2 in 1: Halo: Reach + Fable III (Xbox 360)

Halo: Reach

Halo: Reach is a prequel to the Halo series, taking place in 2552 during the events that lead up to and immediately before the events of the first game, Halo: Combat Evolved.

The game takes place on the titular planet of Reach, it is the UNSC’s last major stronghold outside of the Sol system and home to some 700 million human civilians. Now, despite the UNSC’s best efforts to keep its location secret, the alien alliance known as ‘The Covenant’ have located it and launched a full scale offensive against Reach. The player takes the role of the Spartan-III super soldier SPARTAN-B312, who forms a part of Noble Squad and operates under the callsign of ‘Noble Six’. With Covenant forces systematically taking over Reach, you must fend them off.

New to Halo: Reach are reusable tech abilities. They are similar to the single use abilities featured in Halo 3 and Halo ODST, and also feature new abilities such as decoy holograms, active camouflage and jet packs. The map Editor Forge is also featured, and allows players to create their own multiplayer maps. Players can now also choose their choice of armour when they spawn into multiplayer games.

The game’s multiplayer element has retained several of the previous game modes from other Halo games including Slayer and King of The Hill, as well as adding several new modes: Headhunter drops several skulls into a map and players pick them up and drop them off for points. Stockpile has teams collecting flags and keeping hold of them and scoring points for every minute they have them. Generator Defense has a team of three Spartans defending power generators from a group of Covenant Elites who must destroy them, and Invasion which pits six Spartans against six Elites, with the elites fighting for a navigational core, and the Spartans must keep them from getting it.

Fable III

Fable III is the third title in the Fable series of action role-playing games. Once again, the title takes place in the fictional land of Albion and follows fifty years after the events of Fable II.

The Hero of the previous game is recognized as bringing a new era of peace and prosperity to the land after defeating Lucien. The Hero brought unity and strength to Albion, and built a kingdom where there was once disparate villages. That Hero had two children and the older child, named Logan, eventually rose to rule the kingdom as successor to the fabled Hero. While originally a benevolent ruler, his policies and military began to turn gradually more oppressive. Word across the land has begun to ring of revolution.

Unlike the largely medieval-style theme of the previous titles, the industrial age has come to Albion (presumably in the wake of rampant growth brought by the previous game’s hero). As such, the style of Fable III resembles the United States and Great Britain during the 18th Century and the American Revolution.

Players take the role of Logan’s brother, working to gradually increase his own strength and powers, and to eventually build an army to overthrow his brother and take over the reigns of Albion. The new Hero is accompanied by a faithful partner in the form of a dog. As before, the game features a focused main storyline broken up by generous numbers of quests, the ability to work jobs, own real-estate, and get married remains. Once again, the player may choose to be good or evil, and the player’s decisions in the game reflect on changes in the game environment and on other characters. Weapons may also be changed according to how player’s move through the adventure.

A new element, however, is that the player is tasked with building an army to overthrow his brother. In order to build the strength to overthrow Logan, the player must actually “play politics” with the citizens of Albion, which may involve making promises keeping them once the player has taken over the kingdom.

Fable III also contains an online and multiplayer mode, somewhat more fleshed out than in Fable II. Rather than simply being a sort of henchman for other players online, player’s Hero characters can interact and quest with one another on a more equal status.

The Windows version of the game features an additional difficulty level called “Hardcore Mode”.