Fable Anniversary

 Xbox 360
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 260 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 155 out of 260
  2. Mixed: 61 out of 260
  3. Negative: 44 out of 260
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  1. SigilFey
    Mar 15, 2015
    4
    The developers for Fable Anniversary basically took a magnum opus...and peed all over it.

    PC controls are RIDICULOUS -- just incompetent. The once gorgeous, vibrant, storybook graphics are gone. Music, dialogue, and sound cut out, don't play, or play right over the top of other tracks. Camera is a jerky, spasmodic mess. Special effects (spells, glows, etc.) are washed-out and look    The developers for Fable Anniversary basically took a magnum opus...and peed all over it.

    PC controls are RIDICULOUS -- just incompetent. The once gorgeous, vibrant, storybook graphics are gone. Music, dialogue, and sound cut out, don't play, or play right over the top of other tracks. Camera is a jerky, spasmodic mess. Special effects (spells, glows, etc.) are washed-out and look like dull watercolor. Minigames have been turned into clunky frustrations by "snap-to" controls that rival the idiotic design behind of Fable 3's minigame stuttering.

    Seriously...for real?

    This is what the developers did to "revitalize" one of the greatest games ever made?

    4 points:

    1 because it's still the core game of Fable.

    1 because at least it runs without crashing.

    1 because people who have never played the original will probably accept this.

    1 because it's STILL better than the steaming pile of rot that is Fable 3.

    Goodbye, Fable franchise. This is the last pill I will swallow. Just...bad form.    … Expand
  2. jsharbour
    Sep 17, 2015
    0
    Unplayable due to numerous bugs (even a year after release).

    I waited a year before buying this game after hearing all the rumors about bugs. They were not fixed and the game is still unplayable, and all of the people who posted 3-star or higher reviews either did not play the game on an Xbox 360 for more than 10 minutes or they didn't even run it, and just like the artwork on the box,    Unplayable due to numerous bugs (even a year after release).

    I waited a year before buying this game after hearing all the rumors about bugs. They were not fixed and the game is still unplayable, and all of the people who posted 3-star or higher reviews either did not play the game on an Xbox 360 for more than 10 minutes or they didn't even run it, and just like the artwork on the box, or the youtube videos. Whatever the reason, they could not have played this huge disaster of a game.

    It hard locked my Xbox twice within two hours. Had to unplug the power cord to reset the Xbox. That's a big no-no. You don't wreck the core system like that with a crash, people. If the game had been even REMOTELY tested by QA people, this would have been a known issue.

    Secondly, the character keeps getting stuck in the environment, like in a wall, or in the level-up ring in the Hero's Guild. There, after leveling up my abilities, my character stood frozen, unable to rotate or move. So, naturally, I loaded a recent save just outside the Guild. My character was naked and the game was seriously glitched at like 1 FPS, totally unplayable. I killed the game, re-ran it, and decided to give it one more try. I got as far as fighting the Hobbes on that farm. When I didn't beat the girl's score, the game wanted me to reload an old save to try again. Except, it hadn't bothered to DO a save before that began, so I was back to about 20 minutes in the past, running through the forest again to get to the farm.

    Searched for workarounds. Cleared the HD cache on my 360. Let it sit on the title screen for a while as suggested. And you know what? After that, after the hard crashes and getting stuck in the game level, I'd had enough. Deleted off my HD.    … Expand
  3. SuperJoystick
    Feb 15, 2014
    1
    Beware! This game freezes Xboxes. I tried 8 times to play it, and every time it locked up my Xbox after about one minute of play. I took it back to the store for a refund.

    The store said I was the fifth person to do so.

    In the 60 seconds in which I played before my Xbox froze, the framerate of the game was horrid and made me dizzy.

    BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
  4. RedeemerEric
    Feb 6, 2014
    0
    What a disappointment, but what should I expect from Lionhead nowadays anyways?

    I loved the original Fable Lost Chapters. It's one of the best games ever made. However this is a lazy attempt at a Remake. You think they would put more time into remaking the best thing they ever created. Reasons why its good. Background Art Style - The background art is higher resolution and    What a disappointment, but what should I expect from Lionhead nowadays anyways?

    I loved the original Fable Lost Chapters. It's one of the best games ever made.

    However this is a lazy attempt at a Remake. You think they would put more time into remaking the best thing they ever created.

    Reasons why its good.

    Background Art Style - The background art is higher resolution and looks better. They managed to keep the unique style of the background.

    DLC - It seems the main reason to buy this is hoping theyll come out with new anything. We only get some new clothes to roleplay with or whatever, but it costs around $15 extra. Maybe theyll add new places or something, probably not though.

    Music and sound effects werent touched - thank god they didnt mess up the sound like they did the art

    The reasons why its bad.

    Art Style for everything but the Background- They just added more polygons and texture space, which dont equal better graphics. They completely flew over the original designs and the characters no longer have the unique touch the original had. They blew over the ui as well. It was much more bold and engaging, now its thin and weak looking. I just dont understand how the artists could just blow right over the unique style and have the scary face children and poor looking hair styles pass. Another example of a specific art scew up, the Normal hair style specifically shows on the card that it has small strands of hair in the front, but they made him have fat strands of hair over his face, so you cant even see his face and he looks like an emo.

