By Simon Carless, 1:00 PM on Tue Nov 20 2007, 1,889 views (Edit, to draft, Top, Slurp)

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After the first of this week's Indie Picks fingered the bizarrely named (but rather smart) Deadly Rooms Of Death, the second pick for worthy, but underpublicized PC independent game goes to Pocketwatch Games' PC ecological sim Venture Arctic.

Andy Schatz's one-man band effort, a sequel to the similarly interesting Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa, acts as a sort of Al Gore-ish god game, in which "...the player controls the forces of earth, sun, wind, and water to bring summer and winter to polar bears, orcas, and more." You need to manipulate nature, and the modeling of ecosystems has brought a unique angle to the regular 'tycoon'-style game.

Most of all, you can "...experiment with how animal relationships change when the weather is unseasonably warm or when a species is knocked out of the food chain... strategies for success revolve around understanding the authentic animal behaviors and the challenges of ecosystem stewardship." So, Douglas Adams' 'Last Chance To See' meets Black & White, then? Fascinating.

Venture Arctic: Official Website [Pocketwatch Games]