For those who haven’t been following the soap opera, Peter Molyneux is Bullfrog entertainment. Think of Populous, Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper, and Magic Carpet, and you’re remembering all of his babies. Black & White was his biggest pet project yet, and when it flopped, Peter became the personification of “all show”. It’s amazing how fast someone can go from hot-stuff to steaming-stuff in this business (while others, not fast enough *cough* Shiny).

And so most people had a bad taste in their mouths when Peter released information about his new project “Fable” for the XBox. It had the promise of a dynamic and open-ended world where the main character whould change appearance and gain skills based on the player’ actions. That sounded too much like B&W, and people made Fable their poster child of all things hollow and rotten.

Thanks for this tomato soup Mr Richards. It’s really good, and.. wha - Whaa??

Now Fable is here for the XBox - shipping in just a few weeks. The game has always big and massive, so news of a few broken promises hasn’t surprised me a bit. However unlike Black and White, features that sound better on paper than in practice have been tweeked instead of just thrown into the game, and what’s survived still seems to be one of those rare titles that can’t be missed.

My entire opinion of the game is based on one preview article. That may make some cringe, but man — what a preview. Posted on IGN last week by Hilary Goldstein, the article is 12 pages long and an epic itself. Don’t be scared away. It’s well written and totally worth your time. Flip through it over coffee, lunch, or whenever you’ve got time to kill.

The game tracks statistics up the ying-yang. Chicken-punt distances, how many citizens you’ve robbed, killed, or shagged. It’s all there, and that’s truly novel, really! But if B&W taught us anything, it’s that all these quirky elements don’t make a game great. Thankfully other meatier things seem to add up.

The stronger you are, the better you are at puntting chickens. If you’ve taken the magical route use a fireball to give the chicken that extra kick

You can talk to every NPC in the game. They all have something to say, and they’re always willing to say it (the game is 100% voice acted). Great. But one thing that truly bugs me in RPGs is the combing towns trying to find the RIGHT person to talk to. The game tries to break that tradition - NPCS who’ll progress the story have circles around their feet, other NPCs with something noteworthy to are shadowed in different colored circle. People who just chit chat - no circles. *shakes head* Why, oh WHY hasn’t anyone done this before.

It’s the 12 pages of these little things that help build my hopes. Now start to throw in other great facts - like that the fast combat, akin to Return of the King , but with an expansive variety of weaponry. You can kill who you want, what you want, when you want, and be as violent as you care while doing it.

As promised, you can also be as EVIL as you want. But what’s evil?

Say a shop keeper’s high prices are pissing you off? You could run around town looking for the better price, or.. Pull out your war mallet, fire axe, bow, or what have you, and make him half-off. The game is rated “M”. Have at it.

“You can bash in brains, lop off heads (and then go all Pele on ‘em), thump, whomp, whip, and cleave your foes without mercy. Oh the joys of a rated M game filled with spurting blood. Hoorah!” - Hilary Goldstein

You might get in trouble with the town’s guards if someone see’s you slicing up a local merchant. If you’re not strong enough to deal with militia then you can hire one of the town’s shady-types to be the assassin. (Meh.. that’s a little evil.. I guess.)

When the shop keeper is a pile of goo his store goes on the market, so stick-around to snatch it up. As the owner of the shop you can sell that desired weapon to yourself for free. (See.. to me that’s getting a bit evil.)

Then there’s a third alternative, too. Your character’s “renown” can be used to persuade the shop keeper to follow you. It’d be like Tom Brady asking you to go for a walk. Lead him down the street, up the hill and right out of town. There aren’t any guards out of town. Make with the slicing.

Again, to me, that’s pretty evil, too. Still… nobody in town would ever know what happened. Evil folks have feelings to, and if an sinsiter son-of-a * can’t laugh sadistically at someone, then they tend to feel a bit hollow. So if you choose to go that extra mile, out beyond evil and into twisted dementia — Track down the shop owner’s wife n’ kids, and watch their reactions as you show ‘em your ultra cool pelvis gyrations. From: Me To: You. Umf. “Did you enjoy that? Yeah, we’ll check this out, it’s your husband’s head. Cheers!”

But wait…! that’d be sick. *shakes head* Gawd, whats wrong with you. ( Do it. )

I’d hate to leave on that note, but seriously, that’s the deal. The title adds a lot of great little gameplay elements to a genre that’s dying for an overhaul. It’s got both slick graphical and combat engines, it’s full of style, dark humor, brimming with dynamic content, and it truly allows you to be EVIL. It’s rated M, probably for violence and sexual… sexual-ness.

For those people with little id and a giant super ego - your character can be good, too. (Aww, that’s nice. Play with the ball.)

No, a BUD light.

Don’t let Black & White forever taint Bullfrog. At least give Fable a rental. For me It’s preordered, and I plan to post a follow-up once it arrives.