Naughty Bear Review

Posted by Chris Holmes at 6:27pm on July 1st, 2010

If you were to ask most gamers about Naughty Bear, they would say they saw trailers for the game on their favourite sites and that it looked fun. If you were to ask someone who’s actually played the game, they would have a different story to tell. The thing is, Naughty Bear is a victim of its own PR. Trailers and press releases hyped up a game about a bear going about doing naughty things (no way), but cleverly, didn’t actually show gameplay.

Sites reported the funny gameplay-less trailers, showcasing a weird and wonderful world where a bear gets so demented after being rejected by his folk that he goes about killing everything and doing whatever he likes. It’s a fun, tongue-in-cheek premise with a lot of imagination. However, it’s all let down by its conviction, as what we get instead is an intensely linear and nearly unplayable excuse for a game (no wonder they were apprehensive about showing gameplay). Which is a shame, as given the character and gameworld possibilities of a bear gone rogue action adventure, there should be a lot to see and do, with ample room for humour through parody, irony and sarcasm.

The game is set up through annoyingly weird levels, following the aforementioned naughty bear through a journey of hatred and vicious tendencies. However, there is no narrative or story progression, just a continuation of the same basic chapter theme through a multitude of boring episodes (go here, kill X bear, do X thing, rinse, repeat). This is a game that could’ve benefitted from an interesting plot, exploring how bitter and twisted the naughty bear had become, but instead there doesn’t seem to be much going on at all.

This is also reflected by the gameplay. The controls are awkward, and coupled with some bizarre character animation for everything; it just isn’t fun to play. Enemies have hardly any AI, so killing them just seems to be as easy as running at them, mashing square and then going in for the finishing move. The basic premise for missions is to go and carry out an objective within an enclosed free-roaming environment. There’s a massive green arrow to point you in the right direction and helpful hints, which don’t quite match up to the audience that the game seems to be for in terms of content.

It’s as if the developers don’t know what their demographic (presumably people 12 years and older, according to the age rating on the box) wants from a game, or how their perceive gaming. 12 year olds aren’t retarded; they can certainly show me a thing or two on Modern Warfare 2, so you don’t need to keep on battering around the head with help arrows, objectives and a massive hint manual. Let them find stuff out for themselves and explore a game without getting in their way, don’t hold their hand and treat them like idiots. The music and constant commentary on what you’re doing don’t fit either. It’s all supposed to be heavily satirical, but it simply comes across as annoying and condescending.

All these annoying elements give the game a cluttered UI and coupled with ugly menus throughout, it’s fair to say that Naughty Bear isn’t aesthetically pleasing at all. The look of the game isn’t helped with bland environments and an annoying everywhere-but-normal framerate. There isn’t a great deal to see and do and the bears themselves seem to be the only things that look alright. Killing them with a brutal finishing move also brings something resembling a mini-smile to my beautiful face, thanks to some actually good animation (that isn’t present anywhere else in the game).

The multiplayer side of things is somehow even worse than the rest of the game. A hearty mix of framerate issues and lag combine to create something that’s not even playable. It’s a surprise really, as there are quite a few multiplayer modes and it could’ve proved a fun distraction given the state of the rest of the game. The only redeemable feature for online multiplayer is that in-game bears can be recruited, or can tamper with an objective. It gives proceedings a fairly unpredictable feel, but you could say that about the game’s netcode or even gameplay really.

Verdict: Naughty Bear is a game with an awesome premise but is let down by lazy development. Given the narrative capabilities of the game’s premise and characters, we really wanted to like it, but there’s just too many faults. It has a janky framerate, hardly any enemy AI, terrible controls, frighteningly basic environments, repetitive gameplay, annoying music and an unplayable multiplayer mode. This might be the worst game we’ve ever played. Avoid.

505 Games | PlayStation 3 | PlayStation Network | Reviews

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