Fable: The Lost Chapters
publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Genre: Action RPG
Players: 1
System: Xbox Original

Fable 2 is coming up, so it might be a good idea to do a "pastview", eh?

Fable had promised gamers the world; or at least leader of lionhead Studios Peter Molyneux had promised it. One of the oddest surprises about the original Fable which had failed to deliver anywhere near the promises of peter M. was that it was still an absolutely fantastic game.(I wasn't really mainstream at the time, so wow, I could only imagine what he actually said was gonna be in the game at the time o_0) Fable still held its own in the gaming world for a few reasons; one, it had an intense magic and melee combat system. Two, it had a hugeopen world and lots to do. And three, you could be a hero in the game, or a villain, and the line wasn't drawn that clear either.Fable: The Lost Chapters was essentially Fable 1 with some the stuff that SHOULD have been in the original. This included more side missions, weapons, magic, and other things, but nothing truly warrenting a repurchase of the game. if you were like me, however, and never had the game in the first place, it was a spectacular deal.

Fable had a pretty average combat system for its time; emphasis on melee without many different combo attacks, magic that was sweet but ran out too quickly, and a bow for ranged attacks. But the combat system was very fluid, and battles commenced in seamless real time on the overworld. Boss battles were grand and fun. The only problem was that the combat system wasn't very deep. Racking up combos then delivering finishers was fun with melee, but thats about as deep as it went. magic was pretty fun, but overall not as helpful as melee, and rendered pretty useless in comparison. the Extra skills that you could purchase at the Guild made things a little more interesting, but not by a huge amount. Overall, Fable had a very fluid and easy to use combat system, but it didn't contain the depth of such games as Ninja Gaiden and God of War. The control you have in battles and the overworld is spot-on. The controls don't stick, the camera isn't jumpy or messy, and it all around works well.



What was probably the main selling point of the game was its twisting storyline. This was one of the few games where you have immemse amounts of decisions that truly affect how the rest of the game will be played out. And a lot of these decisions actually are decided by your moral standing.(A study once showed that only 5% of the players of Fable could actually stand to be bad all the way through. I know I ended up with a halo, though I wanted to be an assasin :/ )These choices don't just affect the story, they effect you and the people around you. If your bad, people will tend to avoid you or run away when they see you. If your good, people flock to you, and usually bug the crap out of you. but its not so black and white. You can be good or bad, or a mix of the two. Or closer to good then bad, or vice versa. Even the quests you complete at the Guild will decide how people veiw you, so much that if you don't actually do anything, people won't know you. on the other hand, if you take on many quests and emerge victorious each time, you'll get famous. If you drink too much booze you'll get a beer gut, if you work out enough you'll get buffer, and really many things effect your character in adverse ways. And best of all, the choice is up to you. It could even be called a 'benchmark in gaming interactivity', if you use the term loosely.

Score:
With Fable 2 on the horizon, it may be a good idea to pick up Fable: TLC if you haven't already played it. Its selling for dirt cheap now, and its still a fun game today. Its backwards compatible with the 360 as well. So if you've run out of games to try and want a new experience for cheap, give it a go. Be sure to look out for our DCEmu Fable II review coming soon.

Game Review: Stepmania (PC, Xbox, PSP)
Publisher: MIT
Developer: MIT
Genre: Rythm video game
Players: Up to 2

We've all heard of the Konami Arcade game Dance Dance Revolution, and it’s numerous sequels and ports.
A lot of us have it on our home consoles, breaking it out during parties or even using it for exercising. I’m here to review a homebrew PC clone of DDR. This clone is called Stepmania.


The Default Stepmania Menu

Now some of you have probably heard of Stepmania. It isn’t at all new, in fact it was first released in November of 2005!
But it’s free and open-source, with I-Pod, PSP, and Xbox ports, and is guaranteed to entertain.
Now my Stepmania experience is on the Xbox, with StepmaniaX. It was relatively easy to set up too. The downside that I can think of is that you have to go and find songs, announcers, background animations, etc, to get it working properly.

It immediately worked with the DDR PS2-GC-Xbox Dance Pad and plays/feels exactly like the real thing, with the only problem being that if you are using the Dance Pad, it can be a tad bit annoying setting up the controls at first. However, once you’re finished setting the controls up, it works great!


Doesn’t it look exactly like DDR?

Stepmania is also very customizable. From background animations to arrows to songs, you can make it what you feel is best, and if you don’t like what’s available on the internet, you can learn how to make your own content and custom songs!

Overall, Stepmania is free, (unless you want the optional but recommended dance pad, which is only $20) and will keep you entertained with the thousands of songs you can add to it, I recommend you check it out. With that said, I definitely recommend the PC and Xbox versions, with the only cons being the way you have to setup the game itself and the controls, making it a lot more difficult to work with at first compared to DDR. The PSP and iPod versions however, I really dont care for myself. Even though these ports are very similar to the original PC version, you must keep in mind that it IS a dancing game, that you should be using a dance pad for. Honestly, what’s the point of playing a dancing game if you’re going using a d-pad or a click wheel?

So, to wrap this up:
PC and Xbox -

PSP and iPod -

NOTE: REVIEWED ON THE XBOX 360 PLATFORM.

Publisher: Tecmo
Developer: Team Ninja
Genre: Third-Person Action
Number of Players: 1
Price: $15 (can be downloaded to xbox 360 hard drive)
or $10 if you can find a used copy in a store.



OVERVIEW:

You play as a ninja by the name of "Ryu Hayabusa" and start out with a "special" sword, you later unlock more weapons and moves as you SLOWLY progress through the game by violently slaying fiends (demons, monsters, evil creatures, my LMS teacher, call them what you will) with well lasting AND animated combos.

This kunai smells funny


GAMEPLAY:

The gameplay is simple, go in a room, get killed, go in it again, and try to survive by locating patterns in you'r eneimes movements, block and counter attack when needed, or simply smash every face button on the controller and hope for the best, as the enemies fall, they will drop orbs that can ethr give you health or money to upgrade your character.

Aside from having weapons, you also have magic called "NIMPO" you can preform this spells when you are found in a difficult situation as they will assure you a critical hit on an enemy, even on one of those amongst the most law defying fiends. But use them with caution, as this "NIMPO" will not come back on their own, you have to recharge them with a potion that costs money.

Hmmm....is it just me, or is the big guys face inside out.


GRAPHICS:

This game looks better then most if not all wii games out there, seriousley, I am very surprized by what the regular xbox can do, the level of detail on ryu is astonishing, from the metal plate on his head, down to the kunais found at the side of his legs, everything is very well polished and well thought out animations can only help.

CLICK THE LINK TO VIEW THE PICTURE (it ecceeded the 500 pixels width rule)
http://64.78.9.175/media/games/21/ss/6.jpg

SOUND:

Depending on what weapon you choose to adopt as your own, you will hear different sounds, if you have a sword you will hear constant metal bashing against the your oponent's armor, if you choose a staff you will hear the sound of wood banging against whatever it is that you wish to hit with it, tho one thing you will always hear, is the sound of wind being broken by the peed of your attacks.

The background song MUST fit in well with the game due to the fact that i don't remember hearing one .

REPLAY VALUE:

Once you are done with the game on normal difficulty, you can always go back and beat it on hard to unlock new costumes, other then that, i see no other reason to.

CONCLUSION:

This game is going to spit on your face and laugh at you while you are naked because you just saw ryu's big breasted friend. The cutscenes are the most cinematic and well preformed I have ever seen in a game making you wish they were longer.

so, ya doin anything this saturday?


I give this game: