladrin.

Mechanics
Where you’re not short-changed is in rules. You have Athasian interpretations and re-jigs of all the basic races (Half-giants are now goliaths, which dovetails nicely), new races in the form of the excellent Thri-Keen and the hardy Mul, racial paragon paths, wild talents for latent psychics, new rituals, new epic destinies, Athasian weapons and environmental hazards. New ground is covered with ‘themes’, which allow you to tailor a character a bit further to a more specific, customised end. Themes might be such things as ‘Desert Trader’ or ‘Gladiator’ and just give you a few extra customisation options.

The rules for magic defilement feel a little weak to me, it’s hard to imagine a whole world being reduced to crap based on the rules as applied but I suppose the effect would have to be fairly weak or it would throw off the whole balance aspect of 4e. Still, it’s a real shame.

It would have been nice to have at least a few themed monsters in the setting book, but these are instead hived off into Dark Sun’s own mini Monster Manual.

Atmosphere
The book is presented almost entirely in the standard layout for 4e books and this is missing a trick in making the Dark Sun material stand out and be its own thing. The adventure section – something I generally find to be a waste in books such as these – is the only part that really deviates from the standard presentation and then only in terms of the page border. This is missing a trick in demonstrating and conveying the desolation and danger of Athas. While most of the books in the 4e line are fairly generic, the world books shouldn’t be and making them the same as the rest doesn’t help convey their uniqueness.

The writing is crisp but a little too swift to truly convey the atmosphere and while the maps and art are good they feel a bit too colourful and ‘clean’ for Athas’ savage landscape of danger and survival. It lacks some of the vital ‘edge’ and semi-fetishistic danger that Brom’s involvement in the original had. It’s just not quite as sexy.

Artwork
The art is good but, outside of the page-and-a-half or half-page illustrations it can’t help but fall short of Brom’s work on the original. Doubtless there’s not quite the money to be made in TTRPGs any more, which is why such a partnership between a high profile artist and a game line can’t be done any more, but it would definitely have been well served by putting another house artist with a strong vision more at the forefront of the game’s development, integral to it rather than illustrating afterwards. Of course, this stemming in large part from Brom’s original vision, I doubt that many artists would want to step into his shoes.

Conclusion
This is the book and the setting that finally turned me on to wanting to play 4e and it deserves kudosfor that, however I’m not going to gloss over its flaws. If this were truly going to be a full on worldbook it needed to be about 50% bigger and a bit more complete – more like the 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms books. Elements of the new game that didn’t really need to be added in – such as dragonkin – have been and if anything, it detracts. Sometimes less is more.

On the plus side:

• It’s Athas, and an official, developed, moved-on and updated Athas.
• The atlas, while short, is complete.
• There’s a shiny map.

On the minus side:

• Not enough material.
• Not even basic baddies to kill.
• It really didn’t need dragonkin etc.

Score
Style: 4
Substance: 4
Overall: 4

Introduction
A Monster Manual is a pretty self-explanatory thing, it’s a big book of monsters which your players can then slaughter willy-nilly and loot (Unlike a Monster Manuel, which is what happens when a werewolf bites a Spanish waiter). As with the Player’s Handbooks WotC have pulled a bit of a fast one by leaving iconic monsters out of Monster Manual One and including them here, thereby creating additional ‘corebooks’ that you feel you need to get because they have things that you’re used to. Sneaky bastards.

Background
There’s a bit of background in here and a lot of what there is in the book is tied to the new 4e cosmology, such as the Shadowfell. Not that you can’t rip the monsters and enemies out of the lore and use them for something else, but it is a touch of extra wor making things fit properly into other backgrounds. The Lore entries provide you with just enough information to be getting on with, but these are no ‘ecology of’ articles.

