Fable Heroes Review

After the glorious release of Fable III a couple of years ago, fans of the series have been wondering when the next Fable game will be released. While Lionhead Studios hasn’t said anything about a follow up title to the series, however the studio did release a spin-off game that is somewhat similar to Castle Crashers and TMNT. When both of those games are combined together, we get a game like Fable Heroes. With the primary objective consisting of simply running through levels and getting coins, can Fable Heroes rise above monotony?

Let’s take a look at the HOTs and NOTs in our review of Fable Heroes.

HOT

Superb & Charming Visuals
The moment you start playing Fable Heroes, the one thing you’ll notice is the direction that LionHead studios took with its art style and presentation. Instead of imitating the visuals that is found in the main series, the approach here works well as it’s very colorful and laid out in a storybook and board game style. Main characters that are from the Fable series will be playable, but they’re animated in like doll-puppets that looks like Sackboys in a costume. Each of the playable characters have a different kind of attack, with the first two being close ranged and the the other one is a long ranged magic attack. As for the environments, expect to visit some familiar places like the Mistpeak and Millfields. Just like the rest of the game, they are presented in a pop-up book style. The adorable presentation and visuals are one of the main highlights of the game.

Co-Op Play with Friends
Fable Heroes is a mix of Castle Crashers and TMNT in the sense that players will go through a side scrolling adventure and reach the end of the level for stats. Instead of simply going through the area and killing enemies, your main objective is to collect coins as you slash enemies along the way. While it may sound rather boring and repetitive, there’s one way to make it fun and that’s playing with friends.

Up to four players can team up and compete with one another in getting coins and loot. Depending on who gets the most coins, they will be in first place and whoever is in 4th will get the loser tune. After finishing a level, you’ll roll dice and your puppet will move in a board game format. Once you land on the specific tile, you will have an opportunity to pick abilities and use collected coins to enhance the character’s attributes.

Throughout the plethora of levels in the game, some will have a boss fight while others will contain a mini-game. In each of the levels that you go through with friends, you’ll come across chests that contain power ups and sometimes a ‘good’ or ‘evil’ chest. A character member who gets to open a ‘good’ treasure chest will be blessed with some kind of power. However, open an ‘evil’ one and a curse will be bestowed on any member of the party. If you somehow found a party where one character hogs every chest they see, expect to get nothing at all until you harness the full extent of your competitive nature.