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The Bard’s Tale is a series with a long heritage in the gaming world. Starting in the '80s as one of the premiere and most popular role-playing game series for home computers, the name has largely been forgotten in modern times. The previous generation of consoles gave new life to the bard with a much more modern take on the series, but was sadly lost in the shuffle at the time.
Thankfully, this hilarious adventure is given a new life on iOS and the results are well worth the second chance. The Bard’s Tale is largely a parody of classic computer role-playing clichés. It’s caustic more than sarcastic, with cleverly crude dialogue and situations, a decidedly adult bent, and a simple dialogue system that lets you choose to be naughty and somewhat nice or just outright rude.
The sense of humor is the strongest distinction between the Bard’s Tale and other fantasy games, but it’s an important one. The bard, voiced by Cary Elwes, isn’t a likable hero as much as a rudely entertaining one. The dialogue choices you make affect the gameplay in various ways-- including determining the ending of the game.
The environments and graphic effects scale to the device the game is played on. So, iPad 2 and iPhone 4S owners will enjoy the maximum resolution and eye candy, but older devices will still play the game quite nicely. The gameplay is shown from a mostly overheard perspective, and the environments are excellent. Landscapes are alive with activity and set pieces, characters are well-animated, and there are even hilarious song and dance numbers.
The Bard’s Tale offers two forms of controls. The default is, oddly, a virtual d-pad, but there is an option for more touch-centric control. The problem is the touch controls aren’t nearly in-depth enough. Tapping anywhere on the screen causes the bard to move in that direction, for instance, but there’s no actual path finding.
Worse, attacking in either control mode requires you to tap the sword button, instead of just tapping on the creature. Rotating the camera around requires a two-finger swipe, which is a bit inconvenient. Also, given the close nature of the camera, ranged attacks are frequently done when you can’t even see the enemy.
The Bard will use a lot of musical spells as well, accessed through a tap of the lute icon, and then circular menus. This system works fine and none of the control issues hurt the game immensely, but there’s definite room for improvement in making this tale more touch-friendly. One nice touch is that all the in-game purchases are simply to instantly provide items that can be acquired through normal game play, and are by no means necessary.
Overall, the Bard’s Tale makes a superb trip to mobile country. It’s great to see this fun and engaging game given new life, and it’s one of the most distinctive RPGs in the App Store. While there are certainly a few issues, the overall game is an entertaining and in-depth journey well worth taking.

via : slidetoplay