Naughty Bear Hands-on

by Nate Ahearn - IGN.com | 05 March 2010 12:00
 
It's good to be bad in A2M's interesting take on teddies.
 
When I first saw Artificial Mind and Movement's (A2M) Naughty Bear it was intriguing not only because it was an original idea, but because it was an original idea that let me impale playful little teddy bears with a sword, then turn around and crush the skull of another using a sledgehammer. You don't get to do that sort of thing in every videogame, so Naughty Bear immediately showed promise for thinking outside of the box.
 
Here you play as the titular Naughty Bear. His main goal throughout the course of the game is to wreak havoc on the members of his peaceful bear village. The more chaos he causes, the more points you'll earn and the higher your multiplier will get. All of this carnage takes place on a large island that's divided up into 4 areas spread across 28 levels. Your dastardly little Naughty Bear is free to move around the island in order to find instruments that will maximize the pain and suffering of every bear around him. I recently got the chance to play around with Naughty and a few of his tools of torture when 505 Games brought an early build into the IGN office.
 

Poor little bear. Never saw it coming.

I began by getting accustomed to the controls of Naughty. I quickly learned that his safe haven is in the trees and forest areas of his little bear village where he can blend in and hide from the police bears that chase him once he begins his streak of naughtiness. Just how do you make the lives of the other bears in the village a living hell? Well, I didn't come close to tapping the full potential of the bear's trouble making ability, but I was still able to have some fun with him. I lit other bears on fire, I stabbed them with several different items and I used environmental pieces like cupboards and doors to cause significant pain to every bear around me. Most weapons even have a cool assassination-style animation to go along with them.
 
Once my multiplier got high enough, word of my destruction spread to other bears in the town. The sight of me caused them to run inside their bear domiciles. Once they thought they were safe from whatever weapon I was carrying, the AI bears actually turned and laughed at Naughty. They didn't seem to realize that Naughty could simply break into their homes through the glass windows. In doing so, I revealed the game's first real flaw: its camera. It isn't unmanageable when you're outdoors, but as soon as Naughty finds his way inside a structure, it tends to get caught behind walls and has trouble navigating objects. Hopefully A2M can iron this out before the game ships in June.
 
Eventually the other bears become so afraid that they call in the police, which eventually escalates to stealthy ninjas coming after you if you manage to work your way through the bears in blue. I once lured a cop inside of another bear's garage only to use his head as a record on a DJ table that happened to be setup. Other cops were either stabbed, beaten to death or lit on fire. I can't remember which. The ninjas proved to be more of a challenge with their quick movements and better combat artificial intelligence. My sledgehammer proved too slow for their quick slashes. I resorted to a gun which seemed to do the trick.
 

They're all laughing at you, Naughty!

My time with Naughty Bear was all too short, though I was assured that there was plenty more to come. Naughty has a slew of costumes that he can don to give him different powers that are only sure to add to the sheer terror felt by the rest of the bear villagers. As you progress through the game Naughty will be met by different objectives and requirements to fulfill, all of which are centered on causing the most trouble possible. Different areas open once you complete objectives and reach point requirements. Much like Geometry Wars and Diner Dash, stringing together deeds (of the mischievous variety in this case) is the real key to upping your score.
 
It's always refreshing to see a game deliver such an inventive idea; I'm just hoping that the experience can manage to stay fresh and fun through its 28 levels. At a price of $49.99 in the US Naughty Bear could be a nice little addition to spice up your game library when it launches on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on June 15.
 
Supplied by IGN.com