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Playing this game is a little like living life – you have to decide if you want to take your time and savour it or rush to fulfil your goals.
The format of the series remains unchanged. You can be a hero by doing good or an anti-hero by manipulating those around you.
In the industrial world of Albion, you make friends, fight enemies, woo and bed women (or men if you are playing a female character), start families and run businesses.
In this latest instalment, you are the child of the hero from the second game and your quest is to fight for the people against your evil brother, the current king.
To do so, you have to gain the trust of your fellow men and stage a revolt.
The great part about Fable III is that you can choose how involved you want to be.
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If you simply want action, you can dive directly into the key missions, in which you have to forge alliances. This makes it a quick game but you will miss out on some of the more enjoyable elements unique to the franchise.
The game is full of mini-games, in which you may be called upon to run a business, meet strange folks and be their friend or enemy. You earn gold by being a slum lord or raise morale by selling beer cheaply at your tavern.
The mini quests bring benefits, such as cheaper goods (if you help out a shopkeeper) or greater cooperation from the people.
As you progress, you unlock new features and upgrade your skills for the final battle.
While previous games toyed with the elements of right and wrong, Fable III shows you the direct consequences of your action in the form of Albion’s survival after a war.
The final chapter of the game sees you crowned as the new king. When preparing for an invasion, hard decisions have to be made.
For instance, do you fulfil promises made to your allies at the expense of your treasury or keep the gold to build up a stronger army? Will you build a school for children or a money-spinning brothel?
Each gold piece you fail to bring in represents a life in your kingdom and, while this is a video game, you still feel uneasy watching the impact of your decisions.
If Fable III has a failing, it is in its look. The continued use of cartoon-like graphics shows very little improvement in terms of animation techniques. In the role-playing game genre, the Fable franchise looks very primitive.
It might be because its developers decided to squeeze everything into one DVD, leaving little space for better-looking characters. However, for a game that has spawned two sequels, I was hoping that it would look as good as it played.
Get your copy of Fable III Signature Series Guide here.
