It has been awhile since we’ve had a Fable game or have had heard much about the next iteration which is said to be Fable The Journey. In the mean time no one said we can’t have a little fun with the world and characters of Fable in a different setting?
Fable Heroes is a brawler type game with the characters of every Fable to be released, difference is it looks like a puppets play setting which makes everything look adorable. You can go though each stage with up to 3 other friends, battling enemies and gathering coins. While you are playing cooperatively with others or computer characters it does set you up somewhat competitively. After each stage you will be ranked by the amount of coins you’ve gathered from enemies and award for it.
With the coins you are allowed to purchase attributes for your character which will help you in the stages to come. Interestingly enough it is played on a board game, rolling dice to land on a space that corresponds to an attribute that can be collected. The colorful pallet of Fable Heroes is welcomed with the soundtracks fitting to its settings.
Unfortunately while there are some good aspects that have mostly to do with the Fable cast and feel, the game is missing some basic fundamentals. Characters feel a little sluggish and floaty in movement. They also only have three attacks that are on repeat with no formation of any combo or extension to it.
Stages are linear and while they do give you two paths within the stage it never gives you much or a different experience. Character AI is not really benefiting here either as they don’t provide a challenge for coins nor give you real help. The biggest thing that hurts this game is that since not much changes your progression from playing the first stage to playing the last stage isn’t much different.
Fable Heroes was intended to be lighthearted pickup and play game for Xbox Live arcade and it achieves that in ways. It missed it’s chance to be a great and memorable game with some missing components so it’s hard to fully enjoy unless you have 3 friends to play with.
