SimAnimals Africa
© 2009 Electronic Arts, Inc.
An excellent title (SimAnimals, released last year) gets even better, with this African edition. Made specifically for the Wii, the game is a one player unlockable adventure, that uses a series of challenges to ease you into the tasks needed to play. This is where this game shines. Even though there's a bit of reading, the over the shoulder coaching makes it hard to make a wrong move. As a result, our testers were quickly drawn into the various adventures. You start by signing into one of five game save slots. Your progress is saved automatically, as a percentage through the game. The more you move around, the more you discover. The first step is to make friends with the zebras, by petting them, giving them fruit and eventually controlling them. By steering a zebra close to a tree, you can kick it to get fruit, which you can use to befriend more animals. The more you play, the more you unlock. Content includes nine types of animals, 54 plants, 33 insects and 42 medals to unlock. There are five games, such as an elephant ring toss, to keep things interesting. Obviously, this game mixes facts with a small bit of reality. If you're looking for real African facts, this game has them, but on a very light scale. For example, the animals, insects and plants are all accurately named, and the music sounds authentic. But the animal behavior is animated and playful, to make the game more fun. The Nintendo DS version ($30), which we did not test, has different animals, including parrots and meerkats, and a fishing game. You can use the microphone to interact with the animals, along with the stylus. This is a definite "buy it." Visit www.simanimalsafrica.com.
$4030, Wii*, Nintendo DS
Teaches: reading, animal facts, problem solving, fine motor control, science
CTR Rating: 96%