My Top Fictional Video Game Destinations

Escapism is one of the best parts of a video game, and it is made even more satisfying when the world you are exploring in is beautiful. Video games often get a lot of criticism for their violence, but people also need to take a step back and realise just what a positive impact visiting beautiful fictional landscapes can have on people, too. 

While my list could go on forever, I have decided to compile a list of just some of my favourite fictional video game destinations that I wouldn't mind visiting. Take a look below!

Whiterun

There's a lot of places in Skyrim that would be amazing to visit, but Whiterun has some truly stunning views. Whiterun is a major city in Skyrim, a major commercial hub that has plenty of foot traffic. 

Animal Crossing 

The Animal Crossing series is always been one of my go-to's when I just want to relax, or cheer myself up. Everything in the world is pleasant, pretty, and oh-so-cute! If I was able to, I could imagine myself spending my future retirement in a place like that.

Isle Delfino

A holiday destination for Peach and Mario in Super Mario Sunshine, Isle Delfino is such a sunny, pleasant looking place that I wouldn't mind spending a holiday on, either! Featuring a theme park, a sandy beach, a peaceful bay, a bustling plaza, fishing port, volcano, and a small village, there's plenty to do here.

Koholint Island

Like a lot of places on this list, it is best to imagine that you are visiting them after the bad guys have been taken care of (or, before they have arrived to cause mischief). The fictional dream land of Koholint Island in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening would be a beautiful place to visit! Framed by a massive egg atop Mount Tamaranch, it is made up of a quaint villages, swamp and pond areas, a beautiful beach, and prairies, and caves. I cannot wait to see how this all looks in the Switch remake!

Hyrule

Serving as the setting for many Zelda games, Hyrule is a beautiful land filled with deep forests, tall mountains, deserts, vast lakes, cities, villages, and temples. The landscape changes considering on where about's you are playing in the Zelda timeline, but the beauty remains consistent! 

Albion

The land of Albion changes a fair bit throughout the Fable series, but one thing remains among each map - it is a pretty stunning place. From the cobbled streets of Bowerstone, to the gorgeous countryside of Oakfield, it would be wonderful to visit here.

Toussaint

Ah, Toussaint is definitely easy on the eye, and is perhaps the most picture-perfect place on this list, in my opinion. Included as a destination on The Witcher 3's 'Blood and Wine' DLC, Toussaint is famous for it's wines, so what better way to enjoy this beautiful landscape than to sit back and take it all in with a glass at hand? 

Columbia 

The first of two Bioshock destinations to feature on my list, Columbia is a stunning city in the sky that would be delightful to visit if the whole place didn't go to pot! The steampunk architecture, combined with the bright and breezy feel is rather pleasing. 

Rapture

Taking away the splicers, and transporting it back to its heyday would make Rapture a pretty wonderful place to visit. The combination of glaring neon lights, a city infrastructure, and the natural beauty of the deep sea would be jaw-dropping to witness. Imagine staring out of the wide windows of one of the buildings you are in to see a massive blue whale swim past, for example?

Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley is a cute, quaint looking place that would be perfect to visit if you are looking to de-stress, escape a hectic lifestyle, and take some downtime. 

What would your dream destinations be? Let me know on Twitter!

Fable: The Journey "Telling The Tale" Documentary

Lionhead Studios have released a short documentary for Fable: The Journey. 

Developed exclusively for the Xbox 360 and Kinect, Fable: The Journey sees the player help out series regular Theresa, who has enlisted you in an action packed adventure. 

Check out the documentary below. Fable: The Journey will be released on the 12th October. 

Minecraft Xbox 360 Skin Pack

Xbox Minecraft just got a hell of a lot sexier, with its new skin pack.  The pack contains 40 new skins for the bargain price of $2 (Just over £1).  Some of you will probably argue that they should be free much like they are on the PC, however Microsoft will generally charge for downloadable content.  As Minecraft 360 is overseen by Microsoft and was developed by 4J Studios, it is managed very differently.

However for the sake of $2 the pack contains 40 new skins, a lot of which are characters from other 360 titles, such as Gears of War, Halo, Splosion Man, Fable and Trails HD.  My personal favourites have to be the Knight, Master Chief, Nurse, Banjo Clay Carmine and oh of course the Creeper Suit.  

