Afrika

"Rigid gameplay is not enough to cut down this beautiful game."

With the US release just around the corner, I find it disturbing that this game still has only one review on GameFAQs. Especially since I have been pushing people to purchase this game for months, it seems that it's time to make my love for it official.

Afrika, known as Hakuna Matata in some parts, is a photography game set in a part of rural Africa teeming with diverse wildlife. In it, you play as one of two photographers tasked with shooting pictures for various magazines and studies interested in the local fauna. To this end you will be given access to an ever-growing selection of cameras, lenses and other tools as well as a large environment which grows more expansive as you gain entry to new areas through your accomplishments. The game plays exactly as you would probably expect, with a few shortfalls here and there.

In the very beginning you are provided with a single camera and lens and are driven to several areas where you expect to find some wildlife, and your only job is to take shots of as many different animals as you can find. The game's dynamic quickly changes however and you are granted access to more equipment and gain control over your vehicle, driving to wherever you want and climbing out of the car to sneak around when necessary. The controls will quickly strike you as rigid, as both walking and driving feel like something out of a 15-year-old game. Any disappointment you feel however will probably pass quickly as the game's charms become apparent.

The graphics in this game are beautiful. The environments are lush and detailed, and the everything about the animals from the way they're drawn to the way they move is exquisite. Looking over my saved pictures in the game, there are more than a few which could pass as actual photographs of real animals at first glance, maybe even at second glance. From the mannerisms of the animals to the shadows cast by them and their environments, it's obvious that a lot of care was put into making this game look amazing. The only shortcomings graphically are that the setting sun doesn't seem to look quite "right" when you look directly at it and that shrubberies and small trees seem to use somewhat lower-resolution textures than their surroundings. Interestingly, however, these things look quite a bit better on my bigger screen than on my smaller one. I lack the technical expertise to explain what's going on there but it would seem that higher-quality screens use some kind of voodoo to improve the look of these lower-quality elements in the game, and I can respect that.

Another great part of the game is the wealth of camera options. Each camera comes with its own list of settings, and you can choose to use them either in automatic mode or by manually setting your aperture size, shutter speed, color range and other factors. The days when I knew how to manually set a camera are long-gone, but I can definitely appreciate that the options are there for those who are interested and that your pictures can receive higher scores for being more technical or artistic. Using the camera is very straightforward and handles exactly how it should. One thumbstick points while the other controls zoom, and turning the SIXAXIS controller sideways gives the effect of turning your camera sideways for vertical shots. Because camera shake is more of an issue when taking vertical photos, it can be useful to ease your way down on the shutter button to focus your shots and to cut down on blurriness due to motion. The whole experience feels almost perfect and could probably only be made better in a virtual reality setting with perfect motion detection.

Finally, the coolest feature in the game also highlights one of its greatest weaknesses. Periodically you will be given a special mission that leads to what's called a "big game hunt." In it, a scripted event will take place and you will be placed in a specific way so as to catch the event perfectly on film. These events include driving alongside a cheetah as it chases down a gazelle, watching two giraffes battle by slamming their necks into one another and other awesome or adorable scenes. Unfortunately it quickly becomes apparent that outside of these missions, certain animals will never appear and certain interactions will never take place. You will never just be driving along and suddenly spot a fight off in the distance, for example. And because you'll never encounter some critters if you haven't received a mission to find them, exploration loses some of its sweetness. Even so, there's enough out there to see that you should have plenty of reasons to keep playing.

There's a lot I haven't even gotten to yet, such as the eeriness of night safaris where the only light comes from your car and your headlamp, the cuteness of watching lion cubs curiously creep up to your RC car-mounted camera to investigate it, and the panic experienced when you've crept up too close to an angry rhinoceros who begins to consider ending your safari for you prematurely. But I also don't want to take up more of your time than I already have. In the end, there are a few flaws here and there that are readily apparent and would need to be fixed were there ever a sequel to this game. However, if you can look past the issues, there is an outstanding game here. Especially since there are so few games in this genre, if you have any interest in animals or photography then you have no justification for not picking this game up post-haste. No, seriously. You owe it to yourself.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/09

Game Release: Hakuna Matata (AS, 08/28/08)