Fable 2

The combat is satisfying and flowing

Remember how you thought Peter Molyneux had gone mad when he first mentioned one-button combat? Remember all those visions you had of a simplistic, Zelda III-style button mash? Well put those fears out of your mind, because Fable 2's combat is versatile, stylish and very, very satisfying.

The swordplay feels like a ramped-up version of Jade's staff fighting from Beyond Good And Evil. Taps of the melee button send your hero slicing in your chosen direction, while flicks of the left analogue stick divide his attentions between enemies as he moves from one to the next through slick, violent transition moves. Combat is context-sensitive too, meaning that angle of attack, the state of your enemies and even their placement in the geography of the landscape will have an effect on how each attack plays out. You might only have one button to use, but once you come to understand the different things that button can do in different situations, you'll find a great deal of depth to be had. It's just that here, the depth comes from tactical observation of the battlefield rather than the number of different controls you can combo together.

Speaking of comboing though, there's plenty of that. With another button responsible for long-range attacks via a crossbow or pistol, and a third handling magic attacks - either in a circular burst wave or aimed shot, depending on whether you direct the stick while charging up - the offensive options for combat against a group are many indeed. And as importantly as anything else, it's very easy to look very cool while you're using them.

Within minutes we found ourselves ploughing through four or five enemies at a time, using a quick force blast to break up the crowd when things got too tight, before mopping up a straggler with a crossbow bolt and pushing the last one or two off a cliff edge. It all links and flows beautifully, and you cannot fail to feel like Dante and Nero's estranged medieval cousin while partaking.

Character customisation is powerful, but as easy as you could imagine

As we all know, to properly customise an RPG character takes many hours of poring over screens full of stats, careful tweaking and balancing of equipment and many, many, manyhours of grinding up through experience levels until your protagonist is pimped out to exactly the state you want him in. Fortunately, Fable 2 doesn't know this, and so the development of your hero couldn't be a friendlier process.

As you fight your way through Albion, enemies will drop different coloured experience orbs covering strength, skill and magical ability. Collect enough and you can spend them on ability upgrades, gaining new combat techniques and spells as you do. Upgrades to the three disciplines automatically augment their respective attack buttons (strength for melee, skill for ranged weapons, magic for, erm, magic) and are ready to go as soon as you leave the menu. Again, it's as simple to use as the upgrade interface in any action game, but deep enough to feel like a proper RPG through and through.