Written by Anna Harris

Review: Fable Heroes

Lionhead Studios released their last Fable title, Fable III back in 2010, so fans of the series have had to deal with almost a two year absence since then. Step forward Fable Heroes, an Xbox Live Arcade game which has been drafted in to fill the gap between Fable III and Fable: The Journey. But how does it compare to this somewhat flawed, but incredibly fun and light-hearted series? 


Well, first of all, it's quite a departure from the gameplay in the main series. Swapping the RPG quest completing for a basic but undeniably charming looking hack n' slash may disappoint some fans wishing for another round of saving Albion, but to those looking for a simple and fun co-op button basher-look no further.


First off, let's look at the game's design. Arguably one of the strongest aspects of this arcade title,  players will be guided through a vibrant, cartoon-like world based on some of the most familiar locations in Fable. You'll be facing off against hollow men in a cemetery, battling hobbes in a cave, or hacking your way through beetles in Bowerstone for starters. Players will get the choice to play as one of the heroes from the series, which have all been given a cute, almost "Little Big Planet" puppet makeover. Both the puppets and the landscapes are vibrant and colourful, and compliment each other well.

As for the gameplay, it's fun to hack your way through hordes of Fable minions with a friend or two, whilst you greedily grab as many coins as possible from these deceased bad guys. However, some of you may not enjoy how repetitive the gameplay actually is. Each level is set up exactly the same-cross the starting line, hack and slash your way through varying waves of enemies, collect coins and generate a number of power ups from the multitude of chests littered across the level. Once you make it to the finish line, a quick tally up of coins will show who is the victor. 


Now the game is definitely much more enjoyable with real players, rather than the NPC companions. I played it with one other friend, whilst the NPC's filled the two other spots. Whilst they did a good job at keeping down the level of enemies, they are not incredibly useful when it comes to sharing out items. For example, when dying for me was imminent, these NPC characters wouldn't consider me...they'd rush for the heart before I even get a chance to use it myself. The same applies for coins. Damn you, you greedy item loving puppets.

As well as immersing players into familiar Fable landscapes with the usual crop of enemies, Lionhead have also remembered to include perhaps the key aspect of the series: the importance of choice. Whilst it's not exactly a big part of the gameplay here (in fact...it's hardly present), it's nice to actually see them acknowledge fans love of choosing the good or evil route. In Fable Heroes, some chests are marked with a halo or devil sign, where players can choose to have a good event happen to them or other players (a shower of coins or a power-up for example), or choose for a random player to gain a misfortune (eg, being pursued for a space of time by a lightning zapping cloud). Whilst it's fun to see your friend get punished for a little while, there's always a chance that you'll be bestowed with it instead, which can be a little frustrating. However, it's up to you to take that gamble!


Now once a level has been completed, you're whisked away to a board game set up (reminiscent of Mario Party in a way), where you will get the chance to roll the dice and unlock some customisation for your puppet. These can range from changing their expressions, to upgrading their attacks for example, whilst there is also the opportunity to unlock some other familiar faces if you are lucky enough to land on that tile. Many of the tiles on the board will not be unlocked until you complete a certain world, so this section does feel a little slow when you have landed on nothing but locked spaces. 

Overall, Fable Heroes is a enjoyable little game, but don't go into it expecting it to be another Fable title, as it really isn't. It's a basic hack and slash game with cute, enjoyable aesthetics which, thankfully, hark back to the essence of the previous titles. Yes, it can get rather repetitive, but playing this with a friend stops you noticing this, as it soon becomes a competitive battle for the most amount of coins rather than a samey fight. My major criticism is that Fable Heroes seems to be an incredibly short game, so hopefully Lionhead Studios will release a few more levels as DLC soon enough. As some of the characters are only unlocked when players have a Fable: The Journey save present on their consoles, I'm betting that DLC containing locations from this Kinect title at some point after it's release.


Fable fans will enjoy playing as heroes from the previous games, and will probably enjoy battling against Fable's enemies once more, but some may be disappointed by the lack of challenge, repetitiveness and departure from the quest based RPG game that the Fable series always has been. However, the games short and sweet, and serves as a great time waster. Personally, I was happy playing as a cute looking Reaver (one of the best characters in Fable history, in my opinion), and loved the no-brainer game play. Give it a go!

Got a game you want me to review? Get in touch!

Fable: Heroes Announced

The latest Fable title has been announced today. Official Xbox Magazine had a chance to sample the Xbox Live Arcade title, whilst also revealing some rather cute and colourful screenshots from the game.


