The Bard’s Tale. A tongue-in-cheek humorous RPG Action Adventure of the majestic Bard
by Paul Wilks
Sep 26, 2012 9:43 AM –
Install
The Bard’s Tale is an action adventure game with elements of RPG. You take the role of the wise-talking Bard as he completes various missions, meets all kinds of funny characters, fights menacing enemies and summons magical powers through his music. It’s a brave and ambitious mobile app that requires an eye-wateringly 1.7GB minimum of storage, so make sure you have room for it! Blessed with incredible graphics, great voice acting and some 20+ hours of unique gameplay- there’s nothing quite like The Bard’s Tale!
Price: $5.99
Tested on: HTC One X
Content Rating: Medium Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Stunning 3D graphics, rich with detail!
- Incredible audio- from music to high quality voice acting and even songs!
- Loads of enemies and characters to meet!
- Lots of weaponry and magic spells to use and learn!
Cons
- The physical size of the game might put people off.
Features:
The Bard’s Tale is an epic action adventure that you would only normally expect to see rocking on a console. On Android, you’re going to need a Tegra-powered device to play the game and at least 1.7GB of storage free. You can actually opt to download the HD version which takes up a staggering 3.5GB so it’s a genuinely massive game.
So you are the Bard, a smart-ass adventurer with a penchant for playing his instrument and summoning magic. He finds himself in a bar at the beginning of the game and fighting a giant rat. From here the adventure proceeds with more than 50 different enemies to do battle with. Luckily you have plenty of weaponry and can utilise over 150 different items from swords and armor to loot and new instruments.
Controlling the Bard is very easy, but you do get some tutorial at the beginning with regard to fighting and casting spells. The spells are quite cool actually- just play your instrument (it looks like a Lute to begin with) and subsequently summon a variety of different characters to do your magical bidding. These of course vary in power and ability- so there’s super destructive types and also those who restore power. There’s perhaps a strategic element in here too as you have to decide what powers to use and when.
What comes across strongly in The Bard’s Tale is the humor. From the tongue-in-cheek innuendo to the clear gender equality issues the roguish Bard struggles with, the voice-acting drips with clever jokes and witty self-awareness. It is a little too bawdy in places but thankfully the game moves on quickly. This keeps everything extremely entertaining, enjoyable and certainly interactive. The other thing which occurs throughout is the use of songs. This breaks up gameplay a little but the songs are genuinely brilliant and, again, rampant with jokes and humor.
Watch on Mobile
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The Bard’s Tale – Menu
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The Bard’s Tale – Backstory
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The Bard’s Tale – Choose a skill
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The Bard’s Tale – Customise your characters attributes
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The Bard’s Tale – Witty narration throughout
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The Bard’s Tale – First job is to kill a giant rat
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The Bard’s Tale – Magic spells
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The Bard’s Tale – Summoning
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The Bard’s Tale – Lots of free-roaming exploring tasks
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The Bard’s Tale – Loads of epic songs
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The Bard’s Tale – The sorry end
Fun Factor:
There are a great variety of gameplay styles, from exploring, following characters, RPG, battle sequences and more. Add to this the in-jokes and one-liners, it’s hard not to resist. There are few tired cliches involved too- like buxom barmaids and the like, however the game has more than enough to keep most gamers entertained.
Addictive:
It’s an adventure game- so it’s something you experience more than you play- and certainly not addictive in an Angry Birds kind of way. That said, there’s something compelling about the Bard’s wit and journey that keeps you wanting to know what is going to happen next.
Graphics:
The graphics are excellent and, with that download size, you’d expect nothing less than blinding. The visual elements are console quality and rich with detail throughout. I actually downloaded the HD version and found The Bard’s Tale to feature some of the best graphics I’ve seen on Android.
Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:
The voice acting in the game is brilliant. There are some 14 hours of audio in the game (obviously contributing to the download size too) and this is all done perfectly. This, added to the sound effects, music and awesome cut-scene songs make for arguably the most complete soundtrack of any game on Android.
Tags:
3D,
3D Games,
adventure,
Android App,
Android Apps,
Android Game,
Android Tablet Apps,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
explore,
HD Games for Android,
Nvidia,
RPG,
Tegra,
Tegra Zone,
The Bard's Tale
Categorised in: Arcade & Action
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