Fable: The Lost Chapters Previews

Both Gaming Nexus and GamesFirst! are offering up hands-on previews of Lionhead Studios’ upcoming Fable: The Lost Chapters. A snip from the article at Gaming Nexus:

The console-to-PC conversion seemed to go smoothly, and the issues I saw in the preview build may very well be fixed in the final version. A hotkey system was added, making things run a bit more smoothly for the keyboard-and-mouse crowd. Unfortunately, some of the command menus felt a little clunky, and took some time to navigate. The actual fighting controls also felt a little off, no doubt a result of the move from the Xbox controller. I found a slight delay in some of my commands, especially when I tried to block the enemy attacks. I also had a small issue with the console-style save system. The game cannot be truly saved once a quest is begun, and quests can run upwards of 20-30 minutes. As a save-a-holic when it comes to RPGs, this just doesn’t sit well with me. Other than those few minor issues, however, Fable: The Lost Chapters looks quite good. In fact, the preview build was quite a bit more stable than several finished products I’ve reviewed recently.

And a snip from the article at GamesFirst!:

There will be 16 quests in The Lost Chapters that were not in the Xbox version of Fable. However, Xbox owners need not despair Fable: The Lost Chapters should be making its way back to the Xbox (in a twist that would have even Bungie spinning around in circles) by the end of the year. Apparently, this was not new material that was drummed up for the PC release, but a chapter of the game that was written for the original release, and cut before the game went gold. Why this was done is anyone’s guess the added material seems right on par with the rest of the game in terms of quality and enjoyment.