By Alec Meer on July 12th, 2009 at 6:03 pm.
Enviro-Bear 2000 – Operation: Hibernation (and yes, I do realise it’s been around since February, thanks) is one of those games that’s best simply linked to and left without description or explanation. It was created for one of TIGsource’s many ever-bountiful compos, and is winning new attention now due to cropping up in Apple’s Appstore. I’ll say only this: the controls are awful. But if they were great, they’d hardly be an accurate reflection of a bear trying to drive a car, would they now? Also: I suspect it’s a lot cleverer than you might immediately think it to be from the gloriously absurd video beneath the cut.
GRRRRR.
Download its PC version for free here, or alternatively try the iphone/ipod Touch version for 99c/59p.
Thanks to @EGTF, who mentioned this to me on Twitter.
12/07/2009 at 18:36 ...hmm... says:
:D this is why i love rps.
12/07/2009 at 18:40 Monchberter says:
And then come the memes…
“Who is driving? Oh no! Bear is driving? How can this be?”
12/07/2009 at 18:46 Norskov says:
I can’t see myself playing this a lot, but definitely worth the 5 minutes of my precious time :P
12/07/2009 at 19:15 Petethegoat says:
The controls are awesome, thank you very much! :P Played this back in Feb, but its still worth playing again. Watch out for those damned badgers.
12/07/2009 at 19:22 Tei says:
It seems a accurate simulator. Me likes it.
12/07/2009 at 19:23 lumpi says:
Old, but GENIUS! Funniest shit I’ve played since Monkey Island.
12/07/2009 at 19:37 Bhazor says:
Best indie game I’ve played since Sperlunky.
But that fucking badger.
12/07/2009 at 19:41 Chicken Dinner says:
How can he smoke with no cigarette lighter?
12/07/2009 at 19:41 Bear says:
….
FUCK YES
12/07/2009 at 19:42 BooleanBob says:
I can barely bring myself to contemplate the pun-laden comments thread that is sure to follow now that the Internet Law of Bears and Bear-Based Humour has been invoked.
Of course, anyone who subsequently criticises me for trying to force such a thread out of an overly enthusiastic love of bears or puns is simply being ursinine.
12/07/2009 at 19:48 oddbob says:
@Chicken Dinner – he’s a bear. They just *can*.
Just don’t ever ask one how.
12/07/2009 at 19:49 teo says:
This game is a classic
Pro-tip: put a stone on the accelerator
12/07/2009 at 19:51 Trite says:
Haha that was hilarious. I got lucky and made it to the 1 minute challenge.. Way too hard in that time. I even got an enormous fish, but it got jammed in the steering wheel and bounced right off the car before I could sink my bear’s teeth into it.
12/07/2009 at 20:02 Michael says:
The right mouse button does something. Just so you know.
12/07/2009 at 20:19 Dominic White says:
The TIGSource competitions are awesome. Make a game in a month or two, based on a simple concept.
This latest contest: ‘Cockpit’, and this is probably the most awesome thing to come from it. – I’ll be spreading the links out due to RPS’s link-eater script.
The rest of the Cockpit entries here:
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?board=33.0
Videogame Name Generator Here:
http://tigsource.com/features/vgng/
12/07/2009 at 20:19 Dominic White says:
Procedurally Generated here:
http://tigsource.com/features/pgc/
Bootleg Demakes here:
http://tigsource.com/features/demakes/
12/07/2009 at 20:20 Dominic White says:
H.P. Lovecrafts Commonplace Book here:
http://tigsource.com/features/cpb/
And the contest in progress now – Adult/Educational, where games either have to be adult, educational, or both.
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=6883.0
There will be hilarity. Oh yes, there WILL be hilarity.
12/07/2009 at 22:35 Dzamir says:
Just bought from the app store :)
thx for the link :D
13/07/2009 at 01:38 Psychopomp says:
Can I help bear find appples?
13/07/2009 at 04:08 Nate says:
the best part was when i realized that THE OTHER CARS ARE ALL BEING DRIVEN BY BEARS TOO
13/07/2009 at 07:31 NovaPolice says:
Every bear is issued a pumpkin orange sedan when it is mature enough to leave its mother, as dictated by the cruel laws of nature. Jesus, haven’t you people seen ANY nature documentaries or read a damn book?
13/07/2009 at 08:41 Shadrach says:
This is awesome fun – I love it when the badger goes nuts inside the car :)
13/07/2009 at 09:49 JB says:
As for the controls being bad Mr Meer, that’s wrong. The control system is awesome. Even my 8yr old daughter managed a good run on her first go. At least, until a wasp knocked a rock off of her dashboard and on to her accelerator. VROOM!
My first try was fun too, especially the badger tag-team I had to deal with.
Long live indie games!
13/07/2009 at 09:50 JB says:
Also, seeing the other bears driving around makes me think how much fun this would be if it were multiplayer. A race to hibernate in the only cave in the area that is still free.
13/07/2009 at 10:05 little grilly says:
reminds me of quarantine. which is great, obv.
13/07/2009 at 10:21 Stromko says:
Fantastic game. The car steers a bit funny, if you’re at a stop and turn the wheel it jerks back to what it was at before — good thing there’s no parallel parking in the forest!
Still it’s got about 15 playthroughs out of me so far … not all the way to the end, mind you, farthest I got was year 3. Started out smack dab between a rock and a tree — so forget what I said about being no parallel parking in the forest.
13/07/2009 at 10:22 Stromko says:
The badger is the star of the show for me, although the bear started to win my heart once I figured out I could make him roar (thanks Michael). I usually use the badger to sweep my dashboard clear of detritus, it’s got enough solid bulk to do the job perfectly, but it’ll also eat up any fish in the car so it’s still a baddie.
13/07/2009 at 10:59 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
This game has been posted here before, right? Where else would it be discussed?
13/07/2009 at 11:49 Markoff Chaney says:
Nice! Make that 2 bizarro game thingies I’ve seen this morning… Old thing I missed. +1 for interactivity on the Bear driving, though.
13/07/2009 at 12:17 Novotny says:
oh that was great
15/07/2009 at 07:38 zombiebombie3 says:
he may not be racing but dont forget banjo kazooie’s sim Banjo Pilot:
Flying bear
pew pew