Early this year, Electronic Arts put out a game titled SimAnimals which allowed gamers to manage and play with an assortment of cute woodland animals. It was a part of the popular The Sims series, albeit with animals and plants rather than humans and neighborhoods. The game did well enough to get a sequel in the form of SimAnimals Africa. The new title reminds me a bit of EA's old game, SimSafari, due to the exotic location, although this new title is certainly better visually than its predecessor and has more interesting animals at the player's disposal. Even so, it lacks in the long-lasting department and in creativity, which is a shock considering how ambitious the game appears to be at first glance.
The title takes place in Africa as the player is instructed by special animal totems about the ways they can help make certain areas of Africa be healthier and happier. The animals there need help, and the player is required to make friends with the animals and find ways to make them happy. The player utilizes an omnipotent hand and can look down on the landscape or focus in closely on each animal. Bonding happens as the animal gets attention from the hand, and it can be fed, pet, played with, and moved around. A new experience here is that the player can actually become the animal and then run around to accomplish certain goals. Each animal has their own special abilities, such as the giraffe being able to swing fruit down, the elephant shooting up water, and the lion devouring everything in sight. Like in SimAnimals, the animals do fall in love, breed, and have cute little babies to coo over. Also as before, the predators try to eat the prey, and this can lead to some very emotional moments after the player spends time with a zebra only to have it eaten. It's the circle of life!
Visually this game is very cartoon-like and this works brilliantly for the style and atmosphere. It is colorful and pleasing to look at, plus there is a jungle musical beat in the background that helps the African vibe. The visual glitches from the first game seem to be gone, and this time around the animals look well detailed and attractive. The player can 'level up' their animals by playing games with them or just giving appropriate attention, and then the animals will be capable of doing greater acts. For example a hippo digs holes, and after reaching level two in strength it can dig in areas it was too weak to dig before. Other animals are more interested in being the pets that are smothered with love by the hand, and those special creatures get more attention from the rest of their herd. The Wiimotes are used in logical ways, such as petting the animals by moving it up and down, and by pressing buttons at the right time to catch flowers in the air. The animals have want meters such as food, drink, and play, and there are less concerns this time around about making plants grow and overpopulating the area.
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