Naughty Bear – The MMOMFG Review

Naughty Bear

This review has been about a week coming, as I truly wanted to wrap my brain around Naughty Bear before diving right into the review. By now, you’ve probably read a ton of reviews bashing the game and have either passed, or risked it and picked up a copy. A lot of the reviews would have you believe that Naughty Bear is an utter failure of a game, despite having a lot of potential. I personally was really looking forward to the title and even met last month with 505 Games and Artificial Mind & Movement at E3 2010 to check out the game first hand and really liked what I saw.

From my initial hands-on with the title, I pretty much got exactly what I was expecting. Let’s just jump into the good and bad of the game, which in the end, pretty much even themselves out. Despite all of the negative reviews, you should check out our opinion below. If you’re a fellow reviewer who hated the game, did you expect this to be the next Legend of Zelda? It’s a freaking game about a freaking bear who wasn’t invited to a freaking party. Deal with it. Definitely +1 to funny game concepts, whether it was knocked out of the park or not.

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What’s Good

Adult, yet childish humor and fun – The concept of Naughty Bear is so easy and simple, but in my opinion, works. NB is basically about trying to destroy everything you see in a number of ways, although it typically involves just smashing stuff. Therein lies the beautiful simplicity of the game. I won’t sugar coat and say that Naughty Bear isn’t without its faults, but the time you spend racking up destruction points and ultimately reach your goals per level can be fun and rewarding. There are 28 levels to unlock by completing level objectives and hitting achievements. There are a number of different variations to play each level, including stealth missions, avoiding being hit, classic kill-em-all and your standard score the most points you can.

Naughty time – So the real enjoyment lies in the unlocking new items that are usable through gameplay, as well as Naughty Bear uniforms that give your character special powers and upgrades. Some costumes like the Ninja give you faster movement and stealth, while the Cop bear outfit will make you stronger and provide better aim with a gun. Very classy!

A game for all ages, unless you’re under 17 – The double-edged sword is that Naughty Bear is a hilariously cute and funny game that in certain aspects would be great to show a kid. But with all of the killing blows and mature themes, you can’t really let a kid play it. Regardless, I don’t know any kids and they can F off, because I’m playing. I loved the killing blows, scaring of the other bears and the gameplay in general. It was simple to control Naughty Bear and as mentioned above, it really delivered exactly what I expected. Luckily, in my case, my girlfriend loved the game too and she had a blast watching/playing. This is always going to be a plus in my book, because she’d play a Naughty Bear all day over your typical FPS/Call of Duty/etc. That isn’t the case with most of our readers or fellow gamers, so let’s just say our opinion in this case may be in the minority. Either way, Naughty Bear delivered what was expected.

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What’s Bad

Repetitive little bears – This bear has been naughty, because he keeps making me do the same damn thing! The game hits a stall when you’re forced to do missions three and four times to unlock all of the content, when you’re aiming for speed runs, stealth missions and whatever else is thrown at you. You feel like you’ve done it all and seen it all after about an hour. The game has its fun elements, but if you try to unlock everything, you may as well bang your head into a wall. There is just too much similarity between levels that you’re not going to feel like you’re getting your money’s worth. Even with Ninja Bears, Alien Bears and whatever else is thrown at you, you’ll get tired quickly.

If you manage to get online, just get off – The multiplayer modes just weren’t interesting enough for me to spend much time playing them. The repetitive aspect rolls over into the three online modes and whether you’re trying to hold the cake the longest or build the best machine, you probably would have more fun just playing offline. Is there really much to brag about when you’re the best of only about 20 people playing online?

This N64 game looks good on my Xbox 360 – The graphics in Naughty Bear are cute and cuddly, but honestly feel like they came from the Nintendo 64, not a next-gen console. I don’t really care that this is the case, because they work with the game. However, when you’re dropping $50 on a game, you sometimes expect the glitz and glimmer when you’re paying hard earned cash on a title. Naughty Bear looks the part, but a mixture of similar graphics, yawn inspiring level design and a $50 price tag, you may have to say no thanks.

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Worth Remembering:

Naughty Bear can make you laugh and is fun if taken in small doses. You don’t need to try to get 100 percent completion, because after about 20 percent, you’ll feel like you’ve done it all. Wait! Is that worth remembering?

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Worth Forgetting:

That this game is after its time and should have come out for the Nintendo 64. Think Conker’s Bad Fur Day without the funny dialogue.

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In terms of cutesy games on the market, this mature themed title basically delivers what it promises. I really feel like Naughty Bear is exactly what I expected and I’m not disappointed. I only wish a little more polish had come with the game regarding the variety of missions, level design and the dialogue had been buffed up a bit for the price. At 50 clams, you should probably get a voodoo doll teddy and a real gun, as I feel Naughty Bear would have been priced appropriately at around $30. If the game dips in price, or you have a friend willing to unload his copy, you should pick it up. I know that my girlfriend and I will be aiming to get 100 percent this weekend since we both enjoy it. If you disagree with this review, tell us in the comment section below, but don’t just judge a book by its overpriced cover.

*A review copy of Naughty Bear was provided to MMOMFG for the Xbox 360

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