Review: Naughty Bear

[tkioz]

From the looks of it I was expecting an XBLA or Steam title but a full retail title? pfft no matter how interesting it looks I can't see it being worth that much $$$.

On the other hand, the idea of playing a serial killer teddy bear is just freaking cool.

 

[Gabanuka]

I loved it for about 2 days, haven't played it since. Shame I can't take it back to amazon.

 

[MrNickster]

When I first saw the trailer for this, I thought it could be pretty good-MadWorld meets Manhunt in the land of the Care Bears, but judging from this and some other reviews I've read, the island needs to be bigger and the narrator needs to only speak in cutscenes.

This concept is really fun, but it seems the actual game didn't turn out so well. Is it at all possible that they could make a sequel (If Two Worlds gets a sequel, Naughty Bears should) or some DLC areas and finishers?

 

[Moon_Called]

o.o
This game scares me. .-.

 

[Tharwen]

I... don't want to play this.

I'm the sort of person who ends up playing a good character in Fable because I can't bring myself to side with the bully at the start...

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

These wondrous games who's target audience is no doubt the ~16 y.o. crowd are the ones that give gaming a bad name. I'm not saying they shouldn't exist, but I am saying they're shooting themselves in the foot. That 'no publicity is bad publicity' thing doesn't always work.

Thankfully in an almost karmic fashion these games always suffer from technical issues because the underlying idea prevents them from putting real work into the titles, and rarely a qualified development team.

 

[carpathic]

Shame this wasn't better I guess.

Seems like a pretty fun idea.

 

[Kojiro ftt]

Sounds better than I expected. I'll rent it!

 

[darkfire613]

What they should have done is released it as a $10-$15 downloadable game instead of a full-priced retail game. That would be a good value for the money, and it would probably have been reviewed more favorably.

 

[willgreg123]

I think it's a real shame games with creative and unique premises like this (okay, it's not THAT unique, in fact I'm pretty damn sure another game was released featuring a psychotic Teddy Bear protagonist before around the Nintendo 64 generation of consoles, if anyone can remember it, please tell me) often get stuck with some really buzz killing flaws like bad cameras and weird bugs.

I especially think they REALLY shouldn't have made the screen so damn busy. I mean, this is a single player game, not a MMORPG like World of Warcraft or a sandbox like GTA, there's really no excuse for the interface being so freaking busy. A simpler interface may have made up for enough flaws to convince me to buy this... a more cinematic approach may have done this more justice, with it suppose to be like a horror hack 'n slash movie anyhow.

Also, I REALLY agree with darkfire613. In fact, I think if this game had a more limited budget and was forced to leave some stuff out to make it a 10-15 dollar game, it would've been allot less repetitive as well as more innovative, and could have made the most out of what little material it had to offer, instead of trying to stretch it all out for a full length game...

Sort of how I prefer shows that have a limited number of episodes and make the most out of their budget out of as few episodes as possible to come out on top with the most profit. The first example that comes to mind (though I hate to use anime as an example of excellence) FLCL, which only had 6-8 episodes and thusly used an animation budget that could have been spread over 8 seasons to make every second of it fantastic visually and the story as well polished as possible, while still keeping its goofy random vibe.

 

[willgreg123]

What they should have done is released it as a $10-$15 downloadable game instead of a full-priced retail game. That would be a good value for the money, and it would probably have been reviewed more favorably.

I REALLY agree with darkfire613. In fact, I think if this game had a more limited budget and was forced to leave some stuff out to make it a 10-15 dollar game, it would've been allot less repetitive as well as more innovative, and could have made the most out of what little material it had to offer, instead of trying to stretch it all out for a full length game.

 

[chickenlord]

...i would rent it...just looks like GTA with teddy bear skins... almost...

 

[Arec Balrin]

I played this on a friend's 360 and I had loads of fun. But the criticism is valid: it is short, repetitive and misses a key in a lot of places.

One common general criticism I will disagree with is that the game 'isn't violent enough'. The game is extremely violent and my friends were shocked it was given a PEGI 12+. It wasn't until the 80s, the age of the 'video nasties' that horror and slasher films actually became really gory, spurred on by the banned Exorcist and A Clockwork Orange from the 70s. So Naughty Bare has virtually no gore; but extreme violence. Some of the punishments given to the bears can make you wince the first couple of times, really wince and seeing them on a video doesn't have the same impact.

It looks like the game was designed to rest its appeal on abundant upcoming DLC, but made the mistake of selling as a full-title which is understandable considering retailers refuse to stock new releases if they're too cheap. But my local game shop had a lot of pre-owned copies already. With some gameplay tweaks and a lot more content this could have been a classic rather than a far below-average game.

 

[likalaruku]

I prefur more story-driven games, but it sounds like a game that's good for beating off rage after work or school.

 

[Necromancer1991]

So meh, that's what I was expecting

 

[Doug]

Hmm. I was hoping for more than this. Seems it's a bit generic in lots of ways.

Yup. Also, there's something unsettling about the fact they took a premise that would seem funny for 10 minutes, then unsettling, and ran with developing it for years.

 

[Callate]

I... don't want to play this.

I'm the sort of person who ends up playing a good character in Fable because I can't bring myself to side with the bully at the start...

Yeah... Call me crazy, but I find this sadder than, say, Manhunt. At least in Manhunt the people the protaganist is killing are killers. In this, they're fricking teddy bears. Who didn't invite the pro(an?)tagonist to a party.

It's not the "violence" and "gore" that bothers me. It's the "hey, let's take something cute and innocent from childhood and torture it" attitude. And I've never been fond of the style of humor that tells a "joke" and then barks at you that you'd better laugh or have everyone else think you're humorless, weak, and/or just not "cool enough".

As I've said many times before, I'm not prone to seek to have things banned just because I, personally, find them disturbing. I'll never suggest that the creators didn't have a right to make this game, or even that there's something wrong with you if you do find the concept amusing. Incongruity and cockeyed tragedy (teddybears + violence) are cornerstones of most comedy; I get that.

But I won't exactly weep bitter tears if either play mechanics or content cause enough people to decide they don't want to pick this one up, and thus stave off a sequel.

 

[Z(ombie)fan]

It doesn't sound that bad...

of course, Im still not getting it.

damn me and ny horribly outdated consoles...