Mechanics
These are all standard creature templates and you generally get at least a couple for each entry, reflecting the fact that the rules allow for different interpretations of the same creature. What’s missing – and would be really, really useful – is a ‘baseline’ entry for a creature that you can then add the appropriate templates and information to yourself. This means that it’s a bit of extra work to strip the information and modifiers out of an entry and then add them back in again for a different spin. It would be nice to have a DM’s monster guide with simple, baseline stats for all these creatures.

Atmosphere
This is a textbook really and the stat blocks are the important part – and take up a lot of the space. There’s not a great deal of space for atmosphere and while all the monsters are made to look proper-frightening, something that wasn’t always the case in 3rd Edition, there’s a bit of a problem in that putting several variants of the same monsters into the same illustration looks a bit too much like the opening of Charlie’s Angels (The TV series) rather than a monster illustration.

Artwork
The artwork is consistently good, more consistently good than the original corebooks in fact. Aside from the problem mentioned above the art is excellent and all the monsters look suitably dangerous and nasty. They look like they could eat your face.

Conclusion
It’s a bit of a gyp spreading iconic monsters across books, but it’s nice to complete one’s collection with beholders, bullywugs and metal dragons.

On the plus side:

• So that’s where those iconic monsters went!
• Good variety.
• Scary lookin’

On the minus side:

• I want to make up my own from basic versions, damn it.
• Good morning Charlie!
• Put the old stuff in one volume and show me something NEW!

Score
Style: 4
Substance: 3
Overall: 3.5

Introduction
Another ‘core’ rulebook but unlike PHB2 there’s really nothing in here save the monk character class that can really be called core. The races have gotten increasingly bizarre and obscure to the point where unless you’re playing a fantasy version of RIFTs or a kitchen-sink setting like Planescape, things aren’t going to make much sense. That said, this book does give you the psychic rules that people have been waiting for and addresses a huge flaw in 4e up to this point – shitty multiclassing rules.

Background
Yet again this is a fairly background-free book though, given the exotic peculiarities of the new races it can’t really be called generic. This is at the far-exotic end of crazytown in the D&D mythos and describing monks and monk powers as ‘psychic’ really grates on my nerves and – to my mind – cheapens the monk role in the same way midichlorians cheapen Jedi.

Mechanics
You get your usual list of races, classes, paragon paths and the huge number of powers for everything in a nice, brain-straining ream of little boxes. Mechanics is the meat of this book and no mistake.

Race-wise you get:

• Githzerai – Ascetic humanoids from across the planes.
• Minotaur – Great big bull-men, as close as you get to a ‘normal’ race in this book.
• Shardmind – Crystalline psychic beings.
• Wilden – Living plants and guardians of nature.

Class Wise you get:

• Ardent – A sort of combat empath, able to project emotions to inspire or confuse.
• Battlemind – A warrior with a reservoir of psychic power that they can use to enhance themselves.
• Monk – An extreme version of a Shaolin warrior, in fantasy garb.
• Psion – A powerful psionic ‘magic user’ able to use their psychic power in raw attacks and manipulations.
• Runepriest – A sort of runic warrior-priest, able to channel more specific powers through specific runic foci.
• Seeker – A primal, mystical hunter, a sort of cross between a druid and a ranger.

You also get magic items and feats all suited to these new clases and powers, ensuring that you have all the bases covered when you bring them into your game.

So far, so ‘meh’, but what makes this a really worthwhile purchase are the vastly improved multiclassing rules which are called ‘hybrid classes’ in order to prevent confusion with the existing multiclassing rules, such as they are. Essentially this is a quick and easy way of combining two classes together to make a new one.

