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The control issues also go beyond the combat. This motion really threw the game off, and after dodging my next five or six shots would go directly into the ground at my feet until it re-adjusted. In some areas you can lean left and right to dodge enemy attacks. Inaccuracy is just a reality of the medium, and games that handle projectiles well (like Diabolical Pitch), assume that if you’re throwing on the right side of the screen, you’re probably throwing at the enemy over there, rather than the floor. Even in situations like boss fights, when there was only one enemy on screen, both spells would go all over the place. In combat, my bolt spells would hit the floor at a monster’s feet, or fly right past them. Games that succeed on Kinect are built with the understanding that the game will have to interpret player movements rather than responding directly to them. It attempts to replicate you exactly, which leads to a lot of frustration. Simply put, the game requires a level of precision that Kinect simply doesn’t provide. Kinect games succeed or fail largely because of their controls, and Fable: The Journey stumbles badly in this department. This really makes me want a next-gen Oregon Trail. You’ll kill some enemies, open a chest and then hop right back on the horse. When traveling, there are optional side areas that you can stop at, and those are more of the same. Temples work the same way, with some light puzzle solving thrown into the mix. When you’re off the horse, Gabriel progresses until he reaches a group of enemies, and you can’t proceed until you’ve killed all of them. Combat earns you experience as well, and as the game progresses you can learn new spells.įable: The Journey is an on-rails game, like the Resident Evil chronicles games. Mixing up the spells in combat is a requirement – some enemies will need to be stunned with push before they can be attacked, and bolt has a limited number of shots before it needs to recharge. Push has uses in combat like throwing an enemy off a cliff or into an exploding barrel, and also environmental uses like triggering switches. Push allows you to grab distant enemies and objects and manipulate them. Bolt uses your dominant hand, and does what it sounds like, firing a projectile at enemies. The gauntlets have two main spells, bolt and push. Having to slow my horse to a trot in order to collect some orbs just felt like it was dragging out a process was already taking too long to begin with.
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Make no mistake, you’re going to spend A LOT of time traveling, and as the game wore, on I just wanted to get from place to place as fast as possible. Some orbs require you to be traveling at a certain speed in order to collect them, which can become annoying. The best bet is to get the horse pointed in the right direction and quickly drop your hands, to avoid any accidental steering.Īlong the path are orbs you can collect to gain experience, which can be used to purchase upgrades. Controlling speed is easy enough, but the steering controls can be touchy, and it’s easy to over steer. Your path is predetermined – you control the horse’s speed and steer within the boundary of the path you’re on, but all progress is linear. The game’s title is accurate, as about half is spent on the horse, traveling across the countryside. The gauntlets grant him powers, but come with a price – he is now the only one capable of saving the land from the Destroyer. Along the way, Seren is injured by a dark force sweeping over the land, and Gabriel must acquire a pair of magic gauntlets in order to save her. After being separated from his traveling caravan, Gabriel must take his horse, Seren, and travel alone in an attempt to reunite with his people. The game centers on Gabriel, a young man with a reputation for being irresponsible. The game carries over the Fable brand of humor, but inconsistent controls and lots of repetition make this a journey that’s not worth taking. Fable is one of those series, and developer Lionhead has attempted to cross over with the Kinect-only Fable: The Journey. While Kinect enjoys an abundance of dance and fitness games, there aren’t too many games that rival the deep single player experiences associated with a controller.