GENRE
	Platform
	DEVELOPER
	Vicarious Visions
	PUBLISHER
	Disney Interactive
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1
	CONNECTIVITY
	No
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Brother Bear is the story of a teen named Kenai on the verge of manhood who thinks he has something to prove. Kenai and his brother Dehani hate bears, because a bear killed their other brother. One day Kenai manages to kill the bear, but in retaliation, the spirits transform him into a bear to make him go on a journey to discover himself.

The game is typical Disney movie turned into a typical platform game. Despite its childish team, Brother Bear is actually well written; the characters are likable, especially the pair of Canadian moose Rutt and Tuke. So should you spend your money on the game or the DVD? Let’s go hunting and discover for ourselves.

visuals

The graphics are pretty good for a licensed game, but don’t reach the crispness of other GBA titles. Animation is a bit clunky, but in general you won’t be disappointed with the graphics. The intro movie is actual footage from the movie, which is a nice touch.

audio

Audio-wise the game is kinda lame. No memorable tunes and boring sound effects. They work, but you can just turn off the sound and not be worried that you’re missing much.

gameplay

The play mechanic introduced in Brother Bear is that you control two characters: Koda and Kenai, switching off between the two to utilize both of their special abilities. It makes for some interesting puzzles, but there’s only so much you can do with such a limited moves palette. Also, since you only have two characters, if you get stuck on a puzzle with one character, just switch to the other and you’ll probably get it in one minute flat.

There are a couple of minigames which are fun little diversions but aren’t addictive or worth playing. They include a jigsaw puzzle, an elephant racing game and a matching game. The game could be a lot better if these minigames were more fun, but alas, you end up playing them once and forgetting about them.

Any difficulty stems mostly from the clunky controls, which frustrate you more than they should. The collision detection of your bears seem to be bigger than they should be. It’s not really a glaring flaw, but it’s constantly in your side, annoying you. Other than that, the game is extremely easy for anyone above the age of 12.

multiplayer

N/A

overall

Brother Bear is a fairly polished platformer that’s great for your kid brother or sister who enjoyed the movie. It’s pretty fun, diverse and has a bit of that Disney charm that everybody loves (admit it, even you.) But you definitely don’t want to pick this up for yourself. This is strictly something from the children’s menu.

6.6/10