Andrew: 5
Imagine it’s 1988, and you’re on your way to scout the newest releases. Upon your arrival at the store, a strange game on the shelf catches your eye: Enviro-Bear 2000. What’s this? You drive around the forest as a bear, and the entire game is played using the mouse? You ask the clerk and he explains that your mouse acts as the bear’s right hand. You steer, you press the gas pedal, you shift from reverse to drive, you grab fish off your dashboard, you clear clutter at your feet and on and on. Wow, it’s like you really are the bear! Now imagine it’s 2010 again. Guess what? The annoying controls no longer sustain the admittedly cool concept for more than a few minutes. Shame.

Ashley: 3
Enviro-Bear 2000 was nominated for the Nuovo Award for this year’s IGF, but the real question is: what were these judges smoking? The game is pretty utilitarian in the graphics and gameplay department, as the only objective of the title is to drive around and stuff enough food in your bear face so that you’ll go into hibernate mode. I know the purpose of the Nuovo Award is to award innovative and abstract games, but this nomination was just as abstract as the game itself.

Stew: 2
It’s hard to find words to adequately describe how pointless this game is. You’re a bear driving a car around trying to collect food before winter. Why does the bear have a car? Is he just too good to walk like normal bears? Honestly, even with the general stupidity surrounding this, I could have had some fun were the controls not the most heinously bad thing I’ve ever experienced in a driving game. You control everything with the mouse. To accelerate you need to click on the gas pedal with the mouse, but then using the steering wheel also requires the mouse. You can’t accelerate and steer at the same time. It’s kind of an issue in a game where the whole point is to gather food within a strict time limit. It gets two points just because driving into stuff is always mildly amusing.

Mike: 8
Am I crazy for liking this game? Maybe. I admit the controls are awkward and the graphics certainly look as if they were drawn in MS Paint, but who cares? The physics in the game are spot on, the gameplay is incredibly unique and most importantly Enviro Bear left a smile on my face. The controls are awkward, but it’s hard for a bear to drive a car!

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