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Once upon a time there was an island, this island is known as the Island of Perfection and is inhabited by the cutest littlest bears that you ever did see. Today is a very special day; today is the day that one of the bears celebrates his birthday, and he's invited all his friends to join him at the party. The island is full of laughter and celebration as the bears dance their tails off and everyone is loved and happy.
Well, asides from one bear; Naughty Bear, who wasn't invited to the party. So fed up of his naughty antics were the other bears that this time they left him alone. So desperate was he to join the party Naughty Bear set about creating a gift with his very own paws, but this didn't gain him any favour and the other bears simply laughed at his pathetic attempts. Sulking, Naughty Bear sloped off back to his house, alone.
Naughty Bear didn't spend the time away from the others to reflect on his actions, he didn't think about what he could do to make amends for his past actions, he didn't think about atonement, and he didn't think about how much happier he would be if he could work out a way to get along with his fellow bears. Instead, he plotted his revenge, his bloody, brutal, and over the top revenge.
And thus begins the dark but comic tale of the sociopathic teddy bear of the same name from developers Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M) and publishers 505 Games for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Naughty Bear seeks his revenge on the other bears in a sand box type world which offers nearly thirty different environments, the game engine is dynamic which means that each play through will be different to the last and features an A.I. system which adapts to your playing style and even allows the other teddy bears to form factions against you to stop your murderous spree. The violence in the game is strictly the cartoon type but that doesn't stop it being inventive, if anything it helps things along by not being bound to the usual conventions with new and novel ways of despatching the teddies which will earn you more points.
Naughty Bear has two main weapons at his disposal, a huge machete and a big gun; he can also make use of stealth and various tricks to lure the teddy bears into traps before executing them in the most vindictive way that he can. All of this doesn't go unnoticed of course and he'll also have to avoid the local Fuzz, the islands law enforcers, that's if he is to be successful in dispatching the other teddy bears on the island. As the game progresses Naughty Bear will go up against other bears that aren't quite as cute and cuddly as they could have been as well as other things you might find in a toy box.
It's not a strictly solo affair either, you'll be able to take your bear online to find out how he compares against other bears; the points you are awarded are compared to others on a real time leaderboard so you'll instantly know how well, or how naughty, you are compared to your friends. There's also some multiplayer action to keep you interested between psychopathic outbursts which takes the form of Capture The Flag, King of the Hill and Search and Destroy modes; there is talk of your actions in game allowing you to tamper with some of these modes, but as of yet there are little or no details to speak of.
Quebec based A2M have recently been responsible for the PlayStation Portable conversion of Dante's Inferno and worked with Bethesda Softworks to bring us WET on the PS3 and 360 so we can expect big things from this new title; it certainly is sounding like a break from the norm and could be something to fill the space between the slew of racing games and first person shooters that are set to be released in the year to come.
Naughty Bear is set to release at the end of June and it's something you might want to keep your eye on, it wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination to see this Naughty Bear creeping up on everyone who isn't paying attention and pulling the stuffing out of them himself.
