If a movie had been released today with an all-star British cast – John Cleese, Ben Kingsley, Stephen Fry, Simon Pegg, Skins star Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Wanamaker and even a cameo from Jonathan Ross – if it were the third in a money-spinning, Bafta-winning series, if it were being heralded as a triumph by most reviewers, one might expect it to be the lead story in most review pages and arts programmes.

Fable III is funny and engaging and is sure to turn a healthy profit for its British creators Lionhead Studios. But it isn't a movie, it's a game, and even though gaming is now financially the biggest entertainment industry in the world, it still isn't really on the cultural map.

Lionhead CEO Peter Molyneux may hope to change that with the stellar cast – movie stars have been lending their voices to games for a while, but the Fable III lineup is particularly impressive. Of course, in artistic terms, the question is whether, having employed this star cast, the game gives them dialogue which uses their skills. While game graphics and music have progressed in leaps and bounds – there's even an Ivor Novello award for game soundtracks these days – writing tends to be rather neglected, with writers brought in after the important game decisions have been made to "wrap a story round it".

There's some evidence of this in Fable III. Having employed Cleese and Wanamaker, they're used to voice what are effectively menus, with dialogue such as: "You've amassed enough money to buy a house. Houses are excellent investments." It's to Cleese's credit that he managed to make that line sound passably interesting, but I wish he and some of the others had been used more imaginatively. And unlike a movie, games don't tend to put all their star power in the first few minutes: it's a good few hours' gameplay before you get to Fry or Ross.

Much of the casting is good – Michael Fassbender brings a steely realism to what might have been an over-the-top evil ruler Logan, while Naomie Harris's rebel leader Page is measured and believable and games-voicing veteran Sean Pertwee delivers a superb performance as a mercenary soldier.

The game is occasionally puzzling – why, in an industrial-era game, does the hero spend the first section wearing furs and carrying a hammer or sword? – but it hangs together in a good-humoured and often charming way. It reminded me most of 1987 classic The Princess Bride – often nonsensical, but sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.

And of course, games aren't movies. Fable III might not make The Review Show, but given the enormous sales of the previous episode, Molyneux is unlikely to mourn that too deeply.

Naomi Alderman is the Guardian's games columnist and the author of Disobedience and The Lessons