The Bard’s Tale: Remastered and Resnarkled
I have done a few reviews now that had good narration, and the next game I played didn’t let me down on the narration or the cleaver sarcasm from the main character, The Bard. I felt like I heard the bard’s voice before but couldn’t put my finger on it. So, I had to look it up. I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was Cary Elwes from The Princess Bride and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. The narrator’s voice was less familiar to me, but very well done. Turns out that is Tony Jay.
The Bard’s Tale: Remastered and Resnarkled was an entertaining game to play with the voice acting to start with. However, that was not enough to hold me over very long. It is older, but the graphics were not bad for when it was from. What annoyed me is that I did find the controls lacked smoothness and responsiveness. This coupled with the fact that some areas just had what I would consider a higher than usual number of mobs that all seem to have knockdown or pushback.
On top of the clunky controls, I think I got spoiled in the sense that I like games where cameras follow me. The top down where I feel the need to always be rotating my camera to be behind me got old quick. This is clearly a personal preference, so for some, it is probably fine.
Aside from some of the slower mechanics and such, I still loved the RPG aspect of the game. I like that interactions allow for a choice on if you want to respond more positively or negatively. That at least gives the game some replay merit for those that like to lean heavily one way and then the other. I switch it up depending on what happened to prompt my interaction.
There wasn’t much else about the game that was unique to it, but maybe back in its release days, it was different. Like revealing the map, I am a completionist in that aspect, and I find it much more entertaining to do in say Diablo II, III, or Torchlight II. There wasn’t enough reason to do it in this game. There was limited hidden treasure or hidden areas that I found in my three hours. The one thing I will say was something I don’t recall coming across before is the map to go from one area to the other was more like a chessboard with other pieces moving around. If they came to close to you, you would be thrown into a little mini encounter. That was neat.
This game would also not be safe for young kids, lots of innuendos. There is a great beer song that will probably always stick with me. I found a decent quality video on YouTube, posted by Mal Plays. You can see it here. It will quickly get stuck in your head.
In terms of recommendations, it would have to be on a deep discount. I think the normal price of $19.99 on Steam is way too steep for this game. There are better things to play, but this is almost a classic that should be checked out if it could be picked up for only a couple of bucks. Personally, I think I am going to wait for The Bard's Take Trilogy to go on sale to see more of what the original had in place.
Game: The Bard’s Tale: Remastered and Resnarkled
Developer: inXile Entertainment
Publisher: inXile Entertainment
Initial Release Date: June 17, 2005
Review: Not Recommend, Unless Extremely on Sale
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