Naughty Bear Review

Naughty Bear isn't quite the game we were expecting and what we got may not be able to withstand today's gaming market.

When the viral videos of Naughty Bear started hitting the web, I couldn't help but think that it may be a spiritual successor to Conker's Bad Fur Day.  The videos recreated some of my favorite horror movie moments and the idea of a murderous teddy bear attacking others had this one on my radar.  I couldn't help but notice, as I'm sure most of my peers had, that the one thing  the Naughty Bear media conveniently lacked was gameplay.  Now I know why.

As the above picture reveals, Naughty Bear is set on Perfection Island, a peaceful and happy community where a bunch of cute stuffed bears throw numerous parties.  Naughty Bear is the outcasted bear that lives in a shack in the woods, far from the other bear towns, and has a stiched face and ripped ear.  Naughty Bear is never invited to any of the parties, so one day he snaps after being mocked in public and sets out on a mass killing spree.  You control Naughty Bear as he stalks, hunts, kills, and drives the other bears insane.

You're intrigued so far, aren't you?  Yeah, so was I.  What follows after the setup is a simple three stage level that requires you to use any means necessary to eliminate one specific bear (although you are encouraged to obliterate all of them if you can).  Marketing campaigns and box art suggested that there are more than 30 levels in the game, which is true if you count the many times you will have to replay a level with new tasks.  In truth, Naughty Bear contains seven short levels, all of which you could probably complete within 90 minutes together.  As discouraging as this sounds, it's not really a weakness for the game, just a distinguishing fact.  Naughty Bear takes an age old concept and puts it back into practice: make a level, add enemies, give specific tasks, rinse, repeat.  While this may have worked back in the Nintendo or even Super Nintendo days, a game of this type is reserved for downloadable titles and not full retail releases, which is probably Naughty Bear's biggest downfall.