A Bear's Night Out
==================

From: Duncan Stevens a.k.a. Second April <dns361 SP@G merle.acns.nwu.edu>
Review appeared in SPAG #13 -- February 5, 1998

NAME: A Bear's Night Out
AUTHOR: David Dyte
E-MAIL: ddyte SP@G cricket.org
DATE: 1997
PARSER: Inform standard
SUPPORTS: Inform interpreters
AVAILABILITY: Freeware (IF Archive)
URL: ftp://ftp.ifarchive.org/if-archive/competition97/inform/bear/bear.z5
VERSION: Release 2


If 1996's Ralph was a game that managed to be consistently doggy in
its outlook -- in that it effectively took on the perspective of a
house mutt -- 1997's Bear's Night Out is quite consistently, well,
beary; the player is put in the position of a teddy bear that
mysteriously comes to life one night and pads merrily about its
owner's house. (Actually, given how comfortable this particular bear
seems to be with exploring on its own, perhaps this isn't the first
time -- the game isn't clear on this point.) It's a genuinely charming
premise that author David Dyte carries off with humor, and as with
Ralph, that premise shapes both the plot and the puzzles in a way that
makes Bear's Night Out feel fresh.

Your goal, which you discover on the course of your explorations, is
to prepare for the annual Teddy Bears' Picnic, slated to happen the
next day, by finding out what you need to bring and assembling
it. (The author sprinkles quotes in pop-up format throughout the game,
but "If you go down in the woods today..." is not one of them,
curiously.) Why you need to do all this yourself rather than leaving
it to your owner is not wholly clear, but it hardly matters: the story
holds together adequately in setting out a series of problems. The
best of them hinge on the problems associated with inhabiting a teddy
bear's body -- unlike Ralph, the identity of the central character is
in several instances an obstacle to overcome.

The writing is quite good, even though spare; most of the settings are
relentlessly ordinary, and Mr. Dyte does not try to load them down
with special characteristics when they are, in truth, generic rooms in
a house.  This is not to say he shirks his writing duty, of course,
merely that the descriptions of rooms and events are not what makes
the game compelling.  That said, though, the "bear's eye" view of the
house is fairly consistent and well done -- take this example, for
instance, part of a room description:

    Along one wall stands a high bench, featuring a sink full of
    dirty dishes, next to which you can see a telephone and an
    answering machine, if you step back and crane your neck a
    little.

The player is virtually never allowed to forget he is inhabiting a
teddy bear's body, one of the best things about this game: Mr. Dyte
evidently didn't simply have some puzzles that he threw together in a
game and grafted a funny plot on, and he clearly took some time making
the game environment and gameplay appropriate to the game. As a
result, the cute and funny factors are considerable, which makes the
game appealing in its own right even without good puzzles. When you
climb down from something, for example, you get "You tumble down, but
being a soft bear, that's ok."  Better still, in response to JUMP:
"Full marks for cute and furry, but none for achievement." Though not
everything in the game really fits the mode -- how does this teddy
bear manage to carry so many items -- the sacrifices are generally in
the name of facilitating gameplay and as such are wise choices. (For
example, a teddy bear's paws aren't probably up for much in the way of
manipulation -- but Mr. Dyte fortunately didn't confine the player's
actions to things like pushing or pulling. That would go beyond
realism into annoyance.)

The puzzles themselves are well constructed and not too hard, on the
whole, and some of them even offer multiple solutions -- though one of
them, in the bathroom, requires rather exact syntax (and some luck in
stumbling on the puzzle in the first place, unless I missed
something). There is a hint system included, Invisiclue-style, which
provides help for any problem, so difficulty certainly isn't a
problem, and most of the puzzles are logical. The one event that isn't
particularly logical is funny enough to make it worthwhile (and is
also a veiled reference to Sorcerer, better still).

The only problem is that the first real puzzle to be solved requires
some real exploration, so things can bog down a bit while you try to
figure that out -- though, after that, things move along more quickly.
This problem might be alleviated with perhaps a hint or two as to the
location of a certain object required to solve the first puzzle -- as
it is, you discover it, but not because you were looking for it as
such. The other main problem is that there is a side plot that
separates out from the main plot after a certain point -- and though
it is fairly obvious that you need to solve the relevant puzzles, it
isn't clear why until the very end of the game (and the reasons are
rather thin, I think, as justification for having the side plot). I
did enjoy the second plot, of course, quite a bit, but it might have
helped to have the reasoning for pursuing the puzzles better
incorporated into the story.

One of the perks for the seasoned IF player is the wealth of IF
references; this one rivals Sins Against Mimesis for sheer IF
knowledge.  The author claims 32 references to other games, and while
I certainly didn't find that many, I can believe that they're in
there. (One puzzle even involves finding a "z-chip" that allows you to
play interactive fiction.) Excursions into Dungeon, Curses and
Adventureland are among the game's highlights -- my favorite moment in
the entire game was luring Holly into Adventureland -- and the IF-full
environment and barrage of self-reference (the author is present,
though asleep in bed the entire time) increase the enjoyability and
replayability factors. Along with finding the IF references, there are
many funny things to do, quite a few deriving from the limits of your
character; the "fun stuff" section is ample, much larger than that of
most games, and affords a wealth of alternatives.

Bear's Night Out doesn't do much wrong, in short, and what it does do
wrong is easily balanced by what it does right. With consistently
funny writing, this is one of the best of this year's competition,
earning a 9 from me: it's a good idea, well implemented.


PLOT: Not always consistent, but amusing (1.4) 
ATMOSPHERE: Not bad (1.4)
WRITING: Very good (1.5)            
GAMEPLAY: Excellent (1.7)
CHARACTERS: Few (1.2)     
PUZZLES: Reasonably clever (1.5)
MISC: Central gimmick well done (1.7)
OVERALL: 7.7

