Game Review #424: Bear With Me: The Complete Collection (Nintendo Switch)
Updated: Mar 22, 2020
Reviewer: Steven Green
Developer: Exordium Games
Publisher: Modus Games
Category: Point-and-Click Adventure
Release Date: 7.31.2019
Price: $14.99
Buy Bear With Me: The Complete Collection from the Nintendo Switch eShop here.
Noir Detective
Bear With Me: The Complete Collection is a point-and-click adventure title with noir themes. You play as Amber and Ted E. Bear, her trusted teddy sidekick who is as gruff and rough around the edges as any other P.I. would be. You are in Paper City, and together you will solve crimes while running through several different types of puzzles and experiences that bring together a rocking point-and-click title, along with enough extra to break up the model, which makes this one really stick out. The undertones to childhood and a kid playing with her toys and living in her imagination bring together a product that is one you will want to pay attention to.
Puzzle Pieces
This title uses all of the tropes you can think of, with sometimes-nonsensical point-and-click gameplay, classic detective movie themes, and puzzles to investigate each crime as you progress. With all of this, you have a fun mixture of adult and child themes that adds a charm to a genre with games that have always used really quirky ideas to set themselves apart. The noir themes are used hard, and every inch of this game oozes dark brooding. Ted E. Bear even has the alcoholic vibes and swears like a sailor. Puzzles are fun and manageable outside of the point-and-click mechanics. Outside of all of that, the only downside is that the game doesn’t port over to console all that well, which is common for point-and-click games. Movement is rough, and click-spamming on items is a pain when you don’t have a mouse to point at, but in handheld mode, the game does a little better. Besides that, the art style is well done, and the soundtrack matches the themes and aesthetic.
Point-And-Click Done Right
Bear With Me does everything right when you are looking for a point-and-click game. It has a unique premise, quirky characters, and a story that is good enough to override the frustrations that come from randomness in the item-gathering and combination department. You also have the addition of more puzzles that spice up the gameplay, and an art style that is well done, even though you might say it is overdone a bit at times. The game sticks to its guns in the noir themes it has chosen, and the game has some undertones that add a lot of interest to this game’s overall flavor. Anyone who likes this genre will want to grab this one as a must buy, but for everyone else it is one you will want to consider, as it still has the mechanics a lot of people dislike from the genre, but adds enough new that you may be able to look past that.
Score: 8/10
Buy Bear With Me: The Complete Collection from the Nintendo Switch eShop here.
Follow Exordium Games
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Modus Games
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*Review code was provided for review purposes.