Gaming Fable 2 Non-Gamer Review

This was a very interesting read, great idea Bit-Tech! I thought the review was very well done and it was especially intriguing to see the point of view from a more casual perspective. I think more of these sorts of reviews could be a good thing, depending on the game of course. However, like Joe said, "there's only so long you can do a non-gamer review before your non-gamer actually becomes a gamer..." Unless you used hypnosis to wipe their short term memory, hehehe.

 

enter rolling career placements of 2 weeks for budding journalists who dont game. But seriously, i think Joe wants to keep his job more than anything and this review served its purpose imo, to abide by molyneux's wishes of having a noob gamer do the review. I wont look any further into this game from her recommendation and descriptions of too many bandits during transit and from gameplay descriptions it sounds very monotanous, or would atleast become so after several hours of gaming. nice work by cardfaith

peace

fatman

 

i think Faith should substitute Joe....

 

I just realized reading the comments on the article, which by the way is excellent. I first started playing video games when i was a kid on atari and original nintendo. Games then didn't need somebody to review it, it was just simple fun side scrollers. Developer and gamer both were new to it; I didn't really look at playing video gamest then as a gamer, but rather like what Faith has done with this article just from a standpoint of a kid, I mean that was my point of view. That's why I enjoyed this article, however I don't think I'll play fable 2 because I have friends that have already beaten it and said its too short just like fable 1. I'm just not feeling it.

Its games like contra, for the nes, where you're not going to beat it unless you are good at it, or you used the code. That's what makes a hardcore gamer its not just the person but also the game, and you're not going to beat that game (in general) until till you've given up a beautiful day outside to do so. I do understand peter's point though and I think it worked out fine except who are you writing this to? Its like Interplay's motto For gamers by gamers. What not gamer reads a review about a game? I mean some do but that's a slight minority. Sadly most games will only be as big as their hype, and I think that's all peter was trying to create here. Maybe I'll try it though, but I'm liking what I hear about fallout 3 better.

 

Ha yes ok, more than enough for anyone!

 

Now that we have the non-gamer review, can one of the regular reviewers play the game and write their thoughts? It would be interesting to compare.

 

Nice idea to get a non gamer to do a review, sure its different than what Joe would have written, quoting npc's? can't remember when I've seen Joe doing that, on the other hand he would have given more details about the combat system. The review did turn out good though, Bit-tech picked the right non gamer for it.

 

And I think here's the crux of the 'hardcore' to 'casual' shift. It's not necessarily the supposed untapped market of casual players - it's the conversion on non-gamers to gamers. Companies realize that there are people who have no interest in their specialized products, so they start preparing 'entry-level' products. And before you know it, their overall customer base grows. And later on many of those casual players become hardcore players, with increased sales on their hardcore products as well as new sales from their casual products.

Kudos for having a non-gamer review Bit-tech! I've always found it interesting to see the other side of gaming. I thought minutiae like skill selection and class style would be the hardest part of 'teaching' my wife how to play games - turns out that part was a breeze for her, but simply navigating in a virtual 3d environment for the first time in her life was the largest hurdle. There are a lot of things that we hardcore gamers take for granted that can really dissuade new gamers from actually becoming interested.

 

Is the combat actually that dumbed down, or is it just accessible to a new player. Like, in God of War, you could get through the game with the same SLASH SLASH SLASH combo that involved pressing the same button over and over, but there also was a huge amount of other moves that you could use, but they really weren't necessary, you will win either way.

 

You see, in most BT reviews you just dont get the kind of depth that covers the relative difficulties in catching (and booting) the avian fauna....

Grats Faith

 

I enjoyed reading that - I think the concept could work well on an occasional basis for appropriate games. Give your sister a job.

 

fun review, interesting writing style in that very few reviewers would ever go that far itno establishing plot and discussing the nuances of characters or quoting NPC's. Not to mention it was pretty humours

while it's an intersting concept, in terms of information an average gamer would like in a review I think missrd on common but crucial information. For instance is it multiplayer, how long is the play time? I believe it's a fanasy RPG is the combat real time? Are the controls responsive and is gameplay smooth? etc I think seasoned reviewers pick up in what they and their audiences look for in a gaming experience. With no frame of reference, non-gamers might judge on metrics that are not significant to the actual buying audience

 

I was watching a lot of footage lately and the motif is really growing on me.

With your permission, I'd like to be your step-brother.

 

Good review faith, keep up the work experience and the gaming.
Maybe you will be turned to the darkside of hardcore gaming soon!
Can anybody shed any light on the multiplayer aspects please?

 

Is that not their exact plan by creating games that cater to the casual market?

 

Not played god of war, but it sounds similar.

It's not particually dumbed down, just surprisingly scalable. You can get by mashing the gamepad, or you can do really well by stringing together multiple moves/spells
(my personal favourite is a mix of the time-control spell and high-end ranged talents. slow time, shoot weapons off an enemy, warp behind another then headshot him from behind... etc )

Fable 2 has become my all time favourite game now, i just can't put it down... and i have fallout 3 to play as well

 

I was wondering how long it would take for a comment like that to appear, but don't you mean brother-in-law? Step-brother would involve your and Joe's parents...

Generally thought good review Faith, nice one!

Given then breadth of the Internet, I don't think BT needs to do another "hardcore" review, there's metacritic for that. This served a perfect purpose given Mone.. Mono... Mon-eh-loo's comments about appealing to casual gamers.

 

Hello Chicken Chaser!
lol I loved that nickname. Especially the way they call you that, like it's some honorable name or something.

I wish I had a brother that let me go play games at his work place when I was 16... Good review. Didn't expect the part where she said she would keep playing the game. Did she finish the story? Because that's usually when someone starts to poke into the internet part.

 

The first page completely put me off reading what potentially was a good review, going by the comments. Such ego which I doubt is even justified. It's like someone has become a character from pure-pwnage. Have to say last gaming review I am going to read on bit-tech!

 

Joe, we could have done with your perspective as an addendum to the original article. Perhaps Faith has partially vindicated some of Molyneux's points, but I don't think he was trying to ensnare casual gamers at the expense of more keen gamers.

Does this game hold any appeal for moderate/hardcore games?