Barry the Bee's Quest 

Published November 1, 2007

Based on the DreamWorks Animation film written by and starring Jerry Seinfeld, Bee Movie™ Game for Xbox 360® follows the exploits of worker bee and recent Bee University graduate Barry B. Benson (voiced by Seinfeld). For all his young life, Barry's golden-tinged world has been dominated night and day by honey: collecting, harvesting, moving, and distributing this precious but tedious commodity has been his species' great contribution to the world for thousands of years.

However, after graduating and being thrust out into the hive buzzing with his own natural exuberance, Barry casts a wary eye on his future in the honey industry. He longs for more, and thankfully for gamer and filmgoer alike, he is destined for far greater adventures than your average bee.

Bee Vision on display.

A Bee-vy of Game Types
Where other film-inspired games usually cling to a single style of gameplay while following the movie's story, Bee Movie Game decides to use whatever gameplay mechanic best fits the moment. For example:

• On the job: Mini-games play a prominent role throughout the game, including Barry's first on-the-job training. This mini-game involves catching the hive's precious honeycombs with a mechanized barrel as the hives bounce unpredictably through a series of pegs, all while avoiding capturing the blackened, toxic honeycombs.
• Pollination dogfight: Gliding freely through spectacularly colored garden vistas while pollinating the eager flowers requires its own aerial agility, but throw a few squadrons of ill-tempered dragonflies into the mix and you've got a recipe for bee-themed dogfighting, complete with target-locks and barrel rolls, among much else.

Bee Movie Game for Xbox 360 beautifully treads that fine line required of licensed games between honoring its source material and carving out its own gameplay identity.

• Reaction icons: Why craft a series of uninvolved story cinematics when you can just as easily incorporate a bit of active, timing-based gameplay? An early sequence sees an unfortunate Barry stuck to a tennis ball, only to become the star witness of a hard hitting tennis match. While hilarious on its own merits, Bee Movie Game adds extensively to the humor and tension of the moment by requiring you to match flashing button icons and direction movements with the left control stick to avoiding getting smooshed by the business end of a tennis racket.
• Taxi!: The busy little bees of New Hive City are always in a hurry to their next destination, and you can give them a helping hand through a series of progressively challenging and entirely voluntary taxi-based missions.
• Obstacle course: Navigating through a busy human metropolis can be a daunting task, and buzzing your way from one objective to the next may require some skillful flight. Just a few pelts from the driving rain can prove fatal to Barry, but by using his Bee Vision, the rain can be slowed so Barry can identify and use wind currents to speed through the downpour and other obstacles.

Not Barry's best moment.

New Hive Hub
As you participate in the game's core storyline, the whole of New Hive City will be available for you to explore. Do some movie-inspired sightseeing, and take the time to enjoy the various side quests and mini-games that are ancillary to the plot.

Drive the taxi, do some of the job-based mini-games, and race cars in New Hive City's street-car racing league. You can even visit the city's local Museum to peruse behind-the-scenes content that you will have unlocked by your honeycomb collecting, or from the photographs you've taken throughout the game.

Bee Movie Game for Xbox 360 beautifully treads that fine line required of licensed games between honoring its source material and carving out its own gameplay identity. From its varied gameplay to its spot-on recreation of Seinfeld's world and wit, fans of the movie can recreate their favorite moments in a way quite apart from the movie experience.

Article by Ryan Treit