Cuddle Bear
May 7, 2012 20 Comments
Cuddle Bear received a Second Chance with the Chick. Vast improvements have changed it from one of the worst games ever made to merely terrible. I kid. It’s not really that bad anymore. Read the new review.
In order for Cuddle Bear to be as bad as it looks, it would have to walk around kicking puppies and luring children into discarded refrigerators. I’m not sure if it does those things, but I can’t swear it doesn’t. This is one of the worst Xbox Live Indie Games of the year. It didn’t start that bad. You play as a psychotic teddy bear that goes around killing various bugs and animals. You’re armed with a gun, you have the ability to buy more guns, and levels are usually filled with plenty of God’s creatures for you to gleefully murder.
No really, that is what the game looks like.
The first world, set inside a house, is actually not too bad. Yes, the MS Paint graphics are embarrassing, the amusement level of the sound effects gets old fast, and the floaty jumping I just fucking knew would be problematic later, but it was still kind of cute in a “oh, look at the three-legged kitten” kind of way. And then I got to the suburb level, where the game took a turn for the worst. The platforming started to rely heavily on leap-of-faith gameplay. You know what I’m talking about. It’s where you have to jump to a platform you can’t see, possibly into enemies that you can’t defend yourself against. Some levels from that point on are completely centered around that concept. You jump, wait for the platform to appear, see an enemy next to the ledge, hit the enemy, recoil hugely off it, and fall to your death. Or even worse, you don’t die, fall to the ground, and have to walk all the way back to the start of the level to try again. At this point, if I had a button in front of me that would have detonated the developer’s head, I can’t say I wouldn’t have pushed it. Actually, I probably would have had someone else push it for me. Never hurts to have a second set of fingerprints on head-popping buttons.
I’m not sure how a game gets made in this day and age with gameplay like this. Did nobody play this far and tell the developer “you know, this is kind of just a series of dick moves that isn’t fun in the slightest bit?” I’m guessing not. It sucks that it falls to me to tell the developer that Cuddle Bear is just a series of dick moves that isn’t fun in the slightest bit. At least the leap of faith stuff isn’t the only thing to complain about. The graphics are shitty, but the game somehow still comes in at 241.5MB, necessitating an insulting 240 Microsoft Point price tag. Truth be told, that’s probably a good thing. It means nobody is likely to waste any time or money on this piece of shit. The enemies end up being bullet sponges, it takes too long to upgrade guns, and the game is kind of too long and samey for what it has to offer. I was getting bored with it long before I was getting angry at it.
Pictured: Cuddle Bear after he murdered fun itself.
Cuddle Bear isn’t the first title here that featured leap-of-faith platforming, but it will be the last one that I make any effort to finish. If developers don’t want to put in any effort into their level designs, I’m not going to make any effort to play them. I did excuse the first couple dozen instances of blind jumping in Cuddle Bear, but it became apparent during the second beach level that I was wasting my time. Nothing good had come of the game by this point. It was just getting worse and worse. This kind of stuff worked in old school games where the enemies didn’t spawn until you reached the point they were meant to appear. In this game, and many other XBLIGs for that matter, the enemies are just there, walking back and forth. You can’t prevent them from being close enough to the ledge, and thus all platforming is left completely to chance. I find it odd that the developer requested I review this game. Maybe he wasn’t aware how bad it was. Well, hopefully he knows now. If not, I’m not sure how else to say it. I could sing it.
Beneath the knees, hopefully nobody pees.
He’ll slurp and gag and gargle the sea.
Because that’s the day the Cuddle Bear sucked a big dick.
Cuddle Bear was developed by Happy Sock Entertainment
240 Microsoft Points read that the developer has Cuddle Bear 2 planned, says this is confirmation of the existence of evil in the making of this review.
Indie Gamer Chick 
These graphics are amazing. This looks like a must buy o.O lol
You kinda took it easy on me. I thought you were going to say Cuddle Bear was the ‘single’ worst game of the year.
