Naughty Bear Review

Naughty Bear is a prototypical guilty pleasure game. Watching a raggedy stuffed bear torment other fluffy teddies delights the part of my psyche that never grew out of wanting to throw rocks through windows. However, after spending some extended time with the game, you begin to remember why it’s not always good to be bad.

Naughty Bear takes place on an island inhabited by anthropomorphic teddy bears. Your job is to torment its inhabitants. Nearly every evil action you perform, from flushing presents down the toilet to smashing windows and threatening other bears with deadly weapons earns you naughty points, which you’ll need to progress.

To say Naughty Bear is demented is an understatement. I don’t know if I should be concerned about the team that made this game, or if I should be concerned that I enjoyed ripping the stuffing out of a bear while his friends screamed in terror. I laughed with glee after stalking a bear through the forest and driving him to the point of suicidal insanity.

Naughty Bear is a game with a lot of creative ideas, but little understanding of how to properly implement them. You’re forced to chain naughty deeds together to earn a higher score, which unlocks the next area, but there isn’t enough variety to these actions and they quickly become repetitive. However, considering that you end up revisiting the same areas over and over again, maybe there isn’t much point in progressing.

Meta challenges and online multiplayer help squeeze a little extra playtime out of this package. Multiplayer offers a few varieties of deathmatch and capture the flag style games, but I tired of the clunky controls, repetitive environments, and limited match sizes before too long.

Like the cheap pieces of plastic found in novelty toy dispensers at grocery stores, Naughty Bear can be fun to fool around with for a few hours. Afterwards, it will probably just sit on your shelf with all the other long forgotten toys that represent a more carefree and mischievous childhood.