Okay, look. Not every game I review in this series is some tour-de-force with a deep philosophical meaning and grand statement about the nature of existence. Indeed, I’d argue that most of the games I review aren’t that, but there are some that I’m not even going to hold down, squirming and wriggling, so I can pin those meanings to them. Some games are just fun, and that’s all they ever have to be.

Grrrrrr

Bearcycle is not a complex game. You are a bear with a dirtbike, and you are out to have a lovely time on said dirtbike. You do flips. You do wheelies. You annoy an increasingly intimidating number of increasingly powerful figures. You grind on rails. Normal bear on a dirtbike things.

Grrrr!

Bearcycle’s controls are simple and weirdly intuitive. I usually struggle with these types of games - and I did struggle a bit, don’t worry - but Bearcycle’s controls and maps are intuitive enough that, even within that struggle, I found fun. Each course has a variety of different routes, with backtracking not necessarily being a bad thing. There is a timed element to each route, but the maps’ layout are designed with an emphasis on fun rather than that time. There are elements to interact with and different ways to do tricks. Much like the premise of the game itself, the idea of the courses is less about doing them perfectly, and more about the fun you have along the way. You are a bear with a dirtbike. The game really is that simple.

It’s also a little weird.

This isn’t to say the game isn’t without its flaws. It is, in some ways, much too simple, as evidenced by the fact that I did decently well at it. In other ways, it can get frustrating, with sudden spikes in difficulties that then lapse back into a usual trough. However, even the frustrating parts contain the constant kernels of fun just waiting to be popped as I do flips and wheelies and try a new approach to the same problem. The fact that the focus is so much on the journey rather than the end makes these frustrating bits more manageable, and ultimately so much more satisfying once I got through them.

Except when I got stuck in a wall. That was just annoying.

I don’t have a grand statement to make about Bearcycle. It is a fun little game about a bear with a dirtbike and the journey of discovery along the way. It’s about doing tricks, eating park rangers, and just enjoying the moment. It is a good little game, and it does exactly what it sets out to do.

Developer: Alvarius Games

Genre: Arcade, Platformer

Year: 2023

Country: United States

Language: English

Play Time: 1 Hour

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