The new Disney movie Brother Bear is in the theater this holiday season, and so it’s a given that toys and video games based on the movie are also available. While the movie has been getting mixed reviews from the critics, most kids are probably enjoying the film and will be clamoring for related products. So, how does the software game, Brother Bear, shape up?
The story is that Kenai, a Native American teen, causes his brother to die of a bear attack, due to Kenai’s recklessness. Seeking revenge, he hunts and kills the bear, only to be transformed into a bear himself by the spirits. The bear is his totem, and he must learn to understand the spirit of the bear. Ironically, he now becomes the hunted when Kenai’s other brother vows revenge on Kenai the bear, because he believes Kenai/bear caused Kenai/teen’s death.
An action packed game in the style of previous Disney Interactive action games such as The New Emperor, Going Quackers, Lilo & Stitch and 102 Dalmatians, this game is a platform game that involves lots of jumping around while collecting various items. Interspersed are fun mini-games of the arcade variety, mostly.
Again, as in these previous action games, this game is designed to be easy to play for young gamers. The beginning of the game is extremely easy, as kids are taught the basic controls and goals, namely to explore by jumping from platform to platform, and to collect lots of items for health and special powers. The gameplay becomes harder as the game progresses, but never impossible, and there are plenty of save points.
Graphically, this game is beautiful! Each location is attractive, and the bears and other characters are very nicely detailed. Our favorite areas were any to do with snow, and also the Salmon Run, which was underwater. However, the highly detailed graphics are disappointingly choppy at times, and scene changes, or different movements by Kenai, cause the computer to stutter and pause, with lousy frame rates.
Moving Kenai around mostly consists of running and jumping. His normal movement is slightly awkward, as his whole body moves in different directions as a straight whole without bending. Also, jumping can be problematic at times, again due to this stiffness in his strange angular movement. Collision detection is generally good, and the camera angles are decent.
This game appears to be a fun, action packed game, with lots of cool mini-games that can be played independently. I say “appear”, because frankly, due to many technical issues in running the game, we didn’t get all the way through the game. The game’s graphics require a very high-end machine, and even then, the frame rates, the choppiness of the video and the long load times make for frustrating interruptions in the game. I ran this game on a P2.4Mghz, with 256RAM, and 64MB video card, which is way above the minimum requirements of a P350 with 8MB video card, and the game still ran horribly at times. I also tried it on my P450, with 16MB video card, which was slightly above the system requirements, and while it ran worse on it, it wasn’t much worse. These specs are way above the listed requirements, I hate to think how this game would run on a machine with only an 8MB video card. Besides the slowness of the game, there were also a few bugs that would kick the user back to Windows in the midst of a game. Trying various video and sound settings didn’t change anything. And yes, I have the latest drivers for DirectX 9.
The game can be controlled with the keyboard, or a gamepad/joystick. We tried playing it with our Gamepad Pro, but the directional controls were entirely too sensitive; every right or left movement jerked Kenai from one side of the screen to the other, with no in-between. Re-calibrating the pad didn’t help. I’ve never had this problem with any other game using this gamepad, so have to assume it was the game. Maybe it works better with other types of gamepads. I never could get my joystick to work with it at all.
So, we were stuck using the keyboard, which is adequate, but not nearly as easy as using a gamepad for this type of running/jumping game.
It’s a shame that there are so many technical problems, as this game looks to have the potential to be another good Disney action game, almost on the par with the excellent 102 Dalmatians. We especially enjoyed the humorous remarks of Koda, which were too funny. However, there really is no excuse for the extreme slowness of the running of the game. It appears that this game was shoved out the door before it was quite ready, to coincide with the movie release.
There is a lot of game here, though, with plenty of easy exploration and item collecting. The game even allows kids to choose to jump automatically, which certainly helps in bringing this game to their level! One mini-game we played, the ice run, was a total hoot to play! It’s a race between Kenai and Koda, and it’s a whole lot of fun. It can be replayed at any time during the game.
This game has the potential to be a hit with kids, but parents need to be very careful they have a computer that can run it, preferably a model bought or upgraded within the last year. Parents would be wise to buy this game at a place that allows for the return of opened software, in case they can’t get it to run.
Gameplay: 7
This is a difficult area to rate, as the gameplay is going to vary widely, depending on the type of machine running it. Even on a system way above the minimum requirements, it had slow runtimes and choppiness, and a few bugs, and wasn’t any good on another system slightly above the requirements. The best game in the world isn’t any fun if it can’t be played.
Graphics: 9
Excellent graphics that look exactly like the movie, and is typical Disney quality.
Sound: 7
The music is nice enough, but not much of a component of this game. The sound effects are decent.
Difficulty: Medium
This game is designed for children, and as such isn’t too difficult to play. The paths are basically laid out for everyone by the expedient of Kenai following Koda around, and the jumping isn’t too hard. There is even a choice to let Kenai jump automatically across ledges, which makes the game even easier for younger players! There’s still plenty of challenge, though, and all ages will enjoy playing.
Concept: 7
Disney has done this many times before, and the elements of collection, exploring and mini-games all combine into a satisfactory experience, that is, if the kids can actually get the game to run decently.
Overall: 7
A fun action game for the kids that has the potential to be a very good game, if it wasn’t for the technical issues.
