Fable III

I've been playing Fable 3 recently. As with previous iterations of the game, I don't know what to make of it. It's a game loaded with potential, but with a clunky implementation which makes it fall short of being something truly great. As it is, it's a fun game that doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It's a fairly good implementation of a sandbox game--they have a fleshed out main story and impart a sufficient sense of urgency to keep you chugging along the primary plot line. At the same time, at any given time, you're typically provided access to a middling range of side-quests that you can take or ignore as you please.

Overall, I'd say there are 3 main issues that prevent the game from being great.

1) The game is stupidly easy. 

• They have an achievement for never getting knocked out. This is not hard. The only way you could fail to get this achievement is by being bad, through inattention, or lack of knowledge of game mechanics. This is in large part because...
• Potions are cheap and the only limitation to their use is the number you're carrying. You can also carry food that heals you. This pretty  much means you have infinite life. Of course, you don't really need them most of the time, as...
• You are invulnerable while dodging. This means you can spam dodges infinitely to avoid any big hit and you don't lose combat effectiveness because...
• Guns are overpowered. They do just as much damage as melee attacks, but they can't be blocked or dodged. You can fire from a decent range so you are at very low risk of taking significant damage. The only drawback is you have to reload every 4 or 5 shots. This is offset by the ability to dodge while reloading. As you probably needed to gain some distance anyway, this isn't really an issue. 

2) Combat options are not well-implemented. 

• Melee combat is clunky and pointless. Guarding and attacking was decently done, but the charged attacks, or "flourishes" are in practice clunky and difficult to use effectively. Switching between offense and defense effectively is a little awkward at best, and the fact that enemies dodge and parry would be nice, except you always engage foes in large groups. This means that any real duel-type action is impossible because you'll get reamed by your enemy's five buddies as soon as you try to do anything fancy. The only real reason to use melee attacks is because shooting a gun all the time gets dull.
• Guns are overpowered. I know I mentioned it before, but it can't be overstated. Unlike melee attacks, they can't be avoided in any way. They're done at range, so you don't have to worry about engaging groups and getting surrounded. (just roll away) You can defeat anything in the game by mashing Y until you need space or to reload, then you hit A for a little bit. 
• Magic is only effective if charged. When it is, it's frighteningly good--I beat the last boss with 4 or 5 spell casts, tops. However, enemies usually don't allow you the luxury of standing there, completely vulnerable, charging a spell. You're usually only going to get low power spells off--which wouldn't be bad except they don't increase in damage as quickly as weapons do. It's at best a niche attack for certain effects or for hitting a large group of weak enemies with an area attack. 

3) Choice in the game is illusory.

• Good and Evil makes almost no difference. There are certain cosmetic effects--you look pale and gothy if you're very good and dark if you're very evil, but by and large your decisions to be good or evil doesn't really change much in the world. There are a few big choices after you become king, but your actual morality almost never comes into play. You could make the "evil" choices as a ruler and still be "good" from a moral standpoint. The only thing most choices affect are the random comments people make when you pass by. 
• I actually remained perfectly good while marrying 7 women and then killing off 6 of them. No one said ANYTHING about it. I re-adopted the 6 children from those marriages and set them all up in a row of houses. 
• Money is mostly useless past the beginning of the game. You have no real expenses! Okay, you have potions, but those are cheap. The only other things to buy are cosmetic items, weapons (which you don't need because the game is easy!), and real estate. So of course you're a real-estate tycoon. Everyone is. What the hell else is there to do with your gold? And that naturally leads to an excess influx of gold because real estate is profitable. 
• Gold is actually the key component to "victory" in the game. But really, since all you can really do with it is buy more profit making land, you'll have no issue meeting the final quota, unless you haven't been paying attention. So even though Lionhead intends you to make tough decisions (welfare of people vs. their survival) it's really a non-issue due to unlimited funds. 
• Quests are repetitive. They basically fall into your MMO staples: Kill Quest, Escort Quest, Mail Quest. They're engaging after a fashion, but it's just a question of where and when. Some of the fluff is fairly amusing, but actually doing the quests is pretty boring. MMOs do it better, IMO.

So the game is easy, the combat is clunky, and the non-combat choices don't really matter. Its saving grace is despite its flaws, it's somehow still fun. It could have been a great game if they had implemented those aspects better. As it stands, it's a diverting time sink.