Aren't animals cute? This phrase effectively sums up the rationale behind this fun but limited sim-game from EA. If you've ever wanted to scratch a hippo's ears and make it purr like a kitten, this is probably the closest you'll ever get.
Perhaps the best way to describe the gameplay is The Sims meet Lion King meets Viva Pinata – it doesn't quite fall into any one category. You play in a god-like role, looking after herds of different creatures and controlling animals you've befriended to complete various missions.
The immediate impressions of the game are actually quite impressive – the presentation is spot on, with evocative African music and pleasing cartoony graphics. The tutorial system too is effective – within five minutes you'll have easily grasped the fundamentals.
It's probably wrong to expect too much for a game aimed squarely at the kids market – and, for what it's worth, I imagine youngsters will be delighted with the mix of cutesy minigames and Sims-like micromanagement. But you can't help but feel like there should be more on offer.
For starters, there's a paltry eight species to play with. And once you've completed all the tasks in the game's different areas, there's not a huge amount of replay value. There's also the big problem of repetitiveness – petting an animal using the Wii remote is something you'll have to do literally hundreds of times.
It's a nicely presented game with a definite charm – I imagine many will be surprised as I was to discover you can mate the animals, and even make the lions kill smaller species – but scratch beneath the surface and you'll find there's not an awful lot of fun to be had here that won't get tiring very quickly.
