split/screen co-op

The other day a friend asked my advice about what game she should buy as a gift to her partner who liked the Assassin’s Creed franchise. My immediate response was that she should go for a Prince of Persia game as they offer similar acrobatics-based gameplay. Then I had a flight home — and thus time to ponder the question — and came up with this: A List of Games Any Xbox 360 Owner Should Have.

I only recommend games that I have played so don’t be surprised if some of the best known titles are missing from my list. I just haven’t gotten around to playing them yet.

A couple a weeks ago, when I was deep into the amazing world of Fable III, I wanted to write a post, praising the genius who first thought of including achievements in games. The achievements in Fable III gave me a reason to stay a bit longer in a world I wished was real.

Though, having a few weeks to think on the post and play a little more Fable III and than replay Fable II, has changed my mind about achievements. I am now finishing Fable II, playing the DLCs and trying to collect all expressions. In order to to do that, however, I would have to radically change my character, making her from a Saint into a Devil. This is not only annoying, but actually spoils the whole fantasy

I am close to the end now, prolonging my stay in the game by completing minor quests, exploring the world, shooting gnomes off windowsills and collectiong books.

As always (since Fable II, where I still log in to see how my two wives are doing) I feel very comfortable walking around and just being in the game. Because I like to walk and not use the fast travel option, my playing runs in a slow, leisurely manner, and I have enough time to think about the world I am exploring.

As a whole, the world of Fable III is very realistic, especially when it comes to the main characters in the game. I especially like the fact that none of them, even those who seemed eternally evil at first glance, is completely good or bad. Every character has his or her small (or in the case of Reaver, not so small) inperfections, which are particularly visible when the characters are faced with a conflict.

Although I have only good things to say about Fable III, I still have three questions:

Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the greatest game of them all?

Right now my answer to that question would be Fable III. Started playing on Saturday night and continued playing the whole day on Sunday. Numerous hours into the game and I am totally hooked.

Some ranting about the great story, characters and the changes in the inventory & map after the jump

Tough Choices by ~frequentlydistracted on deviantART

It happens all the time. People find large amounts of money in inconspicuous bags at unlikely places. They pick it up and return it. Sometimes it’s millions of dollars, sometimes it’s less; but it’s always a big enough sum to make newspaper headlines, or else we wouldn’t know about it.

Why they do it and whether you and I would do it if it were us who found the money is not important right now. The important thing is that those people had a choice and made a decision. By opting to return the money, they’ve chosen to lose it. Irreversibly.

Games are rubbish at offering players that kind of genuine dilemma. Before I go on, a warning: there will be spoilers once you take the jump.

I’ve noticed I have a real problem to play with an evil character in games. When I’m faced with a choice between the good guys and the bad guys, I would always choose the former. In most games there is no picking between sides, I just have to decide what class I want to play with, which is fine by me. Games like Fable II, though, can give me a headache. I’m finishing the game now and my character has the highest possible level of Pure and Good. I remember a quest about a woman ghost who wanted me to help her take revenge on her boyfriend. I helped her by making him falling in love with me and then breaking up with him, but the stupid man killed himself and I got Evil points. I was totally pissed at Fable II at that point for making me evil.

Fable II spell concept by PeteAmachree

Pete Amachree did some work as a concept artist on Fable II and during his time on the project he was tasked to produce ideas for a spell that would have been called Army of the Dead. He came up with this and I have to say it looks very powerful indeed. The badasses the player would have summoned look like some brutal horsemen of the apocalypse and there is no doubt that this spell would have kicked ass.

Or maybe it is kicking ass. Fable II is one of my favourite games ever but, having played through it twice, I still can’t remember if there was a spell like that in the game or not. The author hasn’t played the game yet and none of the commentors underneath the picture seem to know. Do you?

On another note, this situation exposes a curious fact about the industry of making games: it seems that the people who work on a game can remain totally oblivious as to what the finished product looks like. They don’t (all) even get a free copy.

Fable II spell concept by *PeteAmachree on deviantART