It has taken me longer than I would have imagined to come to this conclusion, but hear me out: The Bear & The Admiral is a diamond in the rough. I was pleasantly surprised by Jack Boylan's hand-drawn labor of love, as it managed to capture my attention and keep me hooked until the VERY END of the game. Barring the graphical noise on some levels and some level design quirks, this indie platformer is incredibly fun and charming. Once you get the hang of the levels and powerups, you will assuredly lose track of time clearing each level. Give this game a chance, you won't regret it.
A few weeks ago, fellow editor, dear friend, and head honcho Nathan Stevens reached out to me and asked if I was interested in playing The Bear & The Admiral. I hesitated, as I had never heard of it, nor its sole developer and publisher, Jack Boylan, nor had I seen much about it online. At time of publishing, it looks like there are no other critic reviews on Metacritic, either. I found a mention of it on no more than three websites, a small trailer…and that was it. All I knew was that it was a hand-drawn platformer about a bear and an admiral, and that it was coming soon. After some time (and realization that I had little plans in the upcoming weekend), I told Nathan, “sure, I’m down.”
I began playing it after work on a rainy Thursday afternoon. My dinner was in the slow cooker, and I had an hour left before food was ready. I turned on my Switch and thought I would dip my toe in the water before the weekend. I booted up the game and was taken to the Bear and the Admiral’s ship. Right from the jump, you’re not really told much about the ship or where to go; the tutorial (which is always available) is on your rocket ship, you have a bedroom with an interactive bed that takes you one of five randomly selected levels (I’ll discuss that later), and the opportunity to explore the immediate area around the ship. I completely missed the tutorial and instead explored the area around the ship, finding several levels tucked away. Thinking this was part of the game’s intended path, I became frustrated with how little I knew about the game and the openness of these levels. There were powerups all around me, enemies with inconsistent patterns, and an annoying “beeping” noise that acted as an indicator for how far some strange blue amoeba was away from me. This was not a good sign, I thought. I heard my food timer go off and decided to put my Switch to sleep.
Friday night, I finished dinner and decided to give The Bear & The Admiral another chance. I saw the “gym” sign in the ship and discovered the tutorial, where I learned more about the game. Here I learned the basic mechanics and win conditions of The Bear & The Admiral: Each unique level has slightly different enemies and a few powerups scattered throughout. At the end of each level is a Blugle, and there are three additional Blugle shards placed in less noticeable spots. Finding the three additional Blugle shards grants you another Blugle, meaning that each level can earn you up to two Blugles! Simple enough, right? I thought so, too.
I left the tutorial and entered the first world. The first level seemed much easier and linear than the levels I had attempted to play on the Ship. Enemies were easy to beat, the Blugle shards were not that annoying to find, and I was able to complete a level in a few minutes tops! I thought to myself, “This doesn’t seem so bad. Maybe I’ll play another level before bed.” And so I did…
…until it was 2am and I had completed two entire Worlds. I had entirely lost track of time as I was plugging along, completing levels and defeating bosses. I couldn’t put the game down. Sure, some levels were annoying and visually loud, but it was so easy to bypass these little quirks in the grand scheme of things. This is the gist with The Bear and the Admiral: It is deceptively easy and carefree to the point of you playing through the entire game, collecting all the Blugles, and completely forgetting to write a review of the game until Nathan reaches out to see how you were enjoying the game. Actually, that was just me — I 100% completed the game before I was reminded that I was to review this little gem, too.
The overall gameplay of The Bear & The Admiral can best be described as a traditional 2D platformer blending Contra and Megaman elements. You begin each level with your default gun and grenades, and each level offers you a couple of powerups that change your gun and grenades and occasionally grant you additional powers (like a jetpack or an ostrich that looks suspiciously like a feathered Yoshi). Some weapons are drastically stronger than others, such as the gun that fires a gigantic bullet that kills enemies in one hit and fills half of the screen. Other weapons and grenades have incredibly narrow use cases, such as a gun that switches your position with an enemy you shoot. You do not have “lives;” instead, your life is measured through the use of hearts. Each time you take damage, a heart depletes. Once you’re out of hearts, your character switches (from Admiral to Bear or vice versa) and you continue on. If you had already swapped characters, then you’re taken to the back of the beginning of the level without the safety net of your backup character until you pick up the powerup that makes them available. If you fall into a “death pit,” you’re simply taken back to the beginning of the level/checkpoint and maintain your backup character, if you still have them. Falling into these death pits were a smidgen annoying, but it did not happen that frequently.