    Lighting - The original had bright lighting that went with the fantasy world. This game is dark and gray looking. Its like im wandering around in horribly lit clay world.

    They Fixed Nothing! - All of the glitches and abuses are still in the game. They had 10 years to figure out what was wrong with the last game and fix it. All they did was create new art and do nothing else. The animation and controls are still choppy if not worse then the xbox version. They couldnt even allow us to choose which books to give the librarian, he still chooses random books and you have to go through hoops to get him to choose the ones you want.

    They could have done so much more - They should have spent more time on this and just charge the full $60. They could have added features from the last games, like coop (play as a mercenary or your hero perhaps) or leaderboards for quests scores, maybe more branches for certain quests, a 5th level for spells... anything! They could have fixed the glitches that were there 10 years ago. It's not like they needed to add a whole new town, just some new side quests or any small addons. A lot of people playing fable now, hadnt played this on the xbox so they could have just released this like a new game and recreate the experience. If their target market was the old players, did they really think this lazy job would pass? They act like achievements matter... no one cares about your all new achievements... achievements are a basic thing in every game now.

    So basically, just buy the old Fable The Lost Chapters for the xbox. It has better looking art even though its lower resolution. All you gain from this game is the dlc costumes which basically make this a $60 game anyways... and you can talk to your friends in a party since this is an xbox 360 game (has nothing to do with the actual game). This is just a small summary of what I could remember while playing this and its late so I cant go over everything they did wrong.    … Expand
  5. DarthFronz85
    Aug 6, 2015
    4
    I'm going to start with praise for this ttile simply because of all the years of enjoyment I got out of it. I remember being a fresh-faced new adult when the game came out originally, a (at the time) sprawling and colorful world full of original characters. The morality system that is now very nearly mandated in all RPGs was brand new to most main-stream gamers and the physical effects ofI'm going to start with praise for this ttile simply because of all the years of enjoyment I got out of it. I remember being a fresh-faced new adult when the game came out originally, a (at the time) sprawling and colorful world full of original characters. The morality system that is now very nearly mandated in all RPGs was brand new to most main-stream gamers and the physical effects of your moral choices inspired awe and multiple playthroughs. Collecting the legendary weapons and trying to find and buy the best pieces of armor kept me playing for hours, the combat multiplier was intuitive and awarded the player's particular playstyle. The Lost Chapters added a new region and several new and entertaining quests, as well as a boss battle that was as epic as the original game deserved (The vanilla Jack of Blades fight was weak sauce, I remember beating him with leather armor and an oak crossbow back in 2004). All in all, an amazing piece of gaming history. Unfortunately, it probably should have stayed history.
    Ten years and a console generation later, Fable returns looking bright and shiny. The character models are updated and crisp, the brightness has been toned down to add a bit of realism, and the facial animations sync up with conversations better, at least with main characters. The children still look like mutants and most of your 'average villager' character models look like they didn't get much of an overhaul. Unfortunately, the new look ends up being just a gimmick. Cheap fights abound as the Slow Time spell allows your enemies to remain alive and fighting after their HP has dropped to zero, something that hasn't been fixed from the original. The smartglass app is another fun gimmick, but only that. It shows maps and treasure locations, but for anyone who had this game a decade ago, it's unnecessary. The time they spent on that could have better been spent on the chugging framerate that seems to drop as the game progresses, even if you install it. In true Lionhead fashion, they offer neat new armor and weapons that can only be obtained through real-money purchases. Unfortunately these items are essentially a gimmick, just like everything else in this remake.
    All in all, I could have forgiven the choppy framerate and lack of new content if Lionhead had chosen to add some of the new premium items into the game for free. Like I said, they're gimmicky, but at least it's something new for the fans instead of just rehashing an old game with a new coat of paint that does nothing to conceal the old technical issues. Chugging framerate and several hard freezes in a game that has been moved to a more advanced console is simply unforgivable. Adding new content that must be paid for in a game that costs twice what it's worth is unforgivable. Finally, charging old fans for new content in an updated game is downright betrayal. I will be hard-pressed to purchase a Lionhead game in the future. They have been unscrupulous before, but this is, as they say, the last straw.    … Expand
  6. satoshikyouma
    May 30, 2016
    0
    all I have to say is: THIS GAME IS CRAP, DO NOT BUY IT.

    controls are tedious,stupid ui inventory designed for controllers when the game "fable lost chapters" uses your mouse pointer to navigate your inventory. it is a step back from the original game than a step forward.

    AGAIN, AVOID THIS GAME!
  7. DavosSeaworth
    Feb 2, 2016
    3
    Sure Fable Anniversary looks a little better than the original but its performance is very poor. A poor frame rate and constant frame stuttering is why I cant recommend this game.

    If you want to experience Fable, (and I think you should) then I highly suggest you play the original game on the original Xbox.
  8. Xyodanl
    Aug 30, 2016
    4
    Fable the Lost Chapters is a great game. I can't say the same thing about this remake. The controls looks like **** the UI sucks and Sometimes the character models look even worse then the original game. Also the game freezes a lot!!

