Finally, here it is. Fable can only be described one way: as a roller-coaster of a game while it was in production. Originally announced back in 2001, Fable carried the name "Project Ego" and its creator, Peter Molyneux, said that it would be the best RPG ever made. That, of course, coming on top of the fact that the details about it that had been released already showed it would be the most ambitious. Well, three years and one name change later, Fable is still quite ambitious, although not nearly as much as it had originally been planned to be, and it is still an awesome RPG. Best RPG ever? No. An extremely fun game? Hell yes.

Anybody who has ever read anything about Fable knows of its basic premise: be who you want to be. Your actions ultimately determine everything about your character in Fable ranging from his looks to his physique to his fighting abilities and even to his reputation with the townspeople. Being a divine magic user will made your character age faster and will give him snow white hair, while being a battle hardened warrior will cause your muscles to grow and battle scars to mark your body over time. Not only can you change the look of your character in these ways, but your decisions will also have a direct effect on what the villagers think of you.

If you decide to raid traveling merchants, rip innocent townsfolk to shreds, and steal candy from that poor baby, the character will eventually turn evil and horns will grow on his head. However, if you decide to go the enlightened way and do good deeds then the character will have a warm glow around him showing off how much of a goody two-shoes he is. This, combined with hairstyles and choice of clothes, all have an effect on how the villagers will respond to you. The latter will cause all the villagers to love your character and they will even start to dress and look like him. The former will make it so villagers may be so scared of you that they will run in fright and they wouldn't dare mutter your name in the dark of night. However, the disappointing aspect to this is that you can change your affiliation at any time. By simply going into a temple and paying a hefty fee, you can get your good or evil slate wiped clean and start anew. While this may seem nice, it makes the "Every action has a consequence" idea basically get flushed down the toilet.

The main gameplay in Fable comes through the quests. Quests can be found by either going to the Heroes' Guild (the building where you will start off your adventure after your village is raided and your family killed, setting the stage for your characters hunt for revenge) or by simply walking around and finding various quests. These range from the more complicated puzzle quests (which require that horrible thing called "thinking") down to the basic escort quests. Your actions in these quests will be a major deciding factor in determining your evilness or goodness. Would you rather take the path of light and bravely escort a merchant past cunning and dangerous bandits? Or would you rather stab the merchant in the back and steal all of his gold? The choice is yours.

Fighting in Fable is very straight-forward and simplistic. It uses a basic and easy combat system that uses a single attack button to unleash deadly combos, a block button to sustain those annoying enemy counter-attacks, and a maze of magic buttons to devastate your foes with. The first two items are very easy to get used to, however using magic will require more time. First, you have to hold down the "R" trigger to bring up your list of available magic, and then if you have more than three spells and the one you want to use isn't on there, you have to bring up another list to choose it. While you will eventually get used to it, it is annoying at times, especially since magic plays such a vital role in the combat. One thing you should know, however, is that this combat system is just as was mentioned, very simplistic. It isn't boring, but it gets very easy as long as you know some tricks. Also, there is an overabundance of potions in this game to heal yourself with, so being struck down doesn't happen very often.

The enemies in Fable have some fairly smart AI powering them. They aren't the smartest enemies in the gaming world, and they don't use the best tactics, but they offer a decent challenge. Bandits will fire at you from a distance using their annoying crossbows and then unsheathe their swords for direct combat when you get closer to them. They will then attempt to surround you and, essentially, kill you. But the same fighting tactics can be used for almost all enemies to easily disperse them, and these pathetic bandits are no exception.

Yes, after all these good things, there is still a downside to Fable. Fable's major flaw comes in the form of gameplay time. The game is simply too short. Busy bees who don't do any side quests can finish the game is almost ten hours. Even gamers who complete every task in the game and try to suck out as much out the game as possible will only find between fifteen and twenty hours of gameplay (except for those freaks who simply must explore every square inch of the game, they might be able to force out around twenty-five hours).

Now, let us finally move on to the visuals in this game. As mentioned before, your moral choices affect how your character looks in the game. The designers really put a lot of effort into making it look really good. The characters are extremely well designed with good facial features and muscle drawings, and they all look neat and sharp. The addition of horns or a luminescent glow really make the characters shine even more.

The real attraction in the visuals comes from all of the spells. The special effects in this game are simply jaw-dropping. They are gorgeous, and that's an understatement. The flames, the lights, and flashes, the sparkles, they all blend so well to make it worth it to be a spell caster just to see all of the different special effects involved in the various spells. Blue or red flames will burst from your sword, energy will sparkle around your character as you power up, lights flash as you get ready for a magic attack, etc. Everything is just so beautiful.

Fable has a colorful, dream-land type of design that perfectly matches it. The world just has a cartoony kind of look to it and it blends so perfectly with the bright, vibrant colors. Weather effects also are thrown into the mix and it adds a more atmospheric feel to the different environments that range from forests to cities to swamps. All of these things combined with a normally solid frame rate make Fable really shine.

The audio department truly is the best aspect of this game, hands down. There is just so much to be found here and everything that was put into this game matches it so perfectly and is used so fluidly that everything sounds simply amazing. The musical score is comprised of a classical-style orchestral mix that really brings the world to life. This music also changes its tone to match the different environments effortlessly.

Sound effects match their settings perfectly. It can be argued that they are even better than the glitz and glamour of this game's outstanding graphics. Crickets chirp and birds sing in the meadows, branches crack and break as you stride through the forests, echoes can be heard in the caves, and the dreadful sound of death can be heard creeping through the dark, dank swamps. In combat, the clangs of swords clashing and the booms of magical spells all blend together seamlessly.

As for voice acting, this is one of the best games in that area that I have ever played. Every character sounds so unique and different that it is really surprising. There are hundreds of different voices and thousands of lines of dialogue. Naturally, like in every game, there is repeated dialogue to be found here from the commoners, but it really doesn't detract very much from the simple fact that all of the dialogue is done so well and it is so creative and quirky that it can be extremely funny at times.

Replay value is somewhat weak in Fable. Thanks largely in part to that the game can be played after finishing the main quest and that you can change your evil or good affiliation simply by visiting the appropriate good or evil temple, this game really hurts in replay value. There is definitely some incentive for players to go back and play through the game again and complete missions different ways, but there is just so much that could have been improved on here. More side quests, a longer main quest with an improved story, secret quests and items, actually making it so you are stuck with your decisions, and some more free roaming capabilities would have made this game nearly perfect in all aspects. Also, downloadable content really should have been incorporated here. If the designers had made it so they can add more items, weapons, clothing, and side quests, it really would have made this game so much better.

Fable turns out to be an ambitious RPG that truly outshines all of the competition in certain aspects, and in others really could have used some improvement. It is very short but while it lasts it is one of the best games out there right now. RPG fanatics will definitely want to fork over the cash for this one, and all other Xbox gamers should at least give this game a rental and a one-time play through.