At its very deepest level, Fable II can easily enthral with the level of interaction you have with the world of Albion; whether its training your faithful dog, watching the metamorphosis of your avatar, getting a job, getting hitched and having a family, or (if monogamy is too cruel a rule) seeing how many villagers you can bang and infect with VD. Choose to lose yourself in these side-quests and diversions and youll be fast approaching the 50 hours and beyond level of longevity only witnessed in RPGs like Oblivion. Couple that with a very capable online drop-in drop-out co-operative mode, and youll be playing Fable II for a long time to come.
Fable II is an amazing game that is worthy of a giddy school girl shout of Excellent! Outstanding!. It isnt a perfect experience, by any means though, and we did get a bit annoyed with the constant load times between areas which, you could argue, is present in most console RPGs of this size and scope. Also we experienced the odd bit of graphical weirdeness, with some NPCs being faded into existence right in front of us. Lastly, the bread crumb trail is a mixed bag, it has the potential to suck out some of the challenge of questing for the hardcore RPGers out there, but you can always just turn it off.
Other than that, Fable II ticks all the boxes: the combat handles well, its visually stunning, the voice acting and musical score are brilliant, and the epic storyline doesnt end before it begins (like the first game did). But the most appealing thing about it is that it delivers everything that Molyneux has promised, plus it is oozing with wit and charm - something sorely lacking from many games nowadays. At the end of the day, Fable II is a triumph and a must buy, even in the face of the impending release of Fallout 3.
An amazing Action RPG with charm, depth, and challenge. A must buy 9.5