Battle Bears Royale by SkyVu

Developed by Complex Games and produced by SkyVu Entertainment and Recharge Studios, Battle Bears Royale is a hilarious eight bear brawl of clubs, soakers and bearzookas.

Before jumping into the mayhem, players must create an OpenFeint account. The account maintains player information and saves progress, so logging in on different devices isn’t a problem. There are five character classes: Oliver the soldier, Riggs the heavy (surprisingly a dog), Tilman the demolitionist, Astoria the sniper and the huggable, a patchwork bear that’s seen better days. Players start off with Oliver and must unlock the others.

At the time of this writing, Team Battle is the only mode available. There is a Capture The Flag mode option, but it’s labeled as coming soon. Despite Team Battle being the only game mode, it features four maps. It’s also incredibly addicting.

Battle Bears Royale trailer
Click here to watch on YouTube 

The visuals do not push the boundaries of iOS graphics but they are unique and entertaining. Teddy bears wearing bandanas and strapped with assault rifles attacking pandas with dual saws is hilarious. Each bear has its own personality, shouting witty comments after throwing down a kill shot that adds to the comical appeal. The comments aren’t noticeably repetitive, but the music can be.

The controls are simple after some practice. Movement is based at the lower left of the screen. Change viewing angle, or aim, at the lower right of the screen. Fire a weapon by double tapping on the right side of the screen. Switch between primary and secondary weapons by tapping the weapon icon at the upper right corner of the screen. If an enemy is too close, players can tap on the melee weapon icon at the bottom of the screen to melee attack.

Combining movement and viewing angle took some getting used to, especially with the fire action tied with viewing angle. I tend to fire off a few rounds while changing my viewing angle. This is bad because I’m given a certain amount of ammo before reloading and enemies can see where I am. It feels like firing is only a single tap despite the developers saying it’s a double tap.

However, for a first-person shooter on the iPhone, the controls become rather intuitive with practice. Players might want to try the tutorial a few times to make sure the controls are fluid before taking on Team Battle.

Customization is pretty in-depth, as players can upgrade primary and secondary weapons, a melee weapon and slots for a special item and two equipment power-ups. Each weapon and item comes with stats and a brief description. With Oliver, I immediately upgraded the primary weapon to an assault gun that gave a higher range and more ammo rounds but less damage. Unlock the Huggable, chainsaw, caffeine injection, speed and melee equipment bonuses for a fast-paced, melee experience and rule the leaderboards.

According to the Battle Bears Royale FAQ, players can buy weapons, items, characters and skins with Joules. Joules are earned by playing matches. Gas can be purchased and exchanged for Joules or used to refill a player’s gas tank. If a player’s gas tank is empty, players will not earn Joules or experience. The prices for gas cans are currently $2.99 for 30 gas cans, $9.99 for 150 gas cans and $29.99 for 750 gas cans.

One thing players will notice is spam. It’s everywhere. Upon login, players are offered to download this or check in to that, go to Battlebears.com, like Battle Bears on FaceBook or Twitter, watch Battle Bears on YouTube; all for some free gas cans. Despite the amount of spam, it’s relatively easy to ignore and doesn’t affect gameplay or overall experience. The developer recommends playing over WiFi over 3G to reduce lag. For users playing over 3G, Battle Bears Royale uses about 522 kilobytes per hour of play. There’s also friendly fire. Have a teammate under attack? Make sure to hit the enemy or the team kill will count against you.

Battle Bears Royale is a fantastic first-person shooter that achieves highly addictive gameplay with wacky graphics and in-depth customization. Add the potential for more game modes and Battle Bears Royale will have players coming back for more.

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AppPicker Rating: 5 / 5 Stars
App Store link: Battle Bears Royale
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