If you couldn’t get enough of Fable 2 and its fantasy world of Albion last October, then it’s time to jump back into Microsoft’s and Lionhead Studios’ release of Knothole Island. What exactly does the download content offer that players should reinvest their time into the game? Well if two to three hours of quests seem worthy of your time, then Knothole Island may be just worth the extra dime and nickel you have to shell out for it. Continue reading to find out whether we can recommend a purchase of Fable 2's first set of downloadable content (DLC), Knothole Island, which is available right now on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
The story behind Knothole Island is that gamers must venture off to this troubled island as it encounters weird weather conditions. Over the course of the quest, players will have to solve the problems that arise three times on behalf of the town’s mayor. By the time you have finished bringing the rain, sunshine and snow back to the island, players will be met with a critical decision that will affect the residents of Knothole Island. So there you have it, one major quest to embark on and that’s it, right?
Well not so fast, Lionhead went to the lengths of adding countless new items to retrieve, a mini-quest of sorts where you must find ten different books to unlock an achievement, and a specialty store that has gamers trading in items for hidden surprises. The specialty store will take at least thirty minutes to go around the world of Albion to collect/buy the items they require to be traded in for their boxed surprises.
The total size of Knothole Island should take about 45 minutes to walk and see everything it offers. With three dungeons to crawl through and small town area to meet and greet townsfolk, Knothole Island has high production values but yet doesn’t offer more than one major mission to complete. The most attracting feature of Knothole Island may in fact be (spoiler alert!) the inclusion of changing the weather of the island at the whim of your own discretion after the mission is completed.
One has to wonder why Lionhead hasn’t gone to the extra lengths of introducing a secondary villain that would entice gamers to purchase the download content. Gamers who were left scratching their head about the last boss fight in the original game will still be left yearning for one after they complete the Knothole Island DLC since there’s still no baddie that makes the hair on your skin stand up within Fable 2. Instead, gamers will be fighting through the usual suspects of enemies with one troll encounter, three banshees, and dozens of balverines; among other shadow creatures residing in the dungeons.
With a total of three achievements to earn, gamers have reasoning to stay on Knothole Island beyond the short town-saving quest that the DLC is based on. The other noteworthy addition is the inclusion of steel armor for gamers that were complaining that the armor wasn’t to a satisfactory level in the original release. Though, priced at 800 Microsoft Points, gamers should only purchase the download content if they’re already huge fans of the original game. If not, then be wary as it’s a short romp through the main quest.
Advice: Buy
