E3 2013: Fable Anniversary preview

E3 2013: Fable Anniversary preview

Whether you were a part of the previous generation of consoles or not you may know of the Fable series of games that have been available on Xbox, Xbox 360, Windows and Windows Phone. If you also owned an original Xbox you may have also played the original Fable game that kicked it all off.

Almost 10 years on and Lionhead Studios have finally decided to do what the fans have been asking for, for many years. And that is remake Fable for current consoles with the Fable Anniversary Edition, as you may have seen from their teaser trailer, fans have been asking for them to revisit the original Fable for quite some time now. Although it makes you wonder if they're remaking Fable just prior to the launch of the Xbox One if they'll do similar for when the next console launches. Although it would have been nice to see Fable on the Xbox One, it would make sense to have a truely open-world Fable on Xbox One to match the other RPGs coming out.

The segment of Fable that was playable allowed you to see just how different it was visually, the combat and gameplay is all identical as was the layout of the level itself as they are literally just making the game look the part for being released on Xbox 360. But it's not just the characters and environment that are being polished up, the whole UI of the game is being overhauled, making it look good enough to represent the game on HD televisions, and of course if you think of Fable its all about the tiny little icons. Although the upgrade in art is the main goal for a remastering of Fable I'm sure that wont stop them from fixing any tiny annoying little bugs along the way to make it the ultimate Fable experience.

For those that never played Fable and that haven't picked up the series from the previous Xbox 360 titles, Fable is a simplistic yet robust combat centric Western-style RPG. Which featured many new and exciting features that included the Molyneux favourite good and evil alignment, the purchasing and renting of houses and of course the kicking of chickens. Fable featured a variety of weapons for you to use from melee to ranged while also featuring spells that you can cast.

Audio quality has also been a massive component of the Fable series, especially as the first game set the bar for the rest of the series. They never did skimp out and in the anniversary edition they're restoring the original soundtrack to play in 5.1 to make it sound as clear and uncompressed as possible while not changing the music in any way. While also making all the dialogue we know and love from Fable to sound crisper to match the soundtrack.

Also for those out there that only ever played the original, they're treating all the fans out there by also including the Lionhead created Lost Chapters content. If you only ever played the original, Lost Chapters expanded on Fable by adding new monsters, weapons, armour, expressions, nine new areas, sixteen addition quests and many more extras.

As well as a revamped look the new release of Fable is also seeing SmartGlass support which allows you to have what feels like your own personal and interactive strategy guide which moves along as you play. Not only does it feature a synchronised map but it also includes secrets like chest locations and contents. Although you will be able to have the choice to switch these off if you think that's cheating a little bit. Plus as a nice nostalgic touch for all the Fable fans they're littering the map with photo points where you can see a screenshot from the original to see just how far we've come since the original Xbox graphically.

Plus don't forget as it's now going to be an Xbox 360 game you'll be able to play it with achievements. Fable Anniversary is due for release during the holiday season of 2013 exclusively for Xbox 360.