The level design is mainly simple, and I’m disappointed to admit that the levels are not immune from the traditional “platformer realism” gameplay elements that act as levers for increased difficulty and level variety. The (thankfully, few) underwater levels are annoying, and levels with gusts of wind royally mess up your momentum as you progress (especially when the level has you jump on moving platforms as wind pushes and pulls you around). There are also some “speed run” levels where you have to quickly navigate through an autoscrolling level. This is not to say all levels are annoying and feature the worst-parts of 2D platformer levels, but that you will struggle the most on these levels. Thankfully, the rest of the levels are uniquely designed and vary up the gameplay on a consistent basis so that you will never feel bored as you complete levels.
As you defeat enemies, you’ll find yourself collecting egregious amounts of coins and gems of varying colors. You’ll also find several “Bonus Levels” that contain endless balloons containing loads of money. Don’t be discouraged: Every “world” has a shop that allows you to buy as many single-use upgrades you might ever want, ranging from the jetpack to the shield, different types of grenades, and every gun you’ve encountered so far. The only catch is that the shopkeepers’ wares expand as you collect Blugles, meaning that you won’t get the more powerful upgrades (like the gun with the gigantic bullets) until you’ve fully completed half the game. Also, these upgrades are single use, meaning that if you use one and end up falling into a death pit, you have to use another powerup. The addition of the shopkeeper really gives you the ability to speed-run levels and avoid having to dillydally with the “intended” powerup a level might have (if it had one at all). I was having trouble on a moving platform section (with gusts of wind, no less), constantly falling into a death pit because my momentum kept getting interrupted by the wind. Once I pulled out a jetpack, however, that level became smooth sailing.
In each world, there are at least two bosses. Each boss level is relatively similar in that there are several platforms, a damaging surface or two, and a gigantic boss that erratically moves across the screen. Some of these bosses can be “cheesed” by simply standing in a corner and pelting them with the default grenade, but others require you to actually dodge projectiles. Getting a boss to half health enrages them, causing them to summon robots that spawn smaller enemies. However, most (if not all) of the bosses can be quickly dealt with by purchasing an upgrade or two from the shop and using them at the start of battle.
I mentioned earlier that levels can be aesthetically “loud” in the sense that it looks like there is so much going on. On several levels, it was incredibly hard to discern enemies and platforms because of how much content was present. For example, a library level had a background that was filled with books that moved as you progressed, objects and characters that acted as platforms themselves, and enemies that bounced around the foreground. These levels would have benefitted from effects that toned down the additional elements and made it easier on the eyes. I still am unsure what value the object/character platforms serve other than creative spaces to hide powerups and Blugles, especially since landing on curved surfaces caused my character to clip into the object. Take a look for yourself at the image below and try to point out a foe.
Aesthetic quirks aside, the game is charming. I never thought I would come to appreciate a Microsoft Paint-esque journey into space with a pirate and his ursine companion, yet here I am. Between every world is a cute little cutscene involving the Admiral’s stream of consciousness while the Bear plays with a Rubik’s Cube. The story treads into silliness, but much of what you’re doing lacks explanation beyond visiting a planet to collect Blugles. I don’t think adding a deeper story would have made the game any better, however, as the silliness is best left to the player’s imagination.
It has taken me longer than I would have imagined to come to this conclusion, but hear me out: The Bear & The Admiral is a diamond in the rough. I was pleasantly surprised by Jack Boylan’s hand-drawn labor of love, as it managed to capture my attention and keep me hooked until the VERY END of the game. Barring the graphical noise on some levels and some level design quirks, this indie platformer is incredibly fun and charming. Once you get the hang of the levels and powerups, you will assuredly lose track of time clearing each level. Give this game a chance, you won’t regret it.
