Perfect! That list was exactly why I just came to the forum. I started playing al launch, then lost interest and deleted the game. Something made me think of it last week, and I redownloaded it and ended up buying infinite honey this time. Wanting to see if I'm maximizing the bears I've got. Only in Chapter 3, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared!
I love this game. Due to the game center bug at the moment I can't play this game at all. PLEASE PLEASE developer, remove the required connection to play. Couldn't you code something tied to a device's clock so it knows what day it is? If you could play this game without a connection or in a weak signal area it would make a world of difference.
Spry Fox sent out the following this evening via email! # "You've spoken, and we've listened! One of the most-requested Alphabear features is the ability to play without an internet connection. We're happy to announce that offline mode is out now for Android, and the iOS update is right around the corner. You can now play Alphabear while on a plane, in a subway, or stranded on a desert island! " This was one of the things that prevented me from downloading the game so I can't wait for this update!
You won't be able to earn coins or win bears in offline mode though. It will purely be a case of playing word matches, with no game progression.
If you ensure that you are not connected to the internet (switch to airplane mode for example) you will get the option to play offline.
The offline part isn't really exciting or comparable to the real game. Apart from it running slide-show-like on my iPad 2, I tried dozens of times to beat the boss of chapter 8. If you don't get Jolly Bear, I think it is very, very hard. As I am annoyed by the timer part, too, I am tempted to delete it and move on. A lot of "but" for a premium game.
It isn't a premium game, it's free. You don't need the Jolly Bear to complete chapter 8. I would recommend fully levelling up Phobia Bear, Happy Bear, and Wary Bear. I'm almost at the end of the final chapter (chapter 10) with 81/95 of the bears collected. I agree that the game performance is pretty poor on older devices though, especially as your bear collection grows larger. It's a bit choppy on my iPad 3 when accessing the bear selection screen.
Actually, if you go for "unlimited honey", you "buy" the app in a way, as in Triple Town. (Although I regret having done that. So much for freemium.) Interestingly, I have got none of these three bears you mentioned, despite playing often the appropriate 400-coins-events, where another element comes into play I don't like- the endless grinding. Timers and grinding, a combination which adds to the big "but".
