Games Played 04/15/2009

Champions of Norrath - PlayStation 2
Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows - PlayStation 2
Go! Puzzle - PlayStation 3
OutRun 2 - X-Box
OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast - PlayStation 2
OutRun Online Arcade Demo - X-Box 360
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade - PSP
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom - PlayStation 3

RANDOM GAME OF THE DAY:


The Bard's Tale (2004)
Developer: inXile Entertainment
Platform: X-Box
Purchase Date: 2004


Not even innocent domesticated animals can escape the Bard's playful nature.

The Bard's Tale is an action role playing comedy filled with many crude and memorable jokes that sometimes overshadow its overall gameplay. The game doesn't take itself seriously and it likes to poke fun at the role playing genre conventions. It is self-aware that it's a game and this makes for some clever and unexpected things to happen as you are playing it. The game starts off with our unconventional hero, a travelling Bard, trying to score some food from a bar by tricking its beautiful owner into believing him to be a caring, brave man but this leads to a shocking confrontation with a monster. With the help of a mysterious old man type, he is able to defeat the creature and afterwards, the promise of more power convinces him to embark on a quest to obtain them. The storyline is nothing special except for the consistent successes with the humor. Most often than not, you are given the option to choose a "snarky" or "nice" response when interacting with the other characters and this sometimes alter the progression of the game. Don't worry, even the "nice" responses pack some serious comedic punch. The action is what you may get from a typical hack-and-slash but the summon system where the Bard can conjure many different creatures keeps things interesting.

LIBRARY STATUS: 4 out of 5