I’ll never forget the first system I ever played that made me fall in love with gaming: the Nintendo 64. It was in my early childhood where I got to experience the golden years of gaming. I remember a few nights where I’d play "Mario Kart 64" after daycare. And at the end of every week, my awesome mom would take me to Blockbuster and I’d pick whatever game appealed to me. Oh, you better believe I played "Mario Party 2," "Banjo-Kazooie" and even the first "Super Smash Bros." I still have the original cartridge! #HumbleBrag

It wasn’t until the generation after, when I started to really take on video games – the days when Nintendo and Sony launched the GameCube and PlayStation 2, respectively. I was lucky enough to have a cool dad who grew up playing Atari and got a thrill out of seeing the evolution of video games. At first, I didn’t know what to think of that large black block he called the Xbox until he said he got "Crash Nitro Kart." Then, I just didn’t care and immediately jumped into the game.

Now, in my college years, I still have the original Xbox, in great condition. I’ve been able to play some great games that I missed in my childhood that I’ve been able to play today like "Conker: Live & Reloaded," "Spy vs. Spy" and "Godzilla: All-Monster Melee." But, sometimes, I wish I could go back to my childhood because back then, I didn’t hear about Microsoft Game Studios until I was 13 and playing "Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts."

Oooooohh ... how I yell Microsoft’s name in anger like Dave in "Alvin & the Chipmunks." Think of that, but a THOUSAND times more rage, especially in light of recent events regarding the first entry of the "Fable" franchise.

"Fable" has had a weird history in the game industry due to over-hype before each release thanks to lead designer Peter Molyneux. Molyneux is infamously known as the “I take back what I said” kind of guy in the video game industry. He’s hyped the game on absent features that were allegedly in said game, hyping games with lukewarm experiences and has gone on record to say the last game he made sucks in comparison to the next game he’s releasing.

These issues all started after the release of the first "Fable" game. I managed to nab a copy at one of the local game stores here in Orlando for $5.

"Fable" puts you the world of Albion, taking the role of a young boy whose entire family and village is massacred by a group of savage bandits. You are taken away to a small camp called the Heroes Guild, where you learn that you are destined to become Albion’s hero. Whether you gain a reputation as justice warrior or a bloodthirsty menace is entirely up to you, depending on your moral choices in the game. However, no matter what path you choose, you’ll always get one of two endings.

Before diving into "Fable," I did a bit of research in seeing what critics thought of the game. The game was critically acclaimed, winning over fifty awards and became the fastest-selling Xbox title at the time. On average, review scores were graded with a B plus or higher. After my previous experience with "Fable III," I was excited to see how greatness evolved into the series I know today.

I wish I could take those words back, but I need them to express how severely disappointed and angry I am with not only this game, but with the gaming community as a whole. "Fable" is littered with so many horrendous features. Every corner you turn, you’ll face the demons of not goblins or wraiths, but constant lagging and bad voice acting. The lagging was so bad that there were a few times where the game crashed on me just because it couldn’t keep up with its own menu system. As for the voice acting, characters come across as mere nuisances and thorns in my side than anything else. It’s enough to make me want to play "Mega Man 8."

Dare I mention the world of "Fable" itself? It’s like experiencing a rip-off copy of "Lord of the Rings" with a hint of unoriginality and lazy creation. I know it’s to the point of being nit-picky, but when you name areas of your world Darkwood, Great Lake, Hook Coast, Oakvale, Knothole Garden, or Orchard Farm, you might as well have pinned up every adjective in the dictionary and thrown a dart, blindfolded.

And how could I forget the most memorable characters in gaming? We have Whisper, Thunder, Twinblade, Briar Rose, Weaver, Jack of Blades, and Maze. Yep, you read that correctly. There is a character whose name is the definition for a complex labyrinth.

Nowhere does that definition say, “Mystical wizard with mysterious intentions!”

The most disappointing part of this game was the lack of a decent story. "Fable" tries to make heart-breaking moments but often comes across as desperate and snooze-inducing. They tried pulling all of the tear-jerker cues but came in during the wrong times and with not enough drive to make the story immersive. Your character’s mother gets murdered in front of you and at the end of the game, your sister, whose eyes were gouged out and who was trained as a cold-blooded killer with no emotion, asks you to kill her at the end of the game. Why? I guess for assisted suicide? I don’t know. The whole game made me feel like the boys in the "South Park" episode, “Towelie.” I don’t care how detailed the story is anymore. You’re trying too hard and now, I don’t care.

How did "Fable" garner so many positive reviews and win over fifty awards? Molyneux hyped the game enough to where gamers had fireworks going off in their pants from pure excitement. They failed to look over all of the technical difficulties and poorly created content. As my roommate argued, “But, think of what this game accomplished in that time in comparison to other games.” That would be a very insignificant moral choice system. There were other games that had a bigger impact than "Fable." In 2004, we had "Manhunt," the "Ninja Gaiden reboot," "Far Cry," "Mario vs. Donkey Kong," "Ribbit King," "Doom 3," "Pikmin 2," "The Sims 2," "Star Wars: Battlefront," "Katamari Damacy" and "Sly 2: Band of Thieves."

In 2004, there was no excuse that this game couldn’t have been made and cared for better. There are point-and-click adventures from the '90s with better content than "Fable." It wasn’t until I looked at the cover when I saw why I hate this game so much.