I like to think of my mental awesome-o-meter, that is, the gauge I use to determine how awesome a game is as something similar to one of those really old analog pressure gauges you might find on a submarine somewhere. Every so often a game comes along that is just so terrible that the ol’ awesome-o-meter goes so far in to the red that it comes back up on the other side. Enviro-Bear 2010 [App Store], my friends, is a game which causes this phenomenon.
Yes, Enviro-Bear 2010 is a bear driving a car simulator where you have five minutes to fatten yourself up and drive to your cave in preparation for winter. The controls are hilariously awful, and while the iPhone may be capable of multi-touch gestures, as a bear driving a car you only have one free paw which is what you use to drive around and scarf down food.
You can use your single paw to do all kinds of things, from putting the car in to drive or reverse, throwing just about anything (including the clock tracking your remaining time) out the window, and defending yourself from badgers. The driving controls provide as realistic of an experience as I can imagine if I were a bear driving a car, since you can either steer or use the pedals. With only one paw, how could you both at the same time?
It wasn’t until I played the game through a few cycles of winter that I started to realize the depth of how much you can interact with the world. Such a seemingly terrible game at first glance really has a odd level of detail, especially when you start thinking outside the box, or rather– Thinking like a bear, driving a car.
For instance, the horrid combination of constantly switching between the gas and steering is completely remedied by something so simple that it hadn’t even crossed my mind until I saw someone mention it in the thread on our forums. If you ram your car in to a boulder, a piece of rock will fall off, and you can use that rock to hold the gas pedal down.
Enviro-Bear 2010 is filled with all kinds of really weird functionality of interaction between objects that you never would expect. This realization transformed the game for me from a comically bad driving game to a clever, imaginative, and strangely enjoyable experience. (And I’m not the only one).
If you are looking for a completely ridiculous game with graphics so bad that they’re good and really awkward bear-inspired controls, look no further than Enviro-Bear 2010. Sure, you could buy better things for a dollar, but do those things involve a world where bears drive cars?
I didn’t think so.
App Store Link: Enviro-Bear 2010, 99¢
Well said
Also, we enjoy this game (which I really didn't think we would, esp due to the lack of depth) but the point I'd like to make is that the mechanics using your finger on the screen ala WarGrunts (which I've said in the past makes my finger tired;) seems to work for this game, primarily because my focus is on GUY, how/where to shoot the enemy, and all I need to do is tap GUY to shake off the Zombies, as we all know, would be implemented as shaking the whole device as other games...incredibly disruptive while focus on a game. This and Crush Bunny were two good 99 cent purchases, but both could be a bit more challenging and just an iota deeper. Someone mentioned in the forum whether EA will really maintain these tootsie-centers if they're gonna make so many of them as planned: monthly.
I agree these controls works better in this game. because generally zig-zagging back and forth works ok. it's only when you get to the top and bottom edges where it might become an issue and you have to tap more precisely.
arn
This game is only a buck but it gets old fast like idracula. It's pretty but shallow. I would rather buy more apps that would normally be priced 5-10 bucks on another cell phone (or portable gaming system) heavily underpriced to 99 cents for a sale or price drop :) This is part of the reason why the iPhone has so many great and cheap games; Everyone is jumping on the developement bandwagon and needs to compete by lowering the price!
Damn, looks pretty awesome BUT also looks like it could use more variety. Different levels?? Some kind of even trivial storyline. I mean, look at the original Postal. Almost no full "storyline" per se, yet you at least felt like you were "getting somewhere" because you'd get to additional levels with different scenery/layout and enemies (as well as weapons).
Not available in the New Zealand store. *sigh* Why does this kinda crap only happen with the big companies? This isn't on old title with licensing issues for various territories, doesn't contain any licensed material with similar issues. Why wasn't it released worldwide?
Looked good. I was gonna buy it right away. Now I've got that old fashioned EA bad taste in my mouth. :|
If you search for the game instead of using the link you might be lucky. The link didnt work for me neither but it sure enough was available and purchable. Cheers
It looks a decent game, but not one that I would buy... saying that TKO I also clicked the link but realised it is also not available in the UK either...
Look forward to other releases... but at the minute I won't be purchasing this one...
"Some of these emotions appear to be misplaced as we feel all games should be taken for what they are regardless of publisher. At $0.99, this simple game clearly fits into the causal pick-up-and-play market that has been so well dominated by the likes of Flight Control, Pocket God and Doodle Jump."
EA's improved a lot over the years as a corporation (while Activision's tanked), but I wouldn't be comparing them to those games just yet. The real problem isn't some dismissive bias against large publishers, it's that they simply don't have a good track record for ongoing support and improvement of games after they're released. I mean, Flight Control added online community features, new airports, bluetooth multiplayer, and who knows what in the future. Pocket God and Doodle Jump have added even more.
Maybe they'll prove me wrong, but with EA coming out of the box saying they're going to make their small team release a new game every month, the chances of any attention being paid to their current/past titles appears slim.
to be fair, Flight Control and Doodle Jump only added features after they became big successes.
arn
If 8lb Gorilla plans to release these little games every month, does that mean they're not going to support/update these micro games? Sounds like they're going to be too busy to worry about supporting any of their apps :/
Sorry, I hadn't read swarmsters comment prior to posting.
I asked them that in the thread, and he said: "if the gamers want it, we'll do it" or something to that affect.
Let's not kid ourselves. This is a sweet soundtrack.
Does one song count as a soundtrack? It honestly annoys me when you hear it repeat during the game. However, it is very good.
It'd also be nice to be able to turn sound effects on/off.
Looks like a fun one, and at just a buck, it's price isn't a factor.
However, Zombieville USA still holds my thrills in holding one's own in the zombie apocalypse, especially with shotguns, rocket launchers, a chainsaw and a BFG-like weapon (and soon, I understand, melee weapons). Despite its higher price over Zombies & Me, it's the one I'd recommend still, although I'll likely give this one a shot (it appears to be...da bomb. :)
Gameplay for Zombies & Me (from the video) looks to be very fast, so it's more of a youthful fast-twitch-fiber game than the frenzied but manageable play that Zombieville has.
uuuhhh zombieville already has melee weapons
The recent release of Zombieville USA has one melee weapon: a chainsaw. But it requires "ammo" in the form of fuel. The developer is expected to release an update (if it's not out already) that adds unlimited-use melee weapons (type unknown) so that you can cheat death a little longer when your other weapons are out of ammo.
Arn, if you go to options and change the control from "tap" to "Hold", you can basically control him using a virtual stick (or more like KillTest) - drag in any direction and he moves in that direction. Much better way to control the game. :)
I find no difference between the tap and hold options. I stay on tap and use it like wargrunts. What I don't see is all the supposed funny comments from grandma, which would give the game a bit more flavor. Then again, who has time to read with ur finger in the way? How about actual funny voice fx from grandma, or would that be more annoying than a one hit wonder soundtrack??
I think this game is crap. People don't seem to care if they kust can spend their money. It is much too fast, the music is stressing and the gameplay is boring. Would be fun, if you had to defeat your grandma's house with several weapons and more and more zombies coming in waves.
But like this it is boring senseless.
Thor, gaming since 1980
Yeah, that house is pure evil. Unless properly armed with several deadly implements of war, no mere man would stand a chance.
Ah, thanks Carlos! It looks like there are *two* versions of this game in the store. The US one, and the International one. The link above is for the US version, whereas the one for the International version is: http://itunes.apple.com/Web...
Was able to access that and purchase the game. ..I wonder what the difference is now. :D