Game review: Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise

Teddy bears have always been known for their cute and cuddly nature - that is until now with the release of Naughty bear: Panic in paradise the latest release from Behaviour Interactive and 505 Games.

Now naughty is the kind of bear that leaves the toilet seat up or uses the last of the milk and puts the empty carton back in the fridge.

He`s bad news, especially to other bears and he likes to punish them in nasty ways.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Naughty bear: Panic in paradise is a stealth type third person game loosely based on Metal gear solid or hitman, you know the kind sneaking about assassinating the enemy.

Sound good? Well it’s not that good I am afraid. This game offers so much yet doesn`t quite deliver.

The first thing that lets this game down is the graphics. It looks like an original PlayStation game with bland environments and poorly rendered characters.

To be honest this is the second outing for naughty and I would have thought the developers would have improved on the original, instead of just recreating the same look as the first one.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The concept of the game is a good one, just poorly executed, the object being that you sneak about tracking down specific bears and killing them in imaginative ways.

There are plenty of those about, for instance impaling a bear on a cactus or stuffing a petrol pump nozzle in his mouth and igniting it (my favourite); and these imaginative yet nihilistic methods of dispatch serve only to break the tedium of a poor quality game.

Naughty bear: Panic in paradise has one redeeming feature and that is the amount of content, with over 10 hours of game play it is value for money, and to be honest can be fun if you ignore the poor graphics.

There’s a hidden secret within each level which is accessed with a large key. You have a limited amount of time to get the key to the lock (and it’s not that easy).

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As you progress through the levels there are plenty of destructible objects that reveal collectable coins and weapons, enabling you to upgrade naughty with outfits and new weapons.

With added objectives and unlockable items there is plenty to keep you occupied.

Naughty bear: Panic in paradise is not just about sneaking around executing other bears. Oh no, if you want to get to the top of the leader boards and become the naughtiest bear in town then you have to assassinate your target in the specified manner, whether it’s taking them into the bushes and punishing them or killing them in front of witnesses etc, again this can be a bit of a challenge.

Another somewhat disturbing facet to this game is the suicide element, you can gain rewards for driving bears insane or committing suicide, very naughty!

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The developers have tried to incorporate a dark humour into this game, yet it doesn`t work very well with naughty coming across as slightly unhinged, especially with the voiceover sounding like a sick and twisted Johnny Ball (is this voice in his head?).

This game could have been so much better if the writers had had a sense of humour instead of producing a vicious, nihilistic game disguised with cuddly bears. It’s like a Muppet version of the texas chainsaw massacre.

Summary

The obviously vicious and callous behaviour shown in this game can be quite disturbing. It feels like it is aimed at kids who like to torture ants with a magnifying glass. If the developers had instilled some humour then it would have made this game slightly more pleasurable, yet this fails to entertain.

There is plenty of gameplay and it can be fun, yet becomes tedious after a few hours and even the imaginative cut scenes of naughty punishing his victims can become boring.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Naughty bear: Panic in paradise is a novel idea and this outing is way better than the original, yet it is let down by poor graphics and humourless writing.

Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise

Developers : Behaviour Interactive

Publishers: 505 Games

Xbox 360®

Playstation 3®

Genre: Stealth Action

Release Date: 9th October 2012

©theleet