And so our review begins, bringing us back to the world of Albion in Fable III, the latest in the engaging roleplaying game series from Lionhead Studios. For players who've been to Albion in Fable and Fable II, this installment offers a new and interesting twist on the game world experience. Helpfully for those who may have never played either of the first two games, the game is created so that they can jump right into it without missing out on crucial backstory and can enjoy the game as a standalone.

In Fable III you play a prince or princess of Albion who is the child of the previous monarch (naturally). Your parent was a Hero, an extraordinary person who had the ability to manipulate magic, have incredible strength and agility and the capacity to make heroic decisions that helped or harmed the people of their world. Your brother, the tyrant king Logan has no such abilities, and seeing your potential a loyal family servant takes you from your home to prepare you for the day you overthrow the king and sit on the throne yourself. Over the course of the game, you interact with other leaders in Albion; the leader of a tribe, the leader of the current rebellion and so on. In exchange for their help overthrowing your brother, you agree to assist them once you're on the throne.

Now, of course to help them means that you have to quest your way across the world, leveling up and becoming stronger and better at defeating your enemies. The quests in Fable III can vary wildly, giving the player an amusing and interesting plethora of choices. Do I help someone retrieve their kidnapped fiancée? Or do I go murder someone because...well, does it really matter what the reason is when unnecessary murder is involved? I have to say that I had an amazing time completing the quests in the game. The dialogue that you get from quest givers is funny and entertaining, and watching the results of your actions can give you giggles for days. I never knew that things like divorce could be so much fun!

Fable III, like the previous two installments has an in game morality system. There are some actions that are blatantly good and some that are ever so deliciously evil. As a player, you have to pick the good and moral or evil and immoral decision when completing quests. Some quests are even specifically geared towards either alignment. Because of this and because you are allowed to make the choice every time you play a quest, the replay value in this game is tremendous, allowing you to go back multiple times and pick and choose which quests to complete and how to complete them. Replay value increases even more once you start realizing that you need to complete certain quests in order to open up new ones. During my first play through, there were quests that I never even saw because I didn't complete the necessary previous quests to open them up. The second time I played, I started seeing more of the game world as I opened and explored entirely new areas.

At the end of the game, you are let in on the big game secret; something bad is about to happen to Albion and as the new ruler, it's up to you to fix it. You have a set amount of time (a year) and a goal to complete; the rescue of the citizens of Albion, the people who put their trust in you when you overthrew your brother. You now have the option of reneging or upholding the various promises you made on your way through the main quest. This is where the game takes an interesting turn. Without getting too much into what the Big Bad Evil is, it basically comes down to you having to make tough decisions to save your people. Do you increase the guards in your main city? Do you decrease them? It might seem cruel to the citizens if you don't, but you may need to decrease them in order to save those people later on. Do you uphold your promise to help restore your lands, or not? Saving people now may mean that you doom them later. It's all up to you.

Now with all the fun I was having playing the game, I was surprised and disappointed when I started coming across some very major problems. Like glitches. And glitches. And glitchertastic glitches. As a matter fact, I came across so many glitches I kept wondering what the next new interesting one would be. And kept worrying about coming across another completely GAME BREAKING GLITCH. That's right, game breaking. About six or seven hours into the game I was on a quest to do some random evil killing. As I travelled in the area I was in, several enemies spawned in. I was unable to interact with them. As a matter of fact, I was unable to draw a weapon. Or use my magic. They ignored me and walked around as if nothing was going on. I was able to run right past them. Might seem great, but when it came time to killing the person I was supposed to for my quest, I was, again, unable to draw my weapon. As you travel through the game, there are multiple areas where you have to fight your way through enemies in order to trigger the next sequence of events. Being unable to fight means being unable to play and complete the game.