Bear With Me - The Complete Collection Review (PC)

Bear With Me - The Complete Collection brings you all the episodes of the episodic noir adventure game that has a stuffed Teddy bear as a protagonist

The entire story in one sweet bundle

I have to admit I have a soft spot for old detective movies, and there's something about mysteries placed in the 40s and 50s that makes them feel all the more.....mysterious. For those of you that don't know the franchise, Bear With Me is one such episodic noir adventure game placed in a fictional universe where anthropomorphic animals and robots still exist. However, everything is given a noir vibe to it, from the use of nothing but black, white and shades of grey, to the use of old detective movie tropes and dated technology.

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You play as the detective Ted E. Bear, along with whichever sidekick you happen to have in that given episode. Your job is to unravel the mysteries surrounding Paper City. The complete collection currently offers all three episodes, as well as the bonus prequel episode that acts as the launch point for the entire story.

The gameplay

The Bear With Me is a great mix of Point and Click as well as Hidden Object Game elements. You'll have the time of your life trying to find whatever items you require to get the job done, and you will be entertained along the way by the frequent use of humor. While it does fall short at times, I have to give credit where credit is due, since I did have my fair share of moment where I at least chuckled a few times at the witty comments. Ted E. Bear manages to stay cool at all time while managing to deliver punchlines that would make a stand-up comedian proud. Of course, there are moments when the jokes are so bad you know that there was a joke there, but you can't bu cringe at how bad the pun or the timing was. The puzzles are also noteworthy, as you frequently have to find items you never though could be accessible in a given area.

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The looks

The animation is fair to say the least, but I have to admit I was expecting a bit more, especially as far as environment design goes. Another thing I didn't particularly like was the character animations, which felt rather cheap at times, as if the graphics department got a budget cut half-way through the game's development. Then again, if I wanted looks I probably would have chosen some other game, but I chose Bear With Me - The Complete Collection for the sake of the story. As mentioned earlier, the game is made to give off a detective noir atmosphere. Because of this, you'll only be seeing the colors white, black, and a bit over 50 shades of grey. This narrow range of colors can be off-putting for some, especially since it can sometimes hinder the process of finding items in a monochromatic environment.

The sounds

Point and Click games are not known to carry the "fast-paced" label with them, but one elements makes the Bear With Me games feel particularly slow, and that is the lack of a soundtrack. While you do have your background music at times (very, very few times), being stuck in a monochromatic room with no sound looking for who knows what can feel mind-numbingly boring. Speaking of sound, I can't go through the review without mentioning how bad the character's voice acting felt. Every time someone other than Ted E. Bear talked, it sounded like a bad recording made over the Interned using cheap microphone.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion