Naughty Bear

Naughty Bear

European cover art
Developer(s) Artificial Mind and Movement
Publisher(s) 505 Games
Platform(s) PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date(s)
  • EU June 25, 2010
  • NA June 29, 2010
Genre(s) Third-person shooter, action
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Distribution Blu-ray Disc, DVD

Naughty Bear is a third-person shooter action video game released in June 2010 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. Players control the eponymous bear as they use various things to earn "Naughty Points", with extra points being given for random missions.[1]

The game is set on a paradisal island where teddy bears live in harmony. The main character, Naughty Bear, is a shabby teddy bear who has a tendency to be mischievous, which earns him the dislike of the other bears. Like the other teddy bears, he does not speak but instead conveys his emotions through a variety of sounds and facial expressions. His actions are influenced by an unseen narrator with a demeanor reminiscent of that of a young children's television show host.[2][3]

Plot

Naughty Bear is the only bear on Perfection Island who is not invited to Daddles' birthday party. Naughty tries to be nice anyway and even crafts a gift for the occasion, hoping he and Daddles could become friends. When two other bears, Chubby and Giggles, see that Naughty has a present, they laugh at him. This makes Naughty sulk back to his house. He then decides to get revenge on the bears, going on a killing spree and punishing the various other inhabitants of Perfection Island and any outside help that comes to their aid.

The episodes that follow have Naughty deal with a variety of unusual events: fighting ninja bears to take out Mayor Chubby whose re-electoral promise is to kill off Naughty; battling the military to punish Cozy for using birds to spy on him; killing Nibbles for raising the Un-Ted; fighting his way through the Bear Emergency Action Response (BEAR) unit to kill oil baron Trembles for intending to kill Naughty and build an oil rig over his hut; and executing Fluffy for unknowingly threatening all existence while taking down his robot bear army.

In the seventh episode, a bear named Sunbeam makes contact with aliens. However, the aliens enslave the bears and take over the island. After killing the aliens and Sunbeam, Naughty Bear is congratulated by the other bears for his effort, and is even offered a cake. However, Daddles smashes the cake in Naughty's face, humiliating him in front of all the bears on the island as they all played him. Heartbroken, Naughty Bear goes back to his hut, but not before he destroys the cabin all the bears are in with an RPG.

Three additional episodes were released as downloadable content (DLC). In the first, Naughty is invited to a cake tasting party to be the guest of honour. But learning it to be a trap by Cop Gordon as he calls in the superhero Danger Bear and his X-Bear team, Naughty not only punishes Gordon, but also the X-Bears and Danger Bear's number one fan, Bubble. In the second, Naughty punishes the crew of Captain Bear Beard and Giggles when they intend to dig up Naughty Bear's house for buried treasure. In the last one, Naughty learns the bears enlisted Vampiricorn to do their dirty work. Due to him and his minions draining the stuffing of Unibear, the vampire bears are almost unstoppable as Naughty punishes both them and Stardust, who came up with the plan in the first place.

Development

The development team have stated that much of the inspiration for Naughty Bear came from Saturday morning cartoons; the idea of juxtaposing that innocence with dark humour and over-the-top violence.

The game's familiar mechanics were inspired by popular games such as Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto, Destroy All Humans, and the cancelled Campfire. GameStop and Amazon offered pre-order bonus costumes that spoofed Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger.

In May 2011, 505 Games released Naughty Bear Gold Edition—which is the original game plus all 3 of its downloadable content episodes, 3 new weapons, and 4 new multiplayer modes.[4]

Reception

Naughty Bear received mostly negative reviews. IGN's Greg Miller scored the game 3/10 on Xbox 360[5] and 2.5/10 on PlayStation 3. GameSpot gave the game a 5.5/10.[6] X-Play gave the game a 3/5.[7] Joystiq gave the game a 2/5.[8] The Escapist Magazine gave the game a 2/5, calling it "repetitious and clunky".[9] Good Game's Steven O'Donnell and Stephanie Bendixsen gave the game a combined score of 2.5/20[10] and named it 'Worst game of the Year'.

Sequel

On May 31, 2012, a sequel was announced by 505 Games.[11] Titled Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise, it is a download-only game and was released on October 9, 2012 for PlayStation Network and October 10 for Xbox Live Arcade. According to Creative Director of Behaviour Interactive, Ashley Pannell, Panic in Paradise features a new gameplay style with no 'Top Hat' mode and covers thirty-six separate levels, across eleven individual locations, each with their own difficulty ramp and the ability to purchase enhancements with in-game currency to help progress through the missions.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "505 Games unleashing a Naughty Bear on PS3 and Xbox 360".
  2. ↑ "Naughty Bear ... Will Kill You".
  3. ↑ "Preview: Naughty Bear". ComputerAndVideoGames.com. 2010-03-10. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
  4. ↑ "Naughty Bear Gold Edition Press Release". Joystiq.com. 2011-05-18.
  5. ↑ Greg Miller (2010-06-30). "Naughty Bear Review - Xbox 360 Review at IGN". Xbox360.ign.com. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  6. ↑ "Naughty Bear Review for PlayStation 3 - GameSpot". Uk.gamespot.com. 2010-06-25. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  7. ↑ Mastrapa, Gus (2010-06-29). "Naughty Bear Review for Xbox 360". G4tv. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  8. ↑ Yoon, Andrew (2010-07-02). "Review: Naughty Bear". Joystiq. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  9. ↑ Review: Naughty Bear. "| | The Escapist". Escapistmagazine.com. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  10. ↑ "Good Game Stories - Naughty Bear". Abc.net.au. 2009-06-17. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  11. ↑ "Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise heading to XBLA/PSN this year - Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise for Xbox 360 News". Videogamer.com. 2012-05-31. Retrieved 2012-11-16.
  12. ↑ "Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise – Interview with Creative Director Ashley Pannell". GamingLives. 2012-06-27. Retrieved 2012-11-16.

External links