Great sense of humour, but frustrating combat brings it down. Read our Australian review.
The Bard's Tale is a role playing game (RPG) for those who've grown bored with typical RPGs, or at least for those who want something a little different in their medieval fantasy worlds. While it may look like any other RPG, The Bard's Tale is filled with a wickedly cynical sense of humour aimed squarely at making fun of the gaming genre that spawned it.
This cynicism starts with the game's protagonist, the Bard. Not your typical young hero on a quest or a flawed ruffian with a heart of gold, the Bard is instead dodgier than a rugby league team on an end of season trip. He's rude, crude and most definitely only out for one thing - himself. The Bard even gets into heated slanging matches with the game's off screen narrator, who constantly berates the Bard for his impish ways.
So top marks for story, but how does it play? Unfortunately combat, which is what you'll be spending most of your time doing, can be a frustrating experience at times.
Combat is a fairly simple process - there's one attack button which you can bash for some simple combos, and a jump button (which is rarely, if ever, used). You can only block in one direction, which makes death when surrounded by enemies a near certainty, especially during the beginning stages of the game when your character is fairly weak.
There's no magic system per se, but the Bard can summon up creatures and allies to help him along the way. These characters - summoned using a lute, flute or other instrument - have specific purposes, such as lighting dark places, or healing your party, or being a ranged attacker. There are 16 different types of characters overall, and while you initially start off with having the ability to only summon one at a time, you do get several more during the course of the game.