Dial M for Mature

Note: This article focuses on all the elements that make Fable® rated M for Mature. If you’re under an M-ban (and you know who you are) or you get offended by things easily, well, stop reading. Go play SpongeBob SquarePants™: Battle for Bikini Bottom or something. Now, as I was saying …

Right now, my wife is giggling, gasping, and pointing out that I am, indeed, "naughty" … or perhaps "norty." That's how she says it 'cause she's my low-class girl, the one I keep on the slummy side of town, out of sight of my second concurrent wife, a rich girl who won't follow me anywhere. I call the low-class girl, the one with a lousy 250-gold dowry and a tendency to offer to jump in the sack for a box of chocolates, "Easy." The other wife I call names I can't really say, even in an M-rated article.

My character's first wife. Ha!

Once Upon a Choice
Fable has a deep story with bountiful side quests and amazing real-time combat (melee and ranged). It also has a magic system that's flashy and functional and tattoos—a lot of freakin' tattoos. But, there's another side of Fable that makes it a unique and original game for the Xbox® … or indeed any game system. The game is made for grown-ups (and not ones that need a topless bicycle enthusiast to prove they're 18 or older). Sure, there's a little gratuitousness, like your character can say a word that rhymes with "snit," flip someone the bird, or hump the air to impress those unfamiliar with your charms. But, your character can get also married … and even get "some" (lots and lots of "some" with as many different people as he can attract).

Your character can kick a severed head down a path, impale the guy who keeps trying to get a job, and even commit murder. He can pursue the nightmare of every person who wanted videogames rated in the first place by leading innocent people to be sacrificed in the temple of a dark god. And, wherever he goes, due to his fame and renown, the locals will judge him by what he's done and react accordingly. In other words, Fable is an M-rated game that is truly mature.

He’ll try to kill you anyway.

Decapitation 101
So, you say you want to lop off some heads and kick 'em around? First, you need to practice kicking on chickens. It's not hard to learn, but it will give you an eye for targeting things at ground level. It's not exactly an M-rated feature, but you want to get your chicken kick stats up, right?

Once you've got that down, it’s time to start loppin'. It's surprisingly tricky to decapitate an enemy with a melee weapon, though it happens often enough. For a guaranteed severed head, you'll want to take a ranged head shot. Let's use a typical bandit lookout as an example. First, it helps if you've got at least a point (or four) in the Accuracy category. It's not absolutely necessary, but it helps. Creep up the path, bow out, and tap the left trigger frequently (to target). Use the map to spot folks what mean you ill. Move just close enough to the bandit to target with the left trigger, but stay distant enough not to be spotted by the bandit or his pals. (Your Guile skill will help you sneak up on them.) Once you're in sniping range, switch to your first-person zoom on the closest magnification and place the crosshairs over his ugly face. If your hands are steady, you'll take his head with a single shot. Now you can go Pele on his head—if his no-doubt-lurking bandit allies don't come after you first.

"You are norty!"

When Characters Love Each Other Very Much …
So, you're a cold-blooded head-kicking sniper. (Or, maybe not. Your call, sport.) Maybe you've murdered a few dozen villagers, sworn at a gang of children or broken wind in the bard's face. What's missing? Why, that sweet mystery of life: gettin' busy, makin' bacon, shaggin'. Conjugal intimacy—which only arrives with sound effects, not visuals—requires you to woo and marry a spouse (of either sex). No ring, no fling. Once you buy a marital home, ply your new spouse with a few gifts and some flattery, and soon you'll be making sweet, sweet love—or as it's known in Albion, "guiding the trader to the orchard farm."

Different wives (and there's nothing stopping you from having several at once) behave differently. My character ended up with a wife in a seaside town. She offered a good dowry, but then mostly sat at home and didn't seem to like my style. I call her "Bonnie." Another wife was okay (sort of average, really), but she was also a shop owner. When she married me, she put her shop on the market, and I bought it! I call her "Gullible." Both Bonnie and Gullible only invited me to "talk to the Guildmaster" on a few occasions before getting tired of me. I had to go through a lot of perfume before some unfortunate katana-sharpening accidents made me a widower twice over.

A hero headed for divorce.

Which brings up back to "Easy," a truly remarkable wife. My character can simply ask her to follow him (down on the D-pad) up to the bedroom in the marital home, stand next to the bed, and every minute or so, Easy will suggest we get down to it. She doesn't even ask for chocolates.

Killer, lover, or both, Fable is the most open-ended—and yes, mature—story ever told on Xbox. Look forward to depth of gameplay truly unlike anything you've ever experienced.

Article by Danny Chihdo