Rory the bear lives happily and peacefully in the forest.  Until one day, people start building art museums and galleries way out there and disrupting Rory’s habitat.  Now Rory must enter these galleries and put a stop to this in Bears vs. Art, a new free-to-play downloadable action puzzler for iOS and Android devices (reviewed on iPad here).

Each stage is a single room with art on the walls.  Rory can move in 8 directions, including diagonally, by tapping on the arrows beside him.  He can’t move if there is a wall in the way, though.  When you tell Rory to move, he’ll dash without stopping until he hits a wall.  If there is a painting on the wall, you’ll play a little mini-game where you’ll swipe the screen like a bear slashing a painting with his claws.  It’s kind of like Fruit Ninja, which isn’t surprising since it’s made by the same company.  You win the level when all paintings are destroyed.

There are a variety of obstacles that you’ll need to overcome in each level.  Some stages give you limited moves, so you have to plan your strategy accordingly.  Other levels give you a time limit or other requirements.  Sometimes all you have to do is dash into guests to chase them away, snatch paintings from art thieves, or sneak around security guards.  Later on you’ll be able to unlock extra challenging levels, too.  You lose the level if you run out of moves or time, or if you get caught by traps or security.

When you tear up art, beat levels without using all the moves, and other things, you’ll earn coins.  These coins can be used to buy various things.  You can purchase extra turns or tries if you run out, as well as buy costumes for Rory to wear.  Some of these costumes will improve Rory’s stats, so you can have extra moves or earn more coins.  As time passes, you’ll get skill points which you can use to increase Rory’s stats as well.  Through in-game purchases, you can also buy extra coins, costumes, or even change Rory’s color!

As a free-to-play download, you’ll have to deal with some of the annoyances of this type of game.  You only get a limited number of tries to beat stages, and then you must wait a while before you can do more.  You’ll also have to deal with constant pop-up ads encouraging you to buy extras for the game.  But if you can look past these things, you may find Bears vs. Art a humorous little action puzzler.

Kid Factor:

While Rory does dash into and chase away guests from the museums, you don’t see anything violent.  Attendees just disappear, and security guards just sit there dazed with stars circling their heads.  The only things that get harmed in this game are paintings.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, and younger gamers may get frustrated at the later, harder levels.  Parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases.  As a puzzle game, Bears vs. Art could be considered somewhat educational as it teaches problem solving, logic, and planning skills.

Tags: Game Reviews