DLC Review: Knothole Island
It’s simple enough to avoid paying full price for a game; borrow it from a friend, trade old titles in, buy used or auction-hunt on eBay. Unfortunately this isn’t an option with downloadable content, so gamers always have to ask themselves if the bonus content is worth the cost. In the case of Lionhead’s ‘Knothold Island’ content pack recently released for Fable 2, the answer is a definite yes.
I wouldn’t recommend the content pack for someone who’s relegated the game to trade-in status and is hoping it’ll breathe life back into it because the quests it adds aren’t terribly long. Put in an hour or two and you’ll be able to explore pretty much anything the island has to offer. Where the content really comes in is expanding the possibility for a player who hasn’t purchased the game yet, or has only put in a little bit of time. One of the big appeals of Fable 2 is that since they did away with armor you can choose your garb to fit your style of character; black-garbed assassin, swashbuckling pirate or powerful sorcerer. The content pack gives you some interesting style options to round out the content.
It puts in some more assassin pieces, allowing you to complete that set, as well as more scandalous options if you’re interested in the fighting bar wench idea. There’s a suit of armor for anyone desiring a more medieval look to go with that battle axe, and a couple staves if you’re looking for a complete wizardly theme. The Halo assault rifle nicely rounds out the full Master Chief gear, although like the sword it’s sadly underpowered. In addition to the weight loss potion there are other beverages that’ll change your character’s appearance, making them taller, brawnier, even removing scars.
There are some interesting augments available but nothing is quite so nice as the augment remover. It doesn’t allow you to remove augments from legendary weapons but you can take out an augment you regret using. By far though the best feature for anyone who’s completed the main quest and gone the route of absolute good is that you can get a certain furry friend back.