Rating: E for Everyone
Genre: Simulation
Players: 1
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: Wii
Release Date: October 27, 2009

SimAnimals Africa is actually a sequel to SimAnimals, which was released with not the best reviews as the mechanics weren’t that great. So they went back and came up with SimAnimals Africa. Here the player gets to go to Africa and befriend some of the indigineous animals. Now the first thing I thought was that I was going to step into some wierd Lion King type of situation as to me the father and son lions on the cover really reminded me of Mufasa and Simba.

The first thing that disappointed me was that there are only eight featured animals in the game. The game does have some educational tidbits in it for kids to learn more about the animals and Africa, but I really do think that the game could have expanded upon this by including other animals. The version for the DS has 13, which makes me wonder why they wanted to cut animals for the Wii version but keep them in the DS. Why not have the same amount in both? Or maybe just have a few different animals in each game.

The other aspect of the game that got annoying real quick was the way in which the gameplay works. To gain the trust of the animals and to level and progress in the game you have to play petting games, feed the animals, and play a sort of ring toss game with certain animals. Now the first time around it’s cute to have to rub the belly of a lion or to pet the head of a zebra, but when you have to repeat it ad-nauseum you just get sick of it.

Lastly I was disappointed in was the graphics. The environments were pretty sub par, even for the Wii which isn’t as advanced graphics wise but could make a game like Twilight Princess look great. I also was not impressed with the animations. When an elephant, which in real life weighs in the tons is bouncing around like a puppy and wriggling it’s behind while you pet it, does not fit at all. I can understand that they want to try and make it cute for kids, but when you consider the fact that the game is also trying to teach some facts makes it a bit odd.

In general the game is pretty easy to beat and I don’t think that even a child would have an issue beating the game within a day. SimAnimals Africa may appeal to younger kids who would have fun with the game for a little while, but for older ones I think that they would just become bored with it really quickly. If you want to try this game out, I would recommend renting it for a younger kid, otherwise this game is a pass for me. There are much better animal simulators out on the market that are also family friendly which would be more entertaining.