#sony interactive

Frustration may come with hard work

- Lifeline, an old PS2 game with horrible voice controls

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Kuma Uta

Among all of the weird, experimental games in the Japanese PlayStation 2 library, one of the most fascinating is Kuma Uta (“Bear Song”). It stars a polar bear who decides to ditch his peaceful life in nature to become an enka singer. “Enka” is a very particular style of Japanese music that takes the form of sentimental ballads, often with themes of nostalgia, love, and loss. It’s very divisive, even in Japan, as it’s generally seen as sort of “old people” music. So obviously, seeing a bipedal polar bear, wearing various outfits and belting out songs about life, is pretty ridiculous.