Kotaku
In the jungle, the quiet jungle, the lion sleeps tonight... He also roars, scratches, paws the ground, stalks prey, and kills other members of the animal kingdom, and you can snap pictures of it all with Wild Earth: African Safari for the Nintendo Wii. Released in 2006 as Safari Photo Africa: Wild Earth for the PC, the family-friendly nature and innovative controls of the Wii made the edutainment title a prime candidate for a port. You step into the shoes of a photojournalist taking pictures for a nature magazine in Africa's Serengeti National Park, getting up close and personal with all sorts of exotic plants, animals, and their feces.
Yes, within the first few minutes of the game you'll find yourself tasked with taking a photo of a giant pile of elephant dung. Does it get better from there? Read on, brave adventurer.
Loved
Concept and Execution: Wander around the Serengeti taking pictures of the flora and fauna while learning an Animal Planet special's worth of interesting facts. At the end of each level your pictures are incorporated into an article covering the area you just visited. Simple, relaxing, and educational, with a great deal to see and a lot of interesting animal factoids to absorb.
The Sounds of the Serengeti: Sound seems to have been a focus in making the game, with the animals and environmental sounds aiding greatly to the illusion of exploring Africa. The music, all courtesy of world music label Talking Drum Records, is a lovely mix of traditional African sounds that set the atmosphere for the game nicely.
Hated
The Visuals: Wild Earth: African Safari is basically a port of a budget PC title from 2006, and thus it looks like a budget PC title from 2006. Muddy textures, simplistic terrain, polygons popping in and out of view. The animals do look lovely, but the rest of the world could use some serious work.
The Multiplayer: The multiplayer elements added to the Wii version of the title feel completely tacked on and aren't actually all that much fun, especially in the foot-based missions, which have one player walking and the other taking pictures. Imagine only being able to take pictures of what someone else is looking at. An exercise in frustration.
The Mini-Games: Another addition to the Wii version, the mini-games just aren't fun, with some of them feeling downright broken. The Flamingo dancing game, for instance, is supposed to play like DDR, with the Wiimote movements replacing dance steps, but the game can't seem to register movement correctly, making the mini-game useless.
Riding The Rails: While several assignments leave you free to roam the countryside as you please, a few find you riding on rails via a preset path, trying to snap your shots as the world passes by. It's a bit like Pokemon Snap for the Nintendo 64, only without the fast pace and charming characters that made that particular game work so well.
Wild Earth: African Safari is, at its core, a guided wildlife tour of the Serengeti National Park. Your well-spoken tour guides tell you what to shoot, when to shoot it, and the significance of what you are taking pictures of. You just look where they tell you and snap a quick picture of it. The original title was (and is) a fine example of what PC edutainment can be. The main problem with the Wii version is basically everything they've added to make Wild Earth appeal to the Wii audience.
If you're willing to ignore the extras and focus on the core gameplay, Wild Earth: African Safari is a relatively solid little learning title that should appeal to the type of folks who leave the cable box on Discovery or Animal Planet all day long, though they might be better served by picking up the cheaper PC version without the extra added crap.
Wild Earth: African Safari was developed by Super X Studios and published by Majesco, and was released on April 22nd. Retails for $29.99. Available on Nintendo Wii. Played singleplayer game to completion. Tested all mini-games. Dabbled in multiplayer.
