Fable

Fable, Fable, Fable. How ambitious a game, and how dreadfully disappointing it ended up being. By now, most people who are into the videogame scene know about Fable's history, though I suppose I can elaborate for those who aren't.

Fable had an interesting premise back in the day: the life of a boy in a medieval fantasy setting. Sounds mundane and cliche, right? The creators, however, boasted the feature of the world shaping itself around the actions of said boy, though, which was amazing. A tree planted near, say, a pond would grow as the "years" progressed, eventually standing proudly at an enormous size. Not only that, but they promised your actions could change the cities' prosperity or general attitude of its citizens. Both of these turned out to be hot air. Fable, instead, was nothing more than a standard action-RPG with chapters focusing on parts of your character's life. Yes, you could make some people turn bitter and possibly evil, yet you never widely effected the world...you could be evil, but nobody really reacted that much differently to you. By the end of the game, regardless of your previous decisions, you could still choose whichever ending you wanted! Nothing like a horned demon (a sideeffect of making cruel choices and beating up innocents) saving the world by destroying a blade or whatever.

As much trash as I talk about how unimpressed I was by the game, it still looks pretty good! I mean, visually, it's a treat. Despite all of its broken promises, Fable is still FUN, which is what I count as a game's strongest factor. I play a good guy in nearly everything-- it's just so hard to deny a grieving widow a chance to secure her threatened farm from bandits and greedy mayors, which I don't think was actually IN the game, but that's a pretty common quest in the genre. Fable, though, through charming -if simple and sometimes crude- dialog makes making such a decision as torching the farm and cackling madly seem a little...justified. Hard to explain why, but you'll see if you pick it up.

Another good point to the game is the leveling system. To clarify: there is no typical leveling system; instead you get points from stringing together combos, much like a classic arcade scoring system with multipliers helping you get a high score. In Fable you have abilities which are divided into three schools. Magic, Melee, and Ranged which rack up points through their usage on enemies. Melee and Ranged have some other name, but that's basically what they are. The melee section is comprised of strength, health, carrying capacity, weapon proficiency, and devastating close-range move upgrades. Standard stuff, really. Magic is all upgrades for the spells and a mana pool thing. Ranged, oddly enough, focuses more on stealthy junk and crits, though there are some crossbow/bow abilities included, too. It's a simple system, yet it works extraordinarily well! With the weapon proficiency ability, you don't technically get any better with or have access to more weapons...instead your character puts on about 100 pounds of muscle at its maxed-out point and you can swing your massive 2-handed mace as if it were feather-light. Character tweaking was one of the few promises Fable delivered on, and quite adeptly.

The story's cliche, the characters unoriginal, the world small and obnoxious to navigate, but even so it managed to be fun enough for me to buy the PC "expansion." While I don't actually advise purchasing the game like I did, don't pass it up if you have a chance to play it!

Odd Thomas

I'm looking for suggestions on reviews, but until then I suppose I'll continue from my personal library.

Odd Thomas, by Dean Koontz, is phenomenal. One can dispute the seeing dead people concept's originality, yet Mr. Koontz finds a way to make it his own. The book follows a 20-year old man whose name is used -shockingly- for the title, and his life lives up to his name: Odd. I went in to the story skeptical as can be since my past foray into Koontz's work left me bitter and biased against anything he wrote...Odd Thomas changed my mind.

The characters are rich, though not numerous, and incredibly well-developed. From Little Ozzie to Rosalia Sanchez, you get an interesting and eclectic crew that really should not work, yet the small world that is Pico Mundo somehow makes sense and feels real. Then you factor in the ghosts, yet even they are so intricately crafted that they too feel real. Odd sees the dead, as well as having a few other slightly related gifts; however, he doesn't seek attention, nor is he particularly interested in being rich. All Odd truly wants is to live in relative peace with his soul mate Bronwyn "Stormy" Llewelynn, and maybe a change of jobs from a fry cook to something in the tire business.
The lingering dead complicate his life, but they also enrich it-- Elvis is often found loitering nearby when Odd has time to kill. Elvis, by the way, is given plenty of coverage and, even if you don't like his music, Koontz's version of his silent spectre is lovable for his support and general goofyness. I won't go into the plot very deeply, since it's terrific, but it's a race against time and exhaustion for Odd in an attempt to stop/minimize an event of intense violence. Of course, he's the only one who can for two reasons. 1)He's the protagonist; 2)his gifts give him the foresight and means to stop it.

I could write pages on why this book(as well as its sequels) are superb, but I won't; instead I beseech you to go buy them. They're worth every penny.

Redwall

Welcome, everyone, to my humble review blog. It's my goal to read, watch, and play an assortment of media and let you know if it's worth investing your time and hard earned cash to get. Now let's kick things off.

I'll say this: it's hard to find something worthy of a first entry. After a few hours I settled on a classic children's series which I was engrossed with for years. Redwall. It's a long series, most of the stories are fluff and unnecessarily written, but those came with the later years. Redwall the novel, though, is a glorious tale of perseverance, self-sacrifice, and sticking to one's beliefs when everything appears to be crashing down.
Matthias, the hero, is an ambitious youth stuck in an abbey of woodland creatures whose only goals are to make sure the harvest is abundant, and to promote peace and neutrality to all neighboring nations. The abbot is kind and fair, the people slow to anger and patient as rocks. Matthias on the other hand is energetic, worshiping the founder of Redwall (the abbey's official name), a mouse by the name of Martin. Martin is renowned for his skill in battle as well as a prodigious tactical mind in all aspects of life; a great mouse whose feats are still praised and respected by all creatures throughout this land. Matthias dreams of living up to and surpassing Martin...obviously he'll get his chance.
While Matthias is busy doing chores and daydreaming, a menace is headed his way. One that will threaten the very way of life that the citizens of Redwall worship: Cluney the Scourge. He's a rat feared "worldwide." Soon enough he and his horde of cutthroat and treacherous rats, ferrets, and weasels begin their siege and ruination of the abbey.

Redwall was unique when I became a fan; it was -and is- still quite an amazing novel. You have these furry little beasts teaching morals and values worth spreading during times of crises. Throughout Cluney's war, Matthias strives to find the fabled blade of Martin, hidden deep within the abbey, and with it he finds friendship in unlikely people. From the violent, nigh-barbaric sparrows to the jovial elite warriors of the hares, Matthias learns that being a hero is not only in fighting and winning despite insurmountable odds, but also in using your head and following your heart and trusting those around you. A hero, we learn, does not seek danger, but defends the things we love, be it ideals or people. Matthias grows, and with him I did, too.

Brian Jacques, the author of this fantastic book, created a tale I still treasure. The characters were given a level of depth seemingly unseen in its genre, so much so that with every loss of a likable mouse or mole, you feel it almost as strongly as the characters' peers. The plot is typical: boy rises to the occasion to save the day, yet it really feels different. It's like watching your favorite mystery/thriller film and getting caught up all over again-- You've seen it, you know how it will end, yet it's delivered so masterfully that you find yourself thinking it will be different. Most of all, this book is easy for anyone above the age of 9 to pick up and become a part of.

I can't guarantee that everything I review will find their way to my good list, but I'll give any suggestions a try. Let's see what you throw my way...just leave a comment with your choice!