Running Fable, created by Seashell Studios, is a family-friendly racing game inspired by the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. As such, players can pick between the avatars of a tortoise or a hare as they race around a track to reach the trophy first. Supporting online matches with crossplay and up to ten players on the track at once, it also has an offline mode where you can race against the AI.

The gameplay is broken up into two parts, but the race itself is the main feature. Before the race starts, players can place traps and items around the course, but you will not be able to see where other players are placing items on the map to avoid overstacking a short bend or passage. The traps can slow progress in the race for whoever hits it, such as a bear trap that will leave the victim with slight stagger before being able to run again, or a cage trap that will be broken when the trapped player jumps and hits the red button on the roof of the cage.

Spider webs will bounce the player backwards, breaking once it’s triggered, and storm clouds can be used in case you have players that like to jump around constantly, giving them a shock in midair.

The race itself can be over in under a minute and will have a countdown timer for runner-up scores if players reach the end. With the small selection of courses, there isn’t much on offer in terms of locations and gameplay. I was hoping that each area had something like 3-5 different tracks, but it was very much a case of one-and-done. The only variation is provided by the aforementioned traps.

At first, the controls felt like they needed a slight adjustment as the sensitivity is high by default, but thankfully, this can be fixed in the settings. There are only four inputs you will use, such as sprint, a special skill dependent on which animal you are using, which could be hovering or sliding over water, sliding, and jumping. Nice and simple.

The audio was another setting I personally had to lower as I found the lobby music too loud, and despite turning down the music, the music that plays during a race can’t be adjusted. It seems to defeat the purpose of having a setting for audio if it does not work across the whole game.

There are a few issues and bugs around the game that don’t really take away from the experience, but they do seem like they need to be fixed. Achievements were unlocking for coming first on a course, even if you didn’t finish, and a few clipping issues like being able to run in water or getting stuck on a bridge.

The online experience could also be a bit more stable and I experienced some significant lag spikes, but I will give them credit where it’s due – there is a large list of regions to set your preference to, so I will be very pleased with actually being placed in the AU region for games.

Running Fable has taken the concept of kart racing games but made it slower and shorter. With children being the targeted audience, it does not really have a difficulty setting and can be finished quickly, but it feels like there is no reward for winning – you just unlock a decorative item, but it’s something everyone gets. If you were able to change the colour of them, atleast you would be able to stand out a bit more.

Written by: Shane Walsh