I remember playing the original Bard's Tale game - it was a game I loved and played for months and months. This new version features the brilliant acting of Cary Elwes of Priness Bride frame!

You get to create your bard character with the standard attributes - strength, dexterity and so on. But once you get into the game, you'll quickly discover the comic timing that makes this game so unique. You wander into a tavern and are promptly told to go search for rats. Your character asides that this is a rather cliche quest, but you'll do it for the (ahem) ample barmaid who smiles at you.

You head down into the dusty cellar, where you find your rat and slay him. Then, as you get your little scene of the Bard's Victory, a HUGE rat sneaks up behind you and breathes on you with a massive fire breath! When you hobble up to the tavern, everyone is laughing their fool heads off.

It's that sort of twist that makes the entire game hilarious, especially for RPG buffs. Every normal twist and turn of RPG campaigning is made fun of here. You are given the option of the "nice" or "naughty" option at every turn - and it's not always the "nice" option that you want to try! The game is very replayable, as you see what happens with various combinations of answers.

There's plenty of combinations of fighting, spell-casting, healing and so on - in traditional RPG fashion. I particularly like the wiggly little magic spiders myself, as they remind me of the Spirited Away anime. But really the wit is the key feature of this game. You fight through scenarios to get to hear what the witty comments will be at the end :)

Highly recommended for RPG fans - especially those who are fans of the Princess Bride style of dry wit!

Buy Bards's Tale XBox from Amazon.com