The Bard's Tale

The Bard's Tale is an excellent mix of RPG, action and black humour, which should appeal to most gamers. It has a well-written script and strong storylines and characters supported by standard gameplay and graphics, with surprisingly good sound. The voice acting in particular is superb, particularly Cary Elwes as our not-so-noble hero.

What really makes this game is the humour and, believe it or not, the songs. Self-aware, delighting in twisting genre tropes, and compared to Monty Python by some reviewers, there are many laugh-out loud moments in this, not least from the three little goblins who follow the Bard around with a cheerful chorus of "it's bad luck to be you."

The graphics are reasonable but not outstanding. This is true of both the gameplay and the cutscenes, although the occasional "Bard's eye view" and good direction mean the cutscenes are immersive, and generally there is a good balance of cutscene to gameplay. Unfortunately the game's main weakness is the gameplay. Played as a top-down action game, some levels are dark enough that you cannot see where you need to go, or get hung up on obstacles you can't see. Some of the camera angles contribute to this problem. It is also possible to have problems with smaller enemies being blocked by your larger sprites, making targeting difficult. Because of the way the levels are laid out, it can be very difficult to spot enemies and move around obstacles. In combat this can be fatal. The summon creatures are good, but their AI is fairly basic, leaving the Bard as your main fighter in several battles.

The sound is excellent, and a particular highpoint of the game. As well as strong voice acting, it has good atmospheric effects and background music, which adds to the game and atmosphere. This is particularly true during the songs and performance sequences.

It has a reasonable play length, and lasts about 20 hours. There are numerous paths though the game, and the number of hidden quests and a few endings give it reasonable replay value. However before replaying it, you may want to give it a few weeks to get the songs out of your head.

This game should have broad appeal. RPG and fantasy fans should enjoy it, but so should survival horror and action players looking for the sarcastic side of their hobby. Some sequences may be disturbing to younger players, and the smut and language definitely targets an older audience, but gamers in their teens and up should thoroughly enjoy it.

Played it? Liked it? Can't get that blasted song out of your head?

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