Wild Earth Preview

(Note - screenshots in this preview are taken from the in-game photo system and are lower quality. To view high quality screenshots visit the game's gallery.)

Strap on your boots, get out the safari hat, and don’t forget your camera… it’s time to hit the African outback. What better way to spend a weekday after a hard day of school than stalking elephants, rhinos, and giraffes oh my! In Wild Earth you are a photographer set free in the Serengeti with several objectives to meet on a number of assignments.

Let me begin by stating that Wild Earth is targeted for a younger audience. After playing through several assignments I would say it is perfect for kids in the second/third grade up to around sixth. Not only do you work as a photographer but the in-game narration/discussion with the guide can be quite educational. Even with the target audience set for younger players I actually found it hard to quit at times. This was mainly due to the overall relaxing nature of the game. I found it easy to forget about daily hassles by starting this game up to enjoy the scenery and tranquil music.

Wild Earth is in the first-person perspective and felt very comfortable to operate. To play, you basically need to walk around and manage the camera. You don’t actually raise a camera up to your face take photographs; a viewfinder is always on screen as part of the GUI. This approach is probably the best considering the frequency of pictures that need to be taken in each assignment. Zooming with the camera is controlled via the mouse wheel. Also on screen is a bar that highlights upcoming objectives, the number of photographs taken/needed, and an agitation meter that will dip from green to red if you get too close to the various animals on your voyages. Get too far into the red and you will fail the mission, which wasn’t easy to do unless you deliberately try to do it. There isn’t any kind of directional map or arrows unless you stray too far from the next objective. Instead boundaries are set up with cliffs, rocks, and other various things. Overall, the maps felt very open and “explorable.” The only thing that