By way of example, if I were going with my personal favourite of a Rogue/Fighter combo I could go with:

Role: Defender/Striker
Power Source: Martial
Key Abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, Constitution, Charisma.
Armour Proficiencies: Cloth & Leather.flying bears that fire lasers
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple Melee, Military Melee, Simple Ranged, Military Ranged, Shuriken, Hand Crossbow.
Bonus to Defence: +1 Fortitude, +1 Reflexes
Hit Points at First Level: 13 + Con.
Hit Points per Level Gained: 5
Healing Surges per Day: 7 + Con modifier.
Class Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Bluff, Dungeoneering, Endurance, Heal, Insight, Intimidate, Perception, Stealth, Streetwise, Thievery.
Extra Trained Skills: Two extra trained skills from the Rogue list.
Class Features: Combat Challenge (Hybrid), Sneak Attack (Hybrid).
Hybrid Talent Options:
Combat Speciality, Fighter Armour Proficiency, Fighter Combat Talent, First Strike, Rogue Combat Talent, Rogue Tactics.

Another great addition is that of skill-based powers that you can swap in for other powers that you have, giving skills a greater utility and point than they had before, which is nice.

Atmosphere
It’s a fairly dry book of rules. The artwork is mixed – see below – and the new race and class material isn’t really given enough room to go into depth or create any atmosphere, so this doesn’t really apply to this book. When it comes to powers, the nature of the new game – with everyone and their pet monkey being able to pull off wazzy powers – means that psychics no longer feel particularly special, different or interesting in their own right. I never particularly cared for the D&D approach to psionics in previous editions but in the context of the new game they’re swamped and no longer individual.

Artwork
As with PHB2 the smaller artwork feels a bit divorced from the text but the larger pieces are very good and evoke the proper atmosphere. That said, the psychic classes – which is most of them – don’t feel very psychic from their illustrations, particularly.

Conclusion
Useful for playing Dark Sun but a bit of a wash otherwise unless you’re playing a rather outre campaign.

On the plus side:

• Monks.
• Psychics
• Decent multiclass rules.

On the minus side:

• Weird races that aren’t much use to anyone, unless you’re playing World of Synnabar. I confidently predict the next PHB to contain flying laser-bears as a playable race.
• Less effort on the magical items.
• Some non-combat applications of skill powers might have been nice to broaden the game.

Score
Style: 3
Substance: 3
Overall: 3

Introduction
I’m not entirely convinced by this tactic of making practically every other book into a ‘core book’ or of spreading what many people consider to be core races and classes across multiple books. It feels like a gyp. In this case the particular races in question are gnomes and half-orcs and the classes are Barbarian, Bard, Druid and Sorcerer. There are others, to be sure, but other than an excuse to sell more books what was the reason for leaving these (and others) out of the ‘real’ core books and putting other, more esoteric things in instead?

Background
There’s no real background to be had here, though the implications of certain racial backgrounds makes the assumption of playing in one of the standard worlds. If your game world is a bit different – lower fantasy for example – then you’re going to need to leave a lot of things out or have at them with a hammer.

Mechanics
The lion’s share of the book is devoted to classes and races and their shiny new power lists, paragon paths and so forth.

For your money you get the following races in addition to those already mentioned above:

• Deva – Blue-skinned spirits bound in flesh.
• Goliath – Great big semi-giants.
• Shifter – Animalistic humans, as previously found in Eberron.

And the following classes, in addition to those mentioned before:

• Avenger – A sort of holy assassin.
• Invoker – A direct channel for godly power, almost like a sort of divine sorcerer.
• Shaman – A battle leader who invokes the forces of nature through a spirit companion.
• Warden – A sort of warrior version of the druid, a guardian of the wild places using elemental power to boost their fighting skills.

You also get some new character options for fleshing out your background based on your character’s upbringing, race and so on. Some new Feats and magical suited to the new classes and races and a few appropriate rituals. There’s nothing outstandingly new or special, the majority is simply expanding on existing material and filling in the gaps that the new races and classes create.

Atmosphere
There’s not a great deal of atmosphere to be had from a book that is mostly listings of powers and other game rules. The artwork is a bit mixed, some of it lending atmosphere and a keynote to particular powers, races or classes but much of it lacking a certain ‘spirit’.

