The Ultimate Beaver Revenge Tale
Beavers are among the largest rodents around. And they even help prevent forest fires with their amazing dam-building skills, which irrigate water into hard-to-reach areas that are usually dry. Humans are only just realising how important these furry little creatures are to the environment. However, it hasn’t always been this way; in the UK, they were hunted to extinction by the 16th century and are only now being reintroduced into the wild. So, it’s no wonder that some of them might be a little angry.
Don’t Mess with Bober is a game all about an angry beaver seeking revenge. It is silly, camp, and often a lot of fun.
Inadvertently Upsetting the Local Wildlife
Don’t Mess with Bober is a first-person narrative adventure about a man getting away from it all, and inadvertently upsetting a beaver. No, I haven’t been drinking.
You play as someone who needs to escape the big city for a while and hit the reset button. A friend offers you his cabin in the wilderness to take some time out. So, off you go, settling into a truly rustic cabin life. However, there are a couple of messages warning you not to upset Bober; whoever that might be. At first, life is simple: you do some fishing and take a walk down the river. But then you make a mistake and destroy something, much to the aggravation of Bober the beaver. Then, everything changes…
Furry Slasher
The game suddenly turns into a survival horror experience. Bober begins hunting you, playing games with you like a furry, deranged Freddy Krueger. You will face exploding cakes rolling down the river and trees crashing down around you as you sprint down a mountainside. There is even a protein-fuelled beaver hunting you through a military base; if you get caught, it’s game over.
The whole concept is truly original, and I don’t think anyone has ever come up with a storyline quite like this one.
At times, it felt like I was in a Looney Tunes cartoon, running around, being chased by a sentient animal. The dialogue, a mixture of phone conversations with friends and a verbal internal monologue commenting on events, is fine, but a bit basic. Honestly, the experience might have been more effective with a little less chatter.
The gameplay takes place entirely in the first person. In the beginning, it is simple: you walk around, pick up items, and open doors. There is a fishing mini-game early on, which simply involves pressing a button at the right time to catch a fish. And the world initially seems quite large, but in reality, it is a rather linear affair consisting of almost corridor-like environments. You must complete a series of tasks, such as switching on generators or moving a mining cart, to progress. Some locations work much better than others too; for instance, the sequence where you are chased down a mountainside while trees fall behind you is quite exciting. Conversely, there is a whole section set underground in a mining cave that is rather dull and very easy to get lost in.
Tense Scrambling: Stealth Sections and Toy Beaver Collectables
There is a stealth section too, where the beaver is hunting you while you scramble to craft materials on workbenches. I found this well-thought-out and highly enjoyable. Further, and sitting alongside the main story – which takes just over an hour to complete – there are collectables to find hidden around the levels. There are ten in total, taking the form of little toy beavers tucked away in hard-to-reach areas. Overall, it is a fun and unique game, but aside from the brilliant concept, the actual mechanics are fairly basic.
Designing a Full-Blown Killing Machine
Visually, Don’t Mess With Bober looks fine without being overly impressive, and I preferred the countryside exteriors to the interior environments, which can feel a bit generic. I especially liked the design of Bober himself as he evolved from a mildly annoyed beaver into a full-blown killing machine.
From there, the audio is decent, featuring some genuinely exciting music during the chase sequences. The sound effects work well enough, though you shouldn’t expect an audio masterclass from a low-budget indie title. And whilst the voice work is solid it does at times feel a bit generic.
A Brilliant Premise with Basic Foundations
I’d hazard a guess and say you would never have played a game before in which you are actively hunted by a beaver. The concept alone sells Don’t Mess With Bober, with it being strong enough to ensure the idea is worthy of praise. However, the other elements of the game, the core survival horror mechanics, don’t quite live up to that brilliant main premise. Yes, there are some good sections, like the chase scene and the tense stealth encounter with an angry Bober, but the gameplay is otherwise quite basic.
What you will take away from this one though, after just a short time with the game, is one valuable lesson – don’t mess with Bober.
Important Links
Don’t Mess With Bober Delivers Bizarre Beaver Horror! – https://www.thexboxhub.com/dont-mess-with-bober-delivers-bizarre-beaver-horror/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/dont-mess-with-bober/9pnp453m5k98
