Fable 2 Pub Games XBLA Review

Only marginally better than a kick in the pants.

by Sith Lord Jim

©2008 Jim McIntyre:

Sometimes you really have to wonder what is going through developer’s minds while they are creating some games. One also must wonder at the state a mind would have to be in to decide that sitting there pressing “A” 100 times is going to be a good time for all. It is of course quite possible that they were suffering from severe sleep deprivation after working 72+ hours straight on the actual Fable 2 game or something like that. Regardless what is really a fantastic marketing concept falls very short of being an entertaining game.

Lionhead Studios, in a bid to cash in on your Fable 2 excitement has created 3 casino style mini-games, Fortune’s Tower, Keystone, and Spinnerbox, for you to dwindle away the time as you wait for the actual game. All the money and items you accumulate while playing these pub games will transfer over on to your Fable 2 character, once the game releases.

Fortune’s Tower is probably the best of the three games. The game is played out with cards being laid out in rows starting at the point of a triangle and moving down to it’s base, with each row growing longer as it progresses downwards.

The top card is face down and is called the tower card, the first time that a card is played that matches a card its touching in the row above it burns up and the tower card will swing down and take it’s place. If the tower card has already been used and this happens the only other thing that can save you is the Hero card, of which there are only four in each deck.

The number from the added row is added up and is what you stand to make if you decide to take that offer. The objective of the game is to pull out at the time that you stand to make the most money from what you bet.

Keystone is a variation of roulette. There is an arch that is numbered from 3-18 and you place bets on not only what will be rolled by the three dice, but whether there will be pairs, triples, and a variety of other possibilities. Different categories for you to bet on have different odds and different minimum bets. When a number is rolled that stone of the arch is removed. If the number has been rolled before then the piece down from it will be removed. The game ends when two of the four keystones are removed from the arch.

Spinnerbox is mind-numbingly boring, and is by far the worst of the lot. It is a slot machine. You press “A” it spins, then you have the choice of waiting for it to stop spinning by itself or pressing “A” and having it stop spinning. There is absolutely no benefit to one option over the other as the game is entirely comprised of luck.

These three games can be played with a variety of different minimum bets and on different tables as you progress in your star rating by betting. They can also be played in tournaments so that you can unlock items. These tournaments are just essentially the same games but with other people betting as well.

Keystone and Fortune’s Tower works fine in this format, but Spinnerbox quite literally put me to sleep. In the Spinnerbox tournament you and the computer players have 100 spins to try and have the most money. Competing against computer players in a luck based game is not an enjoyable experience. I had to play six times before even placing fourth in the tournament.

If you have preordered Fable 2 then you will get these games free. Otherwise you will have to pay 800 Microsoft Points for them. When the marketplace is starting to become crowded with quality arcade titles that are more than worth your time, there really is no reason why you should spend your points on this title, as the only reason you would want this is if you were getting Fable 2, and of course if you were getting Fable 2 you would have already preordered it.

As a freebie this is great, but as something that you are going to pay for, it is pretty damn average.

©2008 Jim McIntyre:

“5/10

Filed under: XBLA News-Reviews, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | "fable 2 pub games", Fable II, Fable II Pub Games", Lionhead Studios, XBLA, XBLA Pub Games"