Ah yes. The leap of faith. This was reluctantly added to the game to add challenge where the mindless enemies slacked. I think I will go through and add some more ledges before someone blows my head off. Cuddle Bear will probably play better as a casual game rather than a challenge game.
I can’t wait for you to review my next game. You will have a lot to write about it.
I haven’t played it, but why was the game so big? Cutscenes?
There are some cutscenes, but it is the ENORMOUS amount of music that makes it so huge. I didn’t know about the 50MB limit until I went to submit it.
“I’m not sure how a game gets made in this day and age with gameplay like this. Did nobody play this far and tell the developer “you know, this is kind of just a series of dick moves that isn’t fun in the slightest bit?” I’m guessing not”
We’re not allowed to reject a game because it sucks. If we were there would probably only be a half-dozen on XBLIG.
Most devs don’t care if we telll them their game sucks, they just think we’re trying to keep their game from passing peer review.
It’s truly sad that devs don’t think more highly of themselves and XBLIG that they want to release crap like this.
For those of you who find the weapon upgrades going to slow or find yourself getting stuck on a level, here are some cheat codes.
Apply codes from the main menu screen. Must have full version.
Millionare: LS LS X Y X Y LB RB
Unlock Levels: RS RS X X Y X RB LB
OK am a little unsure about this review. Does this mean you liked the game or not ?
XBLIG. Its slogan should be “WHY!?”
Because that’s what I’m saying to myself in disgust over this game. Why Happy Sock, WHY!? It’s like taking a dump on the porch of the girl next door. You don’t HAVE to do it, and maybe you will actually get rewarded for NOT doing it, but for some odd reason, some demonl-ike entity compels you to commit an act of epicly unworthy proportions, totally destroying your chances to be perceived as some kind of normal human being.
Now that I think about it, I know of such a person myself. Her name is Kairi Vice… >_>
Keep reviewing those poopy games Indie Gamer Chick. It’s a totally uncool job, but SOMEONE’S gotta do it. I nominate you.
To be fair, at least the developer has taken the criticism on the chin. Next time, though, perhaps he’d like to try and find an artist to work with. I know XBLIG isn’t going to make your fortune but it’s a good starting point for honing your development skills before you move on to more profitable platforms.
Oh, the dev totally took it well. In fact, he actually gave me and dozens of people on my Twitter a huge laugh by hilariously quoting my review out of context to make it sound glowing. Have a read.
http://happysockentertainment.com/
And yes, for those of you who don’t get it, this was a joke, and a damn funny one. So I give the guy props. His quote of my review was better than the game itself. Plus, he actually took the criticism to heart and plans to patch out the leaps of faith.
Much respect to him.
Kairi,
Well, I have patched up the game and submitted it for peer review.
I made the following changes:
1. Patched up much of the “leap of faith” platforming that was pissing people off.
2. Reduced the amount of recoil caused by enemies by half, preventing the enemy shoving you off the platform so easily.
3. Reduced the price of some weapons.
4. Trimmed some fat so I can sell it for 80MSP.
I got rid of some music and the lengthy video in the tutorial to get below the 80MSP threshold. It turns out that there were some songs that weren’t even used.
I patched the leap of faith for the most part up to and including the Asylum (which is really the last map). The Space map is sort of a bonus; I decided to leave its platforming dickish.
As for the graphics. It seems that my artistic ability peeked in the second grade. This ain’t getting any better.
I will let you know when the update releases.
That sounds like significant changes. I suggest you read my FAQ and issue your Second Chance with the Chick challenge when it hits.
Will do.
The new version of Cuddle Bear has passed peer review and I would like to invoke the Second Chance with the Chick. You will find this version less dick. I have made several changes in response to your ‘suggestions’ and request another goround.
It looks like someone liked it.
http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=G6w6EuIpA_0
this one
nope this one.
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