    Don't buy this game when you can play the original!
  9. Broyax
    Mar 14, 2017
    1
    Le remaster hacheday d'une vieille croûte de la Xbox sur la Xbox 360 et comme le dit l'adage, peu importe l'emballage, avec de la merde, on ne peut faire que de la merde. Si le jeu est moins laid (quoique...) que l'original (quand même) ça reste bien moche et en plus ça rame avec en prime (profitez-en) du tearing de temps en temps.

    Vient ensuite le contenu linéaire et niais, tellement    Le remaster hacheday d'une vieille croûte de la Xbox sur la Xbox 360 et comme le dit l'adage, peu importe l'emballage, avec de la merde, on ne peut faire que de la merde. Si le jeu est moins laid (quoique...) que l'original (quand même) ça reste bien moche et en plus ça rame avec en prime (profitez-en) du tearing de temps en temps.

    Vient ensuite le contenu linéaire et niais, tellement niais, à en faire crever de jalousie les jeux de rôle japoniais ! alors on peut faire des grimaces aux pnj, on peut péter et ça j'imagine que "ça n'a pas de prix" et que ça fera rire éventuellement les moutards (proooout). Le combat est bien bancal lui aussi, notamment le système d'esquive à la masse sans parler du mode zoom de l'arc qui oblige à viser avec le stick gauche.

    Enfin, le système de sauvegarde est uniquement automatique, une pure hérésie dans tout jeu de rôle qui se respecte mais aucun respect pour le joueur dans cette farce mongolo-ludique. Une putain d'arnaque.    … Expand
  10. Phuz
    Aug 27, 2023
    0
    Just put this on, on Series X. Absolutely unplayable for me. Bad frame rates don't bother me but when they're so bad it gives you motion sickness it's an instant uninstall, which is exactly what this was.

    The only time I've had a game knock me sick outside of VR is Links Awakening on Switch and that wasn't as bad as Fable. Looks like I'll have to wait for the new Fable game coming    Just put this on, on Series X. Absolutely unplayable for me. Bad frame rates don't bother me but when they're so bad it gives you motion sickness it's an instant uninstall, which is exactly what this was.

    The only time I've had a game knock me sick outside of VR is Links Awakening on Switch and that wasn't as bad as Fable.

    Looks like I'll have to wait for the new Fable game coming out.

    Surely they could have done something to fix the frame rate on a current gen console.    … Expand
  11. GrumpyParrot
    Oct 3, 2022
    3
    If you haven't played the original on xbox, don't play this one. This game is a technical mess. Even on an xbox one x, the game stutters, freezes and crashes for no apparent reason. Whoever remastered this should be shot. Doing the arena quest, fighting 8 rounds for an hour and then you want to leave the arena and the game crashes. One hour lost. 2 hard crashes in 8 hours is something evenIf you haven't played the original on xbox, don't play this one. This game is a technical mess. Even on an xbox one x, the game stutters, freezes and crashes for no apparent reason. Whoever remastered this should be shot. Doing the arena quest, fighting 8 rounds for an hour and then you want to leave the arena and the game crashes. One hour lost. 2 hard crashes in 8 hours is something even Cyberpunk 2077 never achieved on my One X, but this graphically inferior and CPU lighter game gets it done. So if you don't mind the screen tearing, texture pop-in, frame drops to a crawl, freezes and hard crashes, you can try it out on game pass. If you do mind them, i'd suggest starting with fable 2.… Expand
  12. Theast
    Aug 30, 2021
    0
    Here's my Fable. Once upon a time there lived a greedy Microsoft Publisher and his lackey Lionhead, and once they released Fable 1 on the PC, and they did not give the second a chance, they fed us with expectations, and then there was silence, and here in the courtyard 2k21 and still silence, I think that it's time to remind the world that there was once a good game, and in order toHere's my Fable. Once upon a time there lived a greedy Microsoft Publisher and his lackey Lionhead, and once they released Fable 1 on the PC, and they did not give the second a chance, they fed us with expectations, and then there was silence, and here in the courtyard 2k21 and still silence, I think that it's time to remind the world that there was once a good game, and in order to remember everything good in it, you need to release it on your pc, only then people will go to buy a new Fable. This is how they say, and my Fable is over, and may my words not become dust in the eyes of Microsoft and the entire fan community of Fables. ~ MY DREAM IS NOT FULFILLABLE ~… Expand

Awards & Rankings

30
#30 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2014
5
#5 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2014
6
#6 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 53 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 53
  2. Mixed: 34 out of 53
  3. Negative: 2 out of 53
  1. DarkStation
    Jun 5, 2014
    40
    Despite its issues, Fable Anniversary is the best way for players to experience the original Fable. Just keep in mind that action RPGs have a come a very long way since then.
    Read full review
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    May 11, 2014
    87
    One of Molyneux's actual games, and worth remastering. [March 2014]
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 7, 2014
    60
    Works rather well even after all these years, yet there are still some technical irks that shouldn't be there at all. [Issue #239]
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