IPHONEWATCHERS.COM

Enviro-Bear 2010’s Rise to Power (and Appearance on G4’s Attack of the Show)

$0.99, Bear Driving Simulator, Iphone News, iPhone Games, iPod touch games - by Eli Hodapp - July 14, 2009 - 22:26 America/Chicago - Be first to Comment!

It seems like only yesterday that Enviro-Bear 2010 [App Store] first appeared on our forums, met with skepticism and confusion.

Several brave forum members decided to take the plunge and experience what it feels like playing as a bear, driving a car, desperately searching for food to survive through the winter. Since then, Enviro-Bear-mania has been spreading across the Internet at an alarming rate between iPhone blogs and near constant Twitter chatter.

Reviews on iTunes have been overwhelmingly positive, and as of this evening, Enviro-Bear 2010 is sitting at a solid 4.5 star rating, with 92 players reporting in at 5 stars, and 14 confused people who must have meant to hit 5 but accidentally hit some other number when submitting a review.

Some select iTunes reviews successfully capture the spirit of the game:

This game perfectly captures the ennui of daily life in a modern post-industrial society juxtaposed with the simplicity and beauty of the natural world, bringing both into sharp focus and triggering a new level of understanding of our place in the universe. Plus it's a frickin' BEAR driving a car!! — DFSDave

My friends all play nothing but one-armed bear sims. I just couldn't get into the genre. UNTIL NOW!!! The innovative rabid badger feature is exactly what one-armed driving bear sims need. I'm hooked! I'll be deleting every other game from my iPhone. And all my contacts and calendar events for good measure — M A 4

As a practicing bear biologist in Yellowstone National park, I can state with authority that Enviro-Bear 2010 is the most accurate software representation of the plight of the modern bear. Bravo, Mr. Smith. Bravo. — RAFontaine

Sure I [spent] all my time learning about the behavior of bears who only have access to one paw while driving a car instead of studying for the MCATs. But what I got in return was something priceless. It can only be described as enlightenment. — Gotgame327

Since our first look at Enviro-Bear 2010, the game has seen unparalleled levels of popularity (well, compared to all other bear driving simulators). Yesterday the game was featured by Apple, and by this morning Enviro-Bear 2010 had shot up the top 100 game charts. All of these things take a back seat to being featured on this evening's episode of G4's Attack of the Show:

The future of Enviro-Bear was shrouded in mystery up until a few moments ago when developer Justin Smith posted on our forums to announce the creation of the official Enviro-Bear 2010 Twitter feed (@EnviroBearCorp) and hint at future updates.

The first of which is said to be a boring update, but the second may bring about a new era of bear driving simulators with the addition of exploding bees and time traveling chainsaws. "Oh the possibilities!", Smith writes.

Mr. Smith, the entire internet awaits updates to your magnum opus.

App Store Link: Enviro-Bear 2010, 99¢

‘Enviro-Bear 2010′ - The Best Bear Driving Simulator in the App Store

$0.99, Bear Driving Simulator, Iphone News, Reviews, iPhone Games, iPod touch games - by Eli Hodapp - July 9, 2009 - 21:50 America/Chicago - Be first to Comment!

I like to think of my mental awesome-o-meter, that is, the gauge I use to determine how awesome a game is as something similar to one of those really old analog pressure gauges you might find on a submarine somewhere. Every so often a game comes along that is just so terrible that the ol' awesome-o-meter goes so far in to the red that it comes back up on the other side. Enviro-Bear 2010 [App Store], my friends, is a game which causes this phenomenon.

Yes, Enviro-Bear 2010 is a bear driving a car simulator where you have five minutes to fatten yourself up and drive to your cave in preparation for winter. The controls are hilariously awful, and while the iPhone may be capable of multi-touch gestures, as a bear driving a car you only have one free paw which is what you use to drive around and scarf down food.

You can use your single paw to do all kinds of things, from putting the car in to drive or reverse, throwing just about anything (including the clock tracking your remaining time) out the window, and defending yourself from badgers. The driving controls provide as realistic of an experience as I can imagine if I were a bear driving a car, since you can either steer or use the pedals. With only one paw, how could you both at the same time?

It wasn't until I played the game through a few cycles of winter that I started to realize the depth of how much you can interact with the world. Such a seemingly terrible game at first glance really has a odd level of detail, especially when you start thinking outside the box, or rather– Thinking like a bear, driving a car.

For instance, the horrid combination of constantly switching between the gas and steering is completely remedied by something so simple that it hadn't even crossed my mind until I saw someone mention it in the thread on our forums. If you ram your car in to a boulder, a piece of rock will fall off, and you can use that rock to hold the gas pedal down.

Enviro-Bear 2010 is filled with all kinds of really weird functionality of interaction between objects that you never would expect. This realization transformed the game for me from a comically bad driving game to a clever, imaginative, and strangely enjoyable experience. (And I'm not the only one).

If you are looking for a completely ridiculous game with graphics so bad that they're good and really awkward bear-inspired controls, look no further than Enviro-Bear 2010. Sure, you could buy better things for a dollar, but do those things involve a world where bears drive cars?

I didn't think so.

App Store Link: Enviro-Bear 2010, 99¢