Bears In Space Review (lowtier)
Bears in Space is a strange game. I both like and dislike it in equal measure. The gameplay is quite solid. The shooting and movement are good. The light puzzle and platforming are good. The environments are colorful and interesting. There are secrets to find in each level and optional objectives which are neat and help to break up gameplay. There are lots of positives when it comes to gameplay. Where this game loses me is in the writing.
Bear in Space is one of the flattest comedy experiences I've ever had. It is constantly joking, as in every moment of dialogue the writer is cramming in every possible joke/reference; and holy sh!t none of them land. Not a single joke has landed in the 6 hours I've played and outside of combat there have been constant jokes. Not many of the jokes are outright groaners; I never got mad at a bad joke but there were moments of shaking my head or rolling my eyes. Part of the irritation is that the game will come slamming to a halt to spend 5 min telling a convoluted joke where the punchline is obvious in the first 10 seconds. I think I would like/tolerate the humor if I was between the ages of 8-12, as an ancient 36 y/o I was left quite unimpressed. The writer is aware that the jokes are lame, there are many meta references to the bad humor but idk those wink wink jokes didn’t land either. I was left going, “yeah dev, it was a bad joke, thanks for rubbing it in.” I guess there is some humor in that it’s so unfunny. Playing it I never laughed or even cracked a smile but writing this review I'm chuckling at just how not good it was. Neat how that kinda thing works out sometimes.
Despite being rather negative about the games writing/humor it isn’t horrible it’s just bad. I do recommend this game with an asterix. If you have a small tolerance for bad/lame jokes this will drive you insane. I think this is a really good first time FPS/Arena Shooter. If I was given this game as a 10 y/o I'd probably have loved it and laughed lots. If you are a parent and want to get your child into FPS/Arena shooters but are on the fence about exposing them to crazy graphical violence/cursing/adult themes this is a very happy middleground. Def a ‘safe for all ages’ kinda game. Bears in Space gets a solid 6.5/10.