The Bard’s Tale: The biggest RPG to ever hit Android (no, really — it’s 3.5GB)

The mother of all RPG games has arrived for Android. Some of you might remember The Bard’s Tale — an action role-playing game created 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 game has been available for iOS since December 2011 and this month, it finally made its way to the Google Play Store. Just a few days ago, inXile released The Bard’s Tale with a $5.95 price tag — a wee bit pricier than the iTunes offering, which I’m sure will be enough of a reason for many people to voice their displeasure.

That aside, I’ll just go ahead and say that the game is more than worth the money, especially if you own a Tegra 3-based device. The download from the Play Store is only 13MB, but you’ve still got a hefty download ahead of you. You can choose to run either the standard version, which is 1.75GB and is compatible with most high-end devices, or you can download the HD version at a whopping 3.5GB. Unfortunately, you must have a Tegra 3 phone or tablet if you want to try the game in high-definition.

The game runs buttery-smooth on my Nexus 7. The gameplay is simple, yet intuitive, and the story line (so far) seems pretty good. Not to mention, the dialogue in The Bard’s Tale makes it arguably one of the funniest video games of all time. Gotta love some dry English humor.

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Check out the details from the game’s Play Store page:

• 50 enemy types (not counting bosses!)
• A vast world to explore with towns, wild forests, rivers, castles, towers, secret dungeons, snowy mountains, caverns, haunted tombs and more
• A full cast of bizarre NPC’s
• Over a dozen special boss enemies to defeat
• 16 magical characters to discover and then summon at will to aid you
• Over 150 unique items of weaponry, armor, instruments, tokens, artifacts and loot!
• More Song & Dance numbers than any other game, including a zombie dance-off!
• Over 14 hours of outstanding voice-acting from top Hollywood talent, including Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) as the Bard, and the inimitable Tony Jay as the Narrator

But wait! That’s not all! Enjoy these great new additions in the Android version:

• Leaderboards—for accumulated Silver and Experience!
• Achievements—over 50 spread throughout the game!
• Autosave—option to save automatically when you near a save-book in game.
• Time-Savers—optional in-app purchases are available to pump up your Bard and save you time! (Note: All such items are attainable through normal game-play, with time and persistence, just as in the original console release.)
• Includes the original classic game The Bard’s Tale I: Tales of the Unknown! 2 & 3 coming soon!

If you’re into RPG games even slightly, you’ll want to be sure to check this one out. If this is the future of mobile gaming, I’m definitely liking what I’m seeing. Hit up the download link below, spend a few bucks, and be sure to stop back and let us know how you’re enjoying the game.

Happy Sunday!

Download The Bard’s Tale ($5.95)

Developer: inXile entertainment