Fable 2 - Disabled Gamer Friendly?
Fable 2 is an addicting game that has an incredible amount of depth to it. In my opinion, it has to be one of the most enjoyable games ever created! It has everything from being a saint to being a sinner. Fable 2 embodies the phrase, "Yes we can!" It offers you a ton of quests for you to do that have nothing to do with the main story. If you want to get married, you can! If you want to have multiple wives or husbands (at the same time), you can! If you want to have an orgy, oh yeah, you can!
This is a fantasy action game that nearly anybody can enjoy. This game is about making choices and they all affect the outcome of your character. With a wide range of fighting styles, you will find one that fits your play style. You can become an in-your-face warrior, a sharp shooting gunslinger, or even a magic missile nut job. There is a cooperative element in the game, which allows your friends to play as your ''henchman.'' You can play together or have him assist you on your quest, and then go away!
Fable 2 is incredibly intriguing game, and is a highly accessible to boot.
Fable 2
Fable 2 is an action role-playing game developed by Lionhead, published by Microsoft Game Studios. The sequel to Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters, Fable 2 was originally announced in 2006 and released in October 2008, becoming one of the best games of 2008.
The game takes place in the fictional world of Albion, five hundred years after Fable's original setting. The game begins in Bowerstone Old Town, a secluded section of the city of Bowerstone, where a young child known as Little Sparrow and his/her older sister, Rose, dream about living in Castle Fairfax, the home of Lord Lucien, a powerful ruler in Albion.
Their fantasies are cut short when they hear a commotion down at the market. A man who goes by the name of Mystical Murgo is selling "magical" wares, such as a mirror that makes one beautiful and a magic box that grants a wish. At first, Rose scoffs at the idea but after a conversation with a mysterious woman named Theresa, she begins to consider otherwise.
Rose and your character decide to collect the five coins required to buy the box by doing odd jobs, such as collecting warrants and posing for a photograph. During this time, they come across a dog being abused by a bully, and save it. After finally collecting the money needed, they buy the magic wishing box; it is implied that Rose wishes to live in Castle Fairfax. The box plays strange music and then disappears in a flash of light, apparently not working. Dismayed, Rose and Sparrow return to their hovel and discover the dog waiting for them.
That is how the game begins and the story unfolds.
Game Accessibility Review of Fable 2
For the hearing impaired, Fable 2 will be great because 95% of the game has subtitles, it is clear who is speaking, and that they are saying. The parts that are not subtitled are random comments by the townspeople (ambient comments). Oddly, with all the closed captioning that this game has, the banter from the gargoyles, which are a part of an optional side quest, will be out of reach to the deaf gamer.
All in all, whenever you approach a non-playable character, subtitles will come up on screen with a small recap on the top of the screen of what the mission is about with the speech as text at the bottom. A majority of the quests have a glowing trail that tells you where to go. Everything has a visual cue that it is easy to distinguish and tells you exactly what you need to do. With the exception of a few side stories, such as the chatty gargoyles, the deaf gamer should find Fable 2 a very approachable game.
All the text is fairly big and easy-to-read for all of the quests in your journal, subtitles and menus. When you target something, it will start to glow purple if it is a friendly target or a red color if it is an enemy. By default, it will not allow you to attack friendly targets, an option that is useful in all games, but especially helpful for those that need to have a little more forgiveness in your controls.
Colorblind gamers may be in trouble with Fable 2. The mini games for making money have a meter that goes back and forth that you have to hit when the round ball goes into a certain colored section. Some of the games go from red to yellow to green and green is usually when you have to hit the button. The game is usually clear where it wants you to press a button, but the first few tries at these mini games may end in frustration, and little money.
When you kill enemies, they drop experience balls that come in four colors: red, blue, yellow and green. When you pick them up, they are added to your total number of colored experience. There are four categories of experience and they always remain in the same order on screen. It goes from left to right on the top of your screen whenever you pick up the experience balls on the ground. When upgrade your abilities the bars will light up if you do not have enough experience points and turns dark if you have enough of the experience required to upgrade the ability or to unlock it. The game will be more difficult if you have trouble distinguishing some colors. You could memorize color positions and play without hindrance, but there will be a little annoyance at the start. Game experience may vary between disabled gamers.
One handed gamers and mobility impaired gamers will be fine, assuming operating an Xbox controller is feasible for you. Using your sword/mace is done by pressing the blue button repeatedly. For your constant crossbows, you press the yellow button and when you have upgraded your abilities, you hold it down to do precision aiming. In addition, one of the last upgrades for this lets you target specific body parts by holding down one of the right triggers. Magical spells are done by pressing the red button on the Xbox 360 controller. You can set your spells to a bar that pops up when you press the button. The longer you hold the button the stronger the spell is that you will use. You can also center the camera by pushing a single button.
The way you dodge attacks may be more difficult for the one handed gamer using a standard controller, because these moves require you to use the left analog joystick, and press the green button, and there is no options to change the mappings. This is used for rolling away from the enemies when they overwhelm you.
Do not worry about dying because you just fall down for a few seconds. There is a minute amount of experience loss but you can get this back by killing just a few enemies. The only time you really have to react quickly is when you are fighting the trolls, because the only way to kill them is to destroy a "root" that appears between its attacks, this may be a challenge for some disabled gamers, but depending on the class you play, is not a hurdle that you can't overcome. Other than that, you do not need fast reflexes to do combat. If this is something you would be worried about, you may consider playing a mage, the combat style is far more forgiving than a pure melee class.
To that end, we find Fable 2 is offering a strong accessibility profile; it has addicting gameplay and vast freedom. As mainstream games go this game should be enjoyable by most disabled players. There are minor issues for colorblind gamers, but those can be overcome. If you are an ablegamer that needs a more forgiving play style, you may want to start with a mage.
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