Afrika

spaceboy · January 02, 2010, 09:20:45 AM

Here's an interesting game (PS3 exclusive) with a more peaceful Africa (as opposed to Far Cry 2!). You are a photo journalist who's missions are to snap pictures of the wildlife and submit them for payment. You then use the money earned to upgrade your camera equipment and even buy a tent so you can camp out in the field.

The gameplay is peaceful and interesting. The graphics are beautiful and the "animal AI" is quite good - don't get too close or you'll spook them and you'll miss your shot.

I'm pretty early on in the game but it's definitely something that delivers a unique experience.

Here are some screenshots. The game offers the ability to export the pictures you've taken to your hard drive.

http://mygamepages.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=32

Art Blade · January 02, 2010, 09:45:58 AM

Hehe, I found that article on your site already, before you posted here :) Very nice, and remarkably realistic pictures :-X

RedRaven · January 02, 2010, 09:55:31 AM

Thats a novel idea for a game, makes a nice change from having to kill things. Will look out for that when I get PS3 later this month.

spaceboy · January 02, 2010, 10:03:48 AM

thanks guys. It really is a nice change of pace actually. It's getting roasted pretty much in the reviews, of course. One dude on psxextreme gave it a 4 and complained you can't free roam drive. Of course that is only true during the first couple days during the basic tutorial section. The guy never played more than a half hour of the game probably. Typical.

I do wish the areas were a bit larger, but not they're not small. They actually feel about right for what the game is setting about to do. Could it be done on a grander scale? Yes. But this game is actually a couple years old I believe and was originally only released in Japan. It only just got a publisher for the States this year.

RedRaven · January 02, 2010, 10:13:52 AM

Quote from: spaceboy on January 02, 2010, 10:03:48 AM
thanks guys. It really is a nice change of pace actually. It's getting roasted pretty much in the reviews, of course. One dude on psxextreme gave it a 4 and complained you can't free roam drive. Of course that is only true during the first couple days during the basic tutorial section. The guy never played more than a half hour of the game probably. Typical.

He should be fed to the Lions !

Art Blade · January 02, 2010, 10:38:36 AM

LOL! Pour honey over him and push him onto an anthill!

fragger · January 03, 2010, 01:10:02 AM

LOL, guys ;D ;D

I haven't seen or heard of this game, but personally I like to see someone come up with something different. There's not really a huge deal of true originality in games today, much of it is pretty derivative, so I say good job to the creators of Afrika :-X Have fun, space!

PZ · January 03, 2010, 01:58:37 PM

Different game indeed! Great pics :-X

RedRaven · January 03, 2010, 04:24:56 PM

Really looking forward to giving it a go. Then I can pretend to be one of my hero's - Sir David Attenborough :-X . From being very young have always got great enjoyment from his natural history and wildlife programs, and he is still at it after around 50 years, and he has one of the most soothing voices too.

spaceboy · January 03, 2010, 06:11:04 PM

Quote from: RedRaven on January 03, 2010, 04:24:56 PM
Really looking forward to giving it a go. Then I can pretend to be one of my hero's - Sir David Attenborough :-X . From being very young have always got great enjoyment from his natural history and wildlife programs, and he is still at it after around 50 years, and he has one of the most soothing voices too.

That's cool. I admit the name isn't ringing a bell with me but perhaps I'd recognize him if I saw him. As for voices, it's just the animals talking in this one. The other characters don't vocalize, they move their mouths and you read the screen - hit X to continue. No problem actually, you don't have any bad voice acting or bad accents to distract you.

More info: The "big game" hunts are scripted but fun nonetheless. (probably scripted gives you the best setup so that's ok. So far that's applied to the cheetah hunt and catching a baby and Mother Elephant walking by. Everything else has not been scripted, but obviously the animals are programmed to do what they need to do - just sometimes it takes longer to get the shot. And your success depends on your ability to get close and not disturb them as well as getting a good angle on the shot etc.

The sequence is that once a new area opens up (and thereafter) you need to just take one shot to document the animal is there and then you'll get assignments related to them. So you have to get a giraffe drinking water, or a hippo yawning, or a zebra's face straight on. Or to my recent dismay a close up of a crane's face. Those buggers are so excitable I can't get close enough. I'm relagating that one until I can afford a better zoom lens :-[

Art Blade · January 03, 2010, 06:18:37 PM

I don't know what made me think "shoot that crane and then take a close-up of its face" ;D

RedRaven · January 04, 2010, 01:41:21 AM

David Attenborough is a TV presenter who for the past 30 odd years has done many Wildlife / Natural history shows, starting with Life on Earth. If you search Youtube there are thousands of clips from his programs. If your interested in Natural history he is a must.

fragger · January 04, 2010, 04:58:05 AM

I agree with RedRaven, David Attenborough is the man for exquisite wildlife docos. His narration is terrific, and the photography in his programs is simply amazing. Highly recommended :-X

spaceboy · January 10, 2010, 08:12:13 PM

Check out the ultimate Mission Guide for Afrika. Several folks over at the gamestop/gamefaq forums had created this guide of all the missions - complete with pictures, tips, locations, etc. They had it on megaupload but sent me the pdf version so I could put it up and allow users to browse it (with NO downloading!)

This link is to the main index as it spans 7 articles.

http://mygamepages.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=33