Fable: Heroes is a four player side-scrolling hack n' slash style game, where players are competing to earn the most coins. Judging by the screenshots, the art style is somewhat different from the main Fable games, but plenty of the games heroes (in the form of hero dolls here) and enemies are included to remind fans that this is still very much an addition into the Fable series.


You can check out the screenshots below, and Official Xbox Magazine has more details on what to expect from this game. Fable: Heroes will be getting a Summer 2012 release for the Xbox 360. 

Big Announcement Time?

It seems that today brings two possibly big announcements from developers Atari and Lionhead Studios.


Atari

Atari took to Twitter yesterday to reveal that there will be a "big announcement" from them at some point today. Twitter followers were being urged to 'retweet' the message and guess what their announcement would be, in order to win an Atari t-shirt. Anyone wishing to give it a go have until 12am EST to get their guesses in. After this, the news will be announced.


Lionhead Studios

The second mystery news comes from Microsoft's Lionhead Studios. The developers site has launched a countdown clock which will end next week.


This statement accompanies the countdown clock:

"It's time for a fresh look and feel for our website. Who knows what other surprises are coming..."

Whilst the countdown could simply be a revamp on the website, perhaps showcasing some of their next Fable title, the Kinect-designed Fable: The Journey. However, there's no telling what could be revealed when the clock ends, quite conveniently on the day of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.


What do you all think Atari's announcement may be, or what Lionhead Studios are waiting to reveal? Leave your opinions below in the comments section!

What is Fable: The Journey?

Fable: The Journey was announced at E3 last month, with a demo and trailer to boot. I, like perhaps many Fable fans, was a little disappointed at the new direction Lionhead Studios has opted to take, but Fable boss Peter Molyneux has disputed critics claims of Fable: The Journey being an "on-the-rails" game. So, what exactly is it?

Whilst Molyneux may dislike claims of this latest Fable adventure as being "on-the-rails", the demo at E3 felt exactly like something from this genre. Part of the charm of the Fable series was the RPG aspects, the delightful world of Albion, and the ability to "choose" the heroes path. Unfortunately, Fable: The Journey has already come under criticism from a large proportion of the fan base, who have witnessed the demo unveiled at E3. The demo appears to have scrapped the usual Fable game play for something more Kinect orientated. Players will be encouraged to ditch their Xbox controllers to become the controller themselves. The demo featured sections where the player conjured up spells by waving their hands. Whilst I admit that this looked somewhat magical, sadly the true essence of Fable seemed to be missing from this demo.

One of the nice touches to Fable and it's two sequels was the ability to customise your hero in whichever way you please. I have always enjoyed making my hero look a little ridiculous, to add some more humour into the proceedings. However, if the demo is correct, it appears that this may not happen in Fable: The Journey, as the camera, for the most part, will be first person.

Knowing that details at this time are very sparse, I do not want to criticise this game too much. As I have previously mentioned, I have highly enjoyed playing the previous three games in the series, despite the glitches and flaws. However, by bringing Fable onto the Kinect, already, game play will be changing. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. Change can be a good thing, it makes tired franchises more refreshing, so maybe this change will work in Lionhead Studio's favour. 

After following this series for a few years now, I am fully aware of the promises that Peter Molyneux makes. Sadly, not all of these promises make it into the games (horse-riding anyone?), so what is going to happen with Fable: The Journey? Well, so far it Molyneux has confirmed that this game will not follow the usual Fable bloodline. You will be playing a completely different character (not the hero), who is trying to escape from the dangers that lurk at Albion this time around. He also stated that this game will be about freedom, although this is slightly contradictory, as much of Fable: The Journey will be viewed from the drivers seat of a horse-drawn carriage. The Kinect's voice activation ability will be incorporated here, such as commanding the horse to "stop" and "start", and the game will be controlled by your body movements, which the Kinect sensor will register. Weapon customisation, introduced in Fable III, appears to be making a return here too.

Those who do not own a Kinect, or dislike this type of gaming, fear not. Molyneux has mentioned that a follow-up to Fable III is currently in the works, but this will probably not be for some time yet. It appears that Fable: The Journey is what he is trying to push to the public right now. I anticipate new news on this game, as although I remain somewhat sceptical, as a Fable fan, I am finding myself very intrigued by it. Perhaps a better demo and more information may help many of us make more sense of what Fable: The Journey is going to be exactly. Until then, the mystery and the divided opinions will most definitely continue.