Fable II (Xbox 360)

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Fable 2 appears to be the sequel fans wanted

Lionhead's next potential masterpiece is almost upon us. We headed to a hands-on preview event in London to spend some time with a nearly complete version of Fable 2 and sampled the very beginning of the game. In Fable 2 you're going to become a hero loved by everyone or a villain only talked about to scare young children, so how does the story begin? Fable 2 is a game about choice, so decide now if you want the game's opening 30 minutes spoiled or laid out on a plate.

Our first choice appeared to be a simple one: play as a boy or a girl? We chose to play as a boy, but maybe this will have far reaching consequences. We know that Fable 2 places a lot of emphasis on your character's family and life outside of questing and killing enemies, so perhaps this will result in a very different family life compared to those who play as a woman. Either way, this is something that's new to Fable 2, and something fans have been asking for.

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After a brief cut scene (the one we've all seen where a bird clears its bowels from high in the sky) the game begins. We're in a narrow street with Rose, your older sister, wandering down towards a street seller. Before we get there we run into Arfur - a rather dodgy looking man who asks Rose to work for him. He's not the kind of guy you want to meet down a dimly lit alley, and we're a little uncomfortable in his presence, as if he's asking Rose to do things that are very seedy indeed. As we get closer to the stall a LT icon pops on-screen. This is Fable 2's way of saying that there's something interesting worth looking at. You can ignore it and continue on, but being the first instance of it in the game we pulled the left trigger and watched Murgo the salesman work his magic.

You have a dream (as does Rose) to one day live in a huge castle, and Murgo is selling a box he claims grants wishes. The problem is you're broke and he wants five gold pieces for the small box. Rose thinks nothing of it - she's older and wiser than you - but a mystic-like woman appears and changes her mind. You decide to take a quest to find five gold pieces, so off we trot, eager to get back to Murgo and buy the potentially magical box.

What we've not seen is how your decisions during quests affect things on a broader scale.

It's here that the much talked about breadcrumb trail navigation system comes into play. It's like a fairy tale SatNav system that is always on hand to guide you to your destination. It's not as intrusive as you might think though. Using some kind of magical programming language the guys at Lionhead have made this trail aware of what you're doing. If you're standing around looking like you have no clue what to do next, or where you are, it'll appear, helping you get to your desired location without having to resort to a map.

Initially we meet a guard who has lost five arrest warrants. Conversations with characters start if you walk up to them, with a hold of the A button required to skip the conversation or to accept a quest. If you're feeling particularly rude you can also just walk off. Anyway, this guy says he'll give us one gold piece to retrieve them, and in the absence of any better offers we accept. He gives us a rough location to search in and our quest begins.

As in any good RPG you don't have to work on one quest at a time, so we deviated from our path to round-up the warrants and spoke to a few other people. A guy at the end of a street is setting up a background for a still picture, but he's in need of some people to pose for the shot. Predictably he's offering one gold piece if we pose, so we gladly accept, pose, take the money and move on. Pretty simple stuff, but as an intro to the questing system it did its job.

We've only seen a tiny fraction of what the game has to offer

Next up came our first contact with the dog that Peter Molyneux revealed would be your companion throughout the game. This strong bond begins when we see Rex (presumably the village bad guy) attempting to beat up the poor defenceless animal. Rose quickly rushes to the dog's side, but Rex isn't having any of it. Angered by her desire to save the dog he turns his attentions to the young girl. It's here that you'll get your first taste of being a hero, a key component of Fable 2. We draw our sword, run to Rex and start attacking him with X. This isn't a true hero's sword so it only really gives Rex a few bruises, but it's enough to send him running.

We've done a good deed, something that's essential for building up your moral standing. Four points are added to our moral standing and the gathered crowd acknowledges our heroic actions. This is just a taste of what's to come, with your fame in the world of Fable 2 eventually spreading far and wide. More importantly for the time being we've made a shaggy-haired friend. The dog runs off but it's not the last we'll see of him by any means.

Our next mini-quest is to return a bottle of wine to its rightful owner. A tramp has taken it, but luckily he's fallen asleep, allowing us to sneak in and grab it. Being on our best behaviour we moved as slowly as the 360 controller's analogue stick would allow, - presumably hastier movement would have awoken the tramp. We returned the bottle and claimed another gold piece.

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