Coins, glorious coins! Why help your friends when you can get rich instead?Take away the darker edge of the Fable universe and replace it with a family-friendly co-op slugfest, and you have Fable Heroes. This side-scrolling beat-’em-up casts you and your friends as four puppets, hacking and slashing your way through Hobbes, Hallowmen, and giant chickens for no other reason than to collect coins and buy new abilities.
Whether you’re playing online or locally, alongside human or A.I. companions, the mission stays the same: move forward, smash crates, kill enemies, and rejoice in your newfound wealth. Moral choice — a staple of the Fable series — comes down to selecting between good and evil treasure chests (one rewards your friends, the other curses them). Other chests contain random and often unwanted power-ups. Giant Hero, for example, makes you big, but so painfully slow that you’ll regret being “blessed” with your new size.
Some levels end with a brief racing mini-game.
Choose the wrong path at the end of a level and you'll face big nasties like this guy.As coins rain down on the battlefield, you’ll want to snatch them up ASAP before another puppet can snag them. Killing enemies boosts your multiplier, which increases how much gold you earn. Those coins are crucial: after each level, you roll dice and move your puppet across a game board, spending money on each tile to improve your stats and unlock new abilities.
The fun lasts only about an hour before the game is over, although the ability to play in Dark Albion (the same Albion, but with tougher enemies and niftier visuals) extends the action. Unfortunately, you just don’t get much for your $10 — and a laggy online experience doesn’t help either. The main reason to play? You’ll be able to transfer gold earned here to your Fable: The Journey character.
After each level, you move around a board to buy upgrades with all those sweet coins you grabbed.PUBLISHER: Microsoft • DEVELOPER: Lionhead Studios • ESRB: Everyone • MULTIPLAYER: 4 in co-op (local or Xbox Live) • ACHIEVEMENTS: Easy • COST: 800 Microsoft Points ($10)
+ Rare family-friendly fun on XBLA; features environments and enemies that series fans will recognize.
+ You get to kick chickens!
– The board-game section is slow and unclear.
? What does this game have to do with Fable, again?
