Wild Earth: African Safari (Wii) - Review by Chris

Introduction

For a console where the key focus is the motion controls, it seems strange to think that there are few photography or safari style games cropping up the Wii's library. Until now, we've only had Endless Ocean, a Nintendo published title, however Majesco and Super X Studios looks to bolster this small genre with a game of their own, building upon the Wild Earth series which started out on the PC some years ago. But does that mean that the gameplay remains stuck in the past or has it grown with the new hardware it's playable on?

Gameplay

As the title of the game suggests, you'll be traversing the African outback in the hope of photographing the games 30 or so different animals doing specific feats, much like a normal safari. Yet here, you aren't confined to the back of the truck and are allowed full freedom over the outback to either rush ahead and get the key photos or take your time and take it all in. The main game is assignment based and there are 11 of these. Each assignment asks you to achieve a set number of photographs before you can call it a success and to do this, you have to take pictures of key targets and optional secondary targets. There are only a certain amount of key targets to photograph so taking pictures of the secondary ones is pivotal in achieving success. After completing each assignment, it becomes available to look through on the main menu and contains all of the pictures you have taken as well as containing the information spoken by the commentators about what is happening. You'll also unlock a couple of mini-games after completing the assignments and these are small little distracters from the main assignment based missions, meant to be played over a short period of time compared to the large amounts of time you'll be spending on the assignments. They don't add a huge amount to the game but are a nice little distraction before heading back to the main story.

11 assignments doesn't sound like a whole lot of gameplay but when you sit down and play the title, you'll realise there is more to them than meets the eye. What initially seems like a long and drawn out experience soon becomes and insightful and enjoyable one as you are allowed to go at your own pace, with no threat of running out of time, and the game never feels cumbersome. There is a risk of failing the assignment that has been built into the game and this is judged based upon your interaction with the animals and the environment. Get too close to the animals constantly and you'll scare them off and fail the assignment. This element of failure lifts the game from being more than merely an easy photography title and will cause you to constantly think of the best way to approach getting a photo without frightening the animals. The only real problem with the gameplay is that when playing, it feels like a glorified tech demo in the way that movement is achieved and the poor collision detection. Yet the positives outweigh the small negatives and the entire thing is playable in multiplayer.

Controls

The developers have chosen to use the Wii-mote to its strengths and have gone with what is the standard set up for first person shooters on the console. The game is played out in a first person perspective and so the controls revolve around using the Wii-mote for aiming and turning and the analogue stick on the nunchuk for movement. Taking a photograph is achieved by pressing the A button with either a combination of the C and Z buttons or + or - buttons used for zooming in and out on what it is you are going to photograph. The set up is simplistic for the simple premise of allowing younger gamers, who are the main target of the title, to have instant and easy access to the title. And the game does this. Movement about the open areas of the African savannah is easy enough and the only real problems occur from the poor collision detection which prevent you from going certain places and the poor turning speed of the camera, something which cannot be changed which is unforgivable given the perspective view point they are using.

Graphics

By now, it should be common knowledge that the Wii isn't capable of producing the same kind of graphical detail as the other two higher tier platforms so achieving graphics that could compete with Sony's own Afrika title on the PSN is out of the question. What we get here though doesn't even compete with the likes of Endless Ocean. In Endless Ocean, when you begun your dive, the game came into its own and looked fantastic, showing great detail in the terrain, reefs and fish. Here, while the terrain shows a good amount of variation, it looks rather lacklustre with blurry textures and angular graphics.

The drop in graphical quality is understandable when you realise how big the levels are but Endless Ocean was able to provide equally open levels to explore and maintain a good level of graphical quality. The game also suffers from a strange loading problem where you'll see what you think is a fully loaded tree but taking a couple of steps towards it you'll instantly see branches pop-up and they'll disappear as you move a couple of steps away. It's a strange problem that detracts from the immersion of safari experience, but doesn't ruin it though as it still remains fun and relaxing despite this.

The animals are a mixed bag, ranging from the good to the bad and covering everything in between. The larger animals, such as the elephants and the giraffes, looks good and show a good amount of detail but things like the fish and the birds all look rather sub-par and nothing like their respective real life versions.

Sound

A comparison in this department with what Endless Ocean had is difficult to move away from as well. Where Endless Ocean offered up a relaxing backdrop of music contributed to by Hayley Westerna, this doesn't quite offer up the same sort of relaxing music. What you get is a collecting of music that is stereotypical of the African style and while it doesn't relax you in the same way it does achieve the relaxation factor by pulling you into the safari experience. It also pulls you into the thrill of searching out the animals necessary for assignments.

Final comments

Comparisons with Endless Ocean aside, what Majesco have given is a fun, informative and relaxing experience, something which isn't found often in games, that'll not only appeal to the younger audience looking to learn about the animals and their behaviour but also adults who'll be able to relax and just enjoy learning a small piece of information about an animal they didn't know much about. From a technical stand point it isn't great with mediocre graphics at best. But where the graphics let the title down, the music and sound immersion pulls you into the title making you want to while away your time and this is what you'll find happening.

Pro: Sound immersion is spot and adds to the overall experience, large environments to explore at your own pace
Con: Graphics are mediocre at best, constant pop-up while traversing the environment, slo turning speed on the camera means you may miss something important
Final score: 7

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