Peter Molyneux Asks for a Different Review of Fable 2

Nicholas "bapenguin" Puleo October 8th, 2008 at 10:35 AM

There's an inherent problem with getting a game review out day 1, you miss a lot of the experience. Whether it's fully packed online servers or simply rushing through the game to get the review out on time, trust me, you tend to miss something.

In the case of Fable 2 if you get your review out on day 1 you are going to miss the entire online co-op experience. The folks at Variety recently received their review copy of the game (damn it Peter, where is mine?) and they are asking themselves the same question. The author points out that online reviews have the luxury of updating themselves after being published as well as the importance of having a timely review as factors in the decision.

All that being said, there was an interesting letter with the review copy, straight from Sir Peter's mouth:

I have a favour to ask you -- we build this game not only to appeal to gamers like yourself, but to appeal to anybody. So please, please, please, please, please find somebody who doesn't play games, watch them play it and see how their world turns out, because I think it's only when you see those differences that the unique experiences comes through.

Again, this is a question Variety isn't quite sure how to answer. Typically a reviewer plays a game from start to finish investing hours upon hours. Surely they can't ask Grandma to do the same?

I offer this suggestion to Variety - co-op with them. Thankfully the game supports drop in and drop out play so it should be easy enough to hand them another controller and have see how they handle things.

Source: Link

Tags: xbox 360 fable molyneux

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6 Total Reader Comments

Torg001 at 05:40 AM on 10.8.2008

If I say I'm not a gamer, can I get a review copy?

AgtFox at 05:41 AM on 10.8.2008

When I read this yesterday I found it quite interesting. Now, they are handing out final versions of the game 2 weeks before release (for those sites that get them), so there is probably enough time to play through the game yourself as well as have someone else who doesn't usually play games play for at least a few hours and see how they like it.

It is an odd request he's making, but I also wonder if this game was built with the hardcore in mind as much as the casual game player. I could see the additional experience of watching someone who doesn't play a whole lot of games and liking it possibly increasing the purchase rate for a game that is unfortunately coming out around the same time as every other big name game.

The online co-op section may require a different review or an addendum to any review out there...who knows.

OrigamiPanther at 06:32 AM on 10.8.2008

To me, it seems like a bit of mixed message. I mean, if he's really interested in the opinion of someone who doesn't play a lot of games, why not ask them to write up a review (or at least their impressions) rather than asking someone to watch them and write it up? If a person who plays a lot of games were to play it and say "this is my experience", and then watch someone and say "this seems to be their experience," is it really contributing anything?

AgtFox at 06:50 AM on 10.8.2008

As I said, I think it may be a play at increasing sales and trying to bring in the more casual crowd to what is mostly a hardcore endeavor in the RPG genre.

justabaldguy at 12:14 PM on 10.8.2008

I like this idea. I really think they're onto something, but Pete's request could have been worded better. For example, if he said "Watch a non-game play this for about 30-40 hours in play time. Observe what they do and don't do, and how you, the hardcore gamer, would have handled tasks/quests differently."

My guess is they're trying to illustrate the point that the game can be played, not necessarily completed, by everyone, and that any player out there can expect a reasonable amount of fun from their time with Fable 2. Just my guess, but it does seem to me that he's trying to relate this to Animal Crossing or any Sims game, to show that Fable 2 will handle every player, regardless of gaming level.