Genre: Action RPG
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Much like the original title, Fable 2 features strong art direction involving classical European architecture with a whimsical, fantastic twist. There is a strong use of colors and high contrast lighting, with dungeon effects clearly influenced by Oblivion. Some outdoor scenes are a little inconsistent because certain entities seem to be unevenly impacted by the lighting model, but this is largely the exception rather than the rule.

Fable 2's accompaniment to the action is a rather dull, forgettable "Harry Potter"-like fantasy soundtrack. It fills in adequately as background noise, but not much else. The all-British voice acting is strong, and sound effects are crisp and atmosphere-forming.

Fable 2's combat is robust and fluid, and the control scheme is sufficient to let the player think and act on the fly while leveraging spells, melee, and ranged attacks, oftentimes all in rapid succession. Using items and viewing the map requires you to access the menu and, in the case of item usage, drill in multiple levels deep. An on-screen mini-map and a quick-item usage system would have alleviated these irritating but not crippling problems.

Between the necessity of frequent menu access, and constant collisions with NPCs and the boundaries of the mostly path-networked stage areas, Fable 2 feels a little stop-start in nature. However, its satisfying combat, robust quest system complete with visual guides to your next objective, and freedom of interaction with NPCs make for an interesting fantasy-meets-Grand Theft Auto IV experience, rather than the Oblivion-esque game that was expected from Peter Molyneux's pre-release hype.