Bardbarian Review

Gaming has advanced so far, so rapidly over the past 30 years that it’s difficult to find a game that contains something truly, completely, original. Don’t get excited, Bardbarian isn’t one of those games. What this mobile and PC title does well, however, is take a lot of tried and tested mechanics and blend them into something unusual. That can often be just as effective as something totally new, there are too many examples of that reality. Bardbarian isn’t one of those either, unfortunately, but it’s an ample effort. There are a lot of good ideas here and some excellent improvements to the mobile gaming formula, but ultimately the game gets lost in the sadly typical doldrums of mobile design.

There’s a lot here to like though. Bardbarian is a charming little game that is sure to catch the eye of many a store surfer. The terrifically drawn art is an instant point of interest and one that’s maintained throughout play. This is a great looking game; although you’ll want to buy the PC version or play on iPad if you want to see it in all its glory. It all begins with Brad, an unapologetically typical hero who’s sick and tired of killing bad guys and saving NPCs. So in an effort to mix it all up, he brings a lute into battle in place of his standard axe. It may not seem like an ideal weapon of war, but this is a super hard rock lute of doom - or something to that effect.

Bardbarian may look like a pretty standard RPG, but it’s actually a tower defence game in disguise. Brad is tasked with the important goal of defending the town crystal from the ever-increasing horde of colourful enemies. He doesn’t fight though, he’s too busy playing the lute. Instead, he uses his gnarly tunes to summon (inspire?) characters to fight for him. In an odd twist, Brad simply walks around the field of battle while the supporting troops let loose on the attackers. For the player, it means that the game becomes an intriguing combination of defensive and offensive play. The gem must be defended, but only by drawing your troops close to your enemies.

The majority of the game is based around this follower mechanic, with Brad and his minions fighting off increasingly difficult waves of bad guys. It’s an interesting system that sees the player attempt five waves at once, with only the final boss wave providing a save point. If the player dies in between (or during) the boss battles, then he’s sent back to the level after the previous boss. There are certainly elements of this mechanic that work well; upgrading your abilities and the like, then heading back into the fray to plough through a previously impossible level, is a great feeling. However, this can often come at the price of sensible pacing. Bardbarian’s biggest issue is the sense of grind that’s present from the get go.

A game based around a free-to-play model will, unfortunately, always have to concoct methods of obtaining cash. In Bardbarian, this means an upgrade system that requires either a few sessions of gold-grinding or a time saving in-app purchase. It seriously hinders the pace of the game and means you’ll discover a strong sense of repetition after a short amount of time with the game. It’s somewhat forgivable in the free version, but for the Steam and paid-for editions, it’s a real pain. In reality, it’s not a horrible cash-grab (you can’t even buy in-app purchases for the Steam version), but rather a byproduct of the original financial model of the game.

It’s a shame, as the flaws in the model get in the way of some otherwise excellent design. The upgrade system is brilliant. You can use the in-game (or real-world) currency to buy a huge array of improvements for your minions, Brad and the town in which all the fighting takes place. There are more than just basic stat upgrades as well; although some are essentially must-buys. The party increase upgrade, for instance, or the golden axe which doubles your gold pickup rate. While the overall pace of the game may be off, the developers have done a great job of making the upgrade system feel useful and interesting. Which should certainly benefit them in the long run.

There are other elements to the game, including a couple of challenge modes - a survival game type and an endless runner mode. These are fairly good for mixing up the gameplay a little, but are likely only to be used regularly in an effort to gain extra in-game currency. The endless runner mode is by far the best way to do so in the whole game. Bardbarian is, in some ways, the ultimate example of modern mobile gaming. It has some excellent ideas and satisfying hybrid gameplay, but it can be tricky to get over the grind. It’s certainly more ideal for mobile play, even if it looks and plays a lot better on a bigger screen. Bardbarian is an excellent ‘on the bus’ game, but as a whole package, it’s not an especially great one.