Daily iPad App: The Bard's Tale

The Bard's Tale was originally released on Microsoft's first Xbox console, and it was a sort of a side-make of the original point-and-click RPG adventure game from the 80s (which itself is represented on the App Store by an app called Silversword, if you'd rather go even more old school than this one). But the Xbox title has just recently appeared on iOS, and it's a respectable port of the title that makes fun of a lot of fantasy and RPG video game tropes.

The Bard's Tale features amazing voice work (including by the late great Tony Jay) and the hack-and-slash action isn't half bad. Fans of bawdy humor and wacky stories (there's a zombie dance-off hidden in the plotline) will definitely get a kick out of it.

The app is Game Center-enabled and uses iCloud across a universal version, so you can trade saves between your iOS devices. Some iTunes users have reported a few bugs, unfortunately, but there are updates coming (driven by a few in-app purchases that are optional but definitely not required), so hopefully if you hit an issue, it should be fixed before long. To sweeten the pot even further, the app's on sale this week, down to US$2.99. The Bard's Tale is definitely worth a play through, especially if you missed it during the original run on the Xbox.