I don’t own an XBox 360, although it is on my bucket list of things to buy. Furthermore, while I have heard of the Fable series of games, because of my lack of an XBox I’ve never played one. So when I heard that the series was coming to Windows Phone 7, I thought this might be a nice way to get in on the action. With Fable Coin Golf it’s apparently part of the Fable universe, but isn’t the same type of game as found on the XBox 360. It’s actually quite a fun little physics game (what other kind is there?) which is more akin to an obstacle course / golf game than anything else. Which is fun to play, and is great for the mobile nature of a smartphone. The graphics are kind of cool, with the difficulty setting on the game actually being quite suitable for a little casual fun.
The graphics are fairly functional and do little to wow or push the Windows Phone platform forward, but they are nice enough to look at. I do like the style they’ve gone for here with the visual design, with each table surface looking like a little village complete with fences, trees, and rivers. The general goal of each level is to guide your object through the path to the glowing yellow vortex at the end of the level. Along the way you must collect gold coins, kill monsters, and avoid traps like falling off a bridge and into the rivers. Which is actually a lot harder than it sounds at times. Overall, the game is fun and there is a definite sense of humour in the form of your guides throughout the game. I suspect they are characters one has already met if you’ve played the “proper” Fable games, but I honestly cannot comment since I’ve not actually played any of them as yet. Maybe one day I will…
Sound design within the game is quite good (I would have said it was sound sound design, but that would have just been lame), with good music and sound effects. But then this really isn’t a game designed to champion these particular aspects of the platform - they serve their function and don’t get in the way. I will admit that I found some of the control mechanisms within the game to be a bit fiddly, however, and sometimes it can be quite difficult to get the right angle or level of thrust present to ensure you get to precisely where you want to go. On the plus side, because this is an XBox Live title, there are Achievements present, although I’ll be buggered if I can seem to get too many of them. Guess I will just have to keep playing the game a lot more, because right now I will be honest - I kinda suck at the thing. Maybe it’s just me - I do hope everyone else has better luck!
Overall, Fable Coin Golf is a fun enough title if you’re looking for something to while away the time spent waiting for something else to happen. If you’re a fan of the “proper” Fable series on the XBox 360, then this is a must-have game - apparently the gold you earn in Fable Coin Golf will flow back to your XBox 360 character, allowing you to spend the gold within the bigger titles. Which sounds like a fun concept, and in a way harkens back to one of the originally stated aims with XBox Live on Windows Phone - to offer a chance to extend and expand the playing universe of the bigger titles, not necessarily with precisely the same titles, but with extended scenarios and characters. Fable Coin Golf does this quite admirably, and makes me wish more game series from XBox would find their way onto Windows Phone in a similar vein. Halo, anyone?