Artwork
The artwork is all executed well but the new book layout, while easier to read, can be a bit spartan and can set the art apart from what it’s describing. The larger, more complete images are effective and atmospheric, invoking the feel of the races and classes involved (in particular) but the smaller pieces, despite being well executed, somehow fail to have any real feeling to them and feel a bit cold and separated from the material, making things a bit too clinical. This can be forgiven in equipment books but when you’re trying to excite a player about new options it would be nice to have more inspirational artwork.

Conclusion
I still think it’s a gyp putting things like gnomes and barbarians outside the main starting book and replacing them with oddities but it’s nice to actually have access to them now. There’s an eye-bleedingly large amount of powers listed which can make flipping through to find what you want a touch tricky and which defeats the otherwise clarified layout of the new books comprehensively.

On the plus side:

• Yay! The missing classes!
• Yay! The missing races!
• Yay! Shinies for the above.

On the minus side:

• Much of this should have been in the actual corebook.
• Too…many…powers…
• Some classes seem repetitious (Druid/Shaman).

Score
Style: 3
Substance: 4
Overall: 3.5

Introduction
OK, so, given that I gave 4e D&D what’s widely considered to be a ‘bad review’ why am I reviewing this and a bunch of other 4e D&D stuff? Several reasons. 1 – 4e is still semi-open and so things can be written for it, as indeed I have written a couple of things for it. 2 – I’m trying to see if there’s anything I’ve missed. 3 – It’s not irredeemably awful. 4 – I’ll forgive a hell of a lot for the sake of Dark Sun. 5 – I’ve figured a few ways around the whole needing a map thing and besides, there’s some jolly nice map things around now and, what the hell, I like playing Descent. Same thing, right? *Grin*

This is a review of Adventurer’s Vault, which is a big shiny catalogue of ‘stuff’ for adventurers to use to hit things, protect themselves from being hit, run away from things, zap things and so forth.

Background
There isn’t really any. This is about as generic as a game supplement can get. Some things may not be suitable for particular campaigns if you’ve excluded some races or are playing on a particular world – such as Athas – where magic is a little more distrusted or metal is rarer but if you’re playing ‘Points of Light’, Forgotten Realms or your own generic grab-bag setting, you’re pretty much golden.

Mechanics
For the most part this is just an application of existing rules and interpretations thereof. There are a couple of interesting new additions, most particularly rules for Alchemy, creating your own semi-mystical items with a variety of uses. If you’re running a lower magic setting these rules are a great way to bolster your heroes without giving them access to magic.

Atmosphere
There isn’t really any, this is just a book of magical equipment, though the artwork is good and makes everything look very nice, helping you picture your character using the items. I do worry, somewhat, that the ‘specialness’ of magical items is decreased in this edition as they seem to be about as ubiquitous as in the worst excesses of the previous edition – as standard.

Artwork
Very nice, mostly small but that’s all you need for equipment and it’s nice to see many of them in-use rather than just sitting there looking pretty.

Conclusion
Useful, but not particularly inspired.

On the plus side:

• Nicely illustrated.
• Shitloads of stuff.
• Useful new rules for Alchemy.

On the minus side:

• A bit dry.
• I miss random loot tables.
• Magic items end up feeling about as magic as an iPad.

Score
Style: 3
Substance: 4
Overall: 3.5

Introduction
The third in the successful line of Fable games, Fable III is Lionhead Studio’s answer to the question ‘What happens after you depose the evil king?’ Where most games would end, Fable III kicks into a higher gear and you suddenly find yourself faced with the same issues and questions that may have made the very man you deposed act like such a dick…

Story
It’s a generation or two after the events of Fable II and the Hero’s descendants are the royal family of the nation. You are the younger sibling, your older brother running the kingdom and doing it with an increasingly unsympathetic and iron-bound grip. He oppresses the masses, taxes highly and allows Reaver to work children to death in his factories – so long as he pays his dues.

This all comes to a head when he executes some protesters and rabble-rousers from the town for their temerity in demanding better working conditions and lower taxes. You end up having to be evacuated from the palace by the King’s advisor Walter and your butler, inheriting the power of the hero and becoming the figurehead of the revolutionary forces arrayed against the king.

