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The Bard's Tale X-Box inXile Entertainment/THQ  At
last it's upon us: the postmodern video game. Throughout this RPG,
the hero and the narrator both comment wryly on the conventions of
the game and how they hold up against reality. Wouldn't people object,
they ask, if you went into their houses and started going through
their treasure chests and running off with their life savings? Given the plethora of RPGs available across all platforms, one might be forgiven for thinking the market had reached saturation point. With 'The Bard's Tale', inXile Entertainment attempt to breathe new life into a tired and repetitive genre, by pointing out just how tired and repetitive the genre has become. The hero, the titular Bard, is a hard-drinking, womanising, cynical rogue: kind of a less-attractive Han Solo in medieval garb. He is unwillingly recruited to rescue a beautiful - and very rich - princess, and the cliched nature of this enterprise is not lost on him. Knowing something's a cliche doesn't make it less of a cliche, however, and that's where the game falls down. There's little which is new or original about 'The Bard's Tale': it's the same old kill-monsters-to-make-money-to-buy-weapons-to-kill-monsters-to-find-a-magical-ring-to-open-a-door-to-kill-more-monsters deal, only spiced up with a little irony. To be fair, as RPGs go, this is not a bad one. They've gone to some effort with the voice acting, which is refreshing: while not as star-studded as 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas', 'The Bard's Tale' boasts Cary Elwes and Michael Gough among its cast. The game's humour occasionally falls somewhat flat, but quite often the puns and sarcasm are undeniably funny. The ability to summon different sprites to aid you in battle makes combat more varied than most RPGs, and as the backgrounds and enemies are fairly limited and repetitive, this is a saving grace. Graphically, the game is pleasant but not spectacular. 'The Bard's Tale' is a competent and entertaining RPG, but it's not significantly better than many others. What sets it apart from the rest is its knowingness: the sly fun it pokes at the genre is bound to provoke a few chuckles from the experienced player.  |
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