The continent of Albion, the Hero of Oakvale, the Heroes' Guild. Ring any bells? Yeah, that's right! We are talking about the immensely popular medieval fantasy RPG video game franchise 'Fable' from Microsoft Game Studios developed by Lionhead Studios. The original Xbox exclusive that later made its way to other platforms including PC, Mac and even Xbox 360 in form of sequels is now on our new delicious smartphone operating system Windows Phone 7. Not as extensive or complex as the other versions but as a casual arcade game. We're sure that as Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 gets more popular, console quality 3D versions of Microsoft's popular franchises will eventually come but for now, we are gonna have to make do with what we got. So let's get to the review.
The game is developed by Lionhead Studios as we would expect any Fable game to be and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Along with that, Ideaworks Game Studio has also chipped in to provide support with the mobile version of the game.
We are going to review the trial version as we couldn't manage to procure the full version of the game. After going through the initial credits, we were presented by a prompt to purchase the full game but we are cheapskates like that. There are 7 levels in the trial version which don't take more than 20 minutes to complete.
As we tapped on the Play button, a level selection menu came up. On tapping the first level, the game started and a three fellows named Mark, Jim and Ben greeted us in the typical medieval fashion. It's a Fable game, after all. They were often quite hilarious in their conversations but we wouldn't spoil the fun for you just yet.
Unlike most of the touch-screen mobile games which are played in landscape mode, Fable: Coin Golf is played in portrait mode. That probably suits the nature of a the game a lot more than landscape mode. The gameplay involves a Hero Puck that we are supposed to guide through to the target beacon or The Pillar Of Light, as they call it. At the beginning of each level, we are awarded with bonus points that keep on decreasing with the number of tries we take to reach the target. So, the aim here should to shoot the Puck into The Pillar Of Light in as few shots as possible. The procedure is simple - you tap on the Puck, aim in the direction you want it to slide in release it. The game depends somewhat on physics as well. The gameplay resembles the game of Carom or Pool where we are supposed to aim and shoot at the target. Initially, it's only a matter of reaching the target with minimum possible shots/tries but later on, you are met with several hurdles in your path like tress and even the bad guys who bear striking resemblance to Orcs in another famous video game franchise, Warcraft. There are two power-ups in the later levels that help you cross these hurdles or blockages in your path in the form of two constantly moving round shaped shields. The first one, that is the green power up, also called "Woodman's Axe" helpls you to chop the trees that come in your way and the red power-up, that doesn't possess any fancy name aids in knocking down the bad guys. The Orc clones, remember? The gameplay is mostly about aiming and shooting. Felling trees, beating up bad guys and reaching the target doesn't mean the end of work for our hero. What's your worth in Albion if you are without gold coins? That's right, you cracked the case, Sherlock! There's also gold coins to be collected during the course of the game which means that you have to be creative with aiming and shooting the puck to grab all the coins. These gold coins can also be transferred to Fable III on your PC or Xbox 360 through your Xbox Live account.
There are four round-shaped on-screen virtual buttons in the game. The one on the extreme bottom left is the switch-view button i.e. it allows you to switch between the regular and the top view. The button just above that also serves a similar purpose, only by allowing you to change the vertical viewing angles to help with the aiming. The one on top-left is the restart level button and on the top-right is the options button, or the conventional touch-screen gaming buttons, as we would like to call them.
Coming to the graphics and the visual part, it wouldn't be an overstatement to say that Fable: Coin Golf is one of those best looking games on Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7. It's not graphically intense like some of the iOS and Android games such as Rage HD, Infinity Blade or N.O.V.A. but it's beautiful to look at. The textures are really well done with really pretty level-design. With a simple game like this, there isn't much to talk about graphics, so we'll leave it right here. As for performance, the game works great on our HTC 7 Mozart and it should work equally well on other Windows Phone 7 devices.
The game has a plain old medieval music from those fairy tale movies and games. Nothing to brag about, but not bad either. The sound effects are really good with unique sounds for different actions in the game; the noise of the felling of tress and those Orc-like creatures making those disgusting sounds which are supposed to, you know, scare off our hero . Also, there's a huge applause at the end of each level. If you clear it, that is.
Overall, we are very impressed by Fable: Coin Gold and we thoroughly enjoyed playing the trial. It's not quite up there with the likes of Angry Birds and Tiny Wings but it's fun. There are 45 levels in the full version of this game which should be able keep one busy for hours. Now the thing that might be a huge "OMG" for a lot of people is that Microsoft Game Studios have gone nuts and bolts with the pricing of this title. It's a whopping $4.99. That's Rs.256/- for our Indian readers. Even with the 45 levels, that price isn't quite justifiable for an arcade game. So, we wouldn't recommend buying it just yet. Prices are bound to fall with high-quality titles coming to Windows Phone 7 platform at a rapid rate. It's also rumored that Angry Birds might hit the Marketplace really soon, so you should wait for that and see if this game gets any cheaper. To our readers who have bigger pockets - you know, the "buys-a-new-smartphone-every-month" kind of readers should go ahead and purchase the full game. After playing the trial, we can assure you that this isn't going to be a waste of your money, hard-earned or otherwise. For God's sake you own three smartphones! Buy the goddamn bugger!
That was our review of Fable: Coin Golf for WIndows Phone 7. Below is the Marketplace download link for the game :
Zune download link
