The Bard's Tale (2004 video game)
| The Bard's Tale | |
|---|---|
Xbox cover art
|
|
| Developer(s) | InXile Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Vivendi Universal Games Ubisoft |
| Director(s) | Matthew Findley |
| Producer(s) | Brian Fargo |
| Designer(s) | Eric Flannum Brian Fargo Matthew Findley |
| Programmer(s) | John Alvarado Kyle Riccio Michael Winfield |
| Artist(s) | Michael Kaufman Brandon Humphreys Chris Robinson |
| Writer(s) | Matthew Findley Eric Flannum Dennis M. Miller John Parry |
| Composer(s) |
Tommy Tallarico Clint Bajakian Jared Emerson-Johnson |
| Engine | Dark Alliance Engine |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows, iOS, OS X, Linux, PlayBook, Android, Ouya |
| Release date(s) |
October 26, 2004
|
| Genre(s) | Action RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Review scores | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publication | Score | |||
| iOS | PC | PS2 | Xbox | |
| Edge | N/A | N/A | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| EGM | N/A | N/A | 7.17/10 | 7.17/10 |
| Eurogamer | N/A | N/A | N/A | 6/10 |
| Game Informer | N/A | N/A | 8.25/10 | 8.25/10 |
| GamePro | N/A | N/A |   |
N/A |
| Game Revolution | N/A | N/A | C− | C− |
| GameSpot | N/A | 6.7/10 | 6.7/10 | 6.7/10 |
| GameSpy | N/A | N/A | |
|
| GameZone | N/A | N/A | 8.6/10 | 8.3/10 |
| IGN | N/A | N/A | 8.2/10 | 8.2/10 |
| OPM (US) | N/A | N/A |  |
N/A |
| OXM (US) | N/A | N/A | N/A | 7.7/10 |
| PC Gamer (US) | N/A | 81% | N/A | N/A |
| The A.V. Club | B+ | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Detroit Free Press | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| Aggregate score | ||||
| Metacritic | 79/100 | 70/100 | 76/100 | 75/100 |
The Bard's Tale is an action role-playing game developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games in 2004. Vivendi marketed the game as a humorous spoof of fantasy role-playing video games. It is neither a remake nor a sequel to Interplay Productions' Tales of the Unknown, Volume I: The Bard's Tale (1985).
The Bard's Tale was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in October 2004. It was released for Microsoft Windows in June 2005. The game was re-released on Steam in December 2009. A universal iOS version was released in December 2011 for iPhone and iPad along with the Android version. The Blackberry Playbook version was released in September 2012. In June 2013, the game was also ported to Ouya with full controller support.
Completely unlike the classic Bard's Tale games, this game is in a 3D environment with the player watching his only controllable character from an overhead vantage point, and it is better described as an action-adventure game than a traditional role-playing video game (i.e. there are no character classes or inventory management).
The player's character, The Bard, has magic and weaponry at his disposal to complete the task. The more the player accomplishes, the better his skills will become. The appearance and gameplay is much the same as the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance series, which shares the same graphics engine.
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