That’s only the middle of things though, the King is being such a collossal head-end because of a threat to the existence of the Kingdom itself and, succeeding him to the throne, you now have to find a way to deal with it. Something that may require you to be as much of an arse as he was if you’re to protect the people’s lives.

Gameplay
This is another progression in Lionhead’s aim of simplifying play, reducing the amount of information on screen and giving you a more pure play experience. While I applaud the effort there’s a reason that some things have been done a certain way in RPGs for such a long time and having to run back and forth inside a shop zooming in and out of items is not a ‘purer game experience’ but, rather, fucking annoying. There’s a danger when you simplify things that you end up dumbing them down and while I feel that Fable II struck a good balance between the two aims, Fable III feels more dumbed down than simplified.

You can buy up and rent out properties – or live in them. You can buy up shops and take a share of their profits. You can bet on chicken races, do a number of quests and hunt down evil garden gnomes – this episode’s equivalent of the mouthy gargoyles.

While Fable III has pretensions of being a sandbox game, it really isn’t. You’re pretty much rail-roaded and while there are quite a number of quests, it doesn’t feel much like it. Particularly if you’re intent on being either completely good or completely evil. Where other games have developed their faction/alignment system either through subtlety of storyline (Mass Effect 2) or through a complex, if buggy, faction system (Fallout: New Vegas), Fable hasn’t developed this line further. While the game tries to look like an open sandbox, it isn’t. The environments are actually fairly small and your movements around them are constricted. It’s all smoke and mirrors that doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny. There’s a lot you can do, interacting with locals, having sex, getting married, raising children, but none of it really seems to mean anything in the game – which is a shame. It’s all façade with little behind it.

With so many true sandbox games out there, or ones that do a better job of at least appearing to be sandbox games, Fable II comes across as a Playmobil game in a world of Lego.

Controls
You have access to the usual ranged/magic/melee button-hitting combinations and can choose to specialise as you please. You move with one thumbstick and turn with the other. You’re able to ‘flourish’ with your melee weapons and ranged weapons, doing more damage and you’re also able to block incoming attacks. You can mix and match your various magic spells to intensify one form of spell, or to combine them in interesting ways (Fire and Push for example, knocks enemies back AND sets them on fire, giving you more space and time to zap them even more).

Atmosphere
Fable III has a dark, comedic atmosphere with occasional bouts of seriousness. There are a hell of a lot of knob jokes, which are funny, but it started to feel a bit overdone. Overall it has a feel not unlike the older, more fun versions of Warhammer and definitely has a folklorish, British sensibility to it which is nice to see in a game. The environments are well done, the buildings and people interesting and you do get drawn into the plight of the people. It’s just a shame that so much good is undone by playing pattycake with someone ten times to win them over.

There’s some great British voice talent at work including Stephen Fry, Johnathan Ross, John Cleese and Simon Pegg. This certainly keeps the British pseudo-industrial feel of Albion up, along with the darkly humorous side and it’s nice to have a fantasy game that isn’t replete with grating American accents.

Graphics
Shiny stylised graphics, about on par with Fable II – little surprise there given its the same development house, the same hardware and so on.

Conclusion
A good entry but a little too dumbed down for my liking. Aesthetic decisions have impacted negatively on gameplay here and there and some more depth of interaction and a reason to sleep around, raise children etc is needed (other than achievements). Still, it is nice to go beyond ‘winning the battle’ and into the consequences. I just think that the whole game, the whole series, needs a little more meat on its shuny, enjoyable bones.

On the plus side

• Active, living world.
• Simple controls, easy to get into.
• Breaking new storyline ground.

On the minus side

• Lacking depth.
• Can’t ‘lose’.
• Weird, random, graphical slow-downs and occasional bugs (now mostly patched).

Score
Style: 5
Substance: 3
Overall: 4