Fat Bear

In this entertaining mid-length work, you play a grizzly bear who's on a quest to pack in some more calories before settling in to hibernate. Along the way, you will accidentally (and/or on purpose) terrorize a number of people in order to get access to prized junk food of various kinds, as well as interact with other forest creatures.

Although the protagonist is a bear and has a bear's priorities, the game has fun with the knowledge that the player will be a human. There are a number of puzzles that would be beyond the capacity (one hopes) of any actual bear, and the PC seems to have a pretty good command of human technology and even English.

There are plenty of cutesy moments, many beats featuring comical property destruction, and a few places where the tone edges across the line into serious. (Spoiler - click to show)There is even the death of a human due to your actions, though the human in question is not sympathetic, and the death is in the indirect Disney style. It's not exactly a kids' game, but I would think young children playing along with older kids or parents would have a good time.

Most of the interaction is smooth, though there are a few places where a little more polish would go a long way. Specifically: 1) (Spoiler - click to show)the beehive puzzle doesn't render a consistent impression of the world model, as some responses (e.g. >TAKE BEEHIVE) suggest that it is out of reach even though >EAT will work, and 2) (Spoiler - click to show)the description of the tower's movement doesn't really clue the reader about the way to solve the puzzle of knocking it over. When moving south-to-north, it only says "The tower groans and sways back to upright as you head back north." If the text indicated that tower wobbled a little past upright before settling, that might communicate the situation a little better. Outside of those key issues, there are other spots where things seem a bit more cartoon-like than intended, e.g. the ability to (Spoiler - click to show)push the ATV even upward to the roof of the cabin or top of the fissure.

Nitpicks aside, this one was a lot of fun and definitely recommended. That's the second work I've tried by author Charles Moore, Jr., and I'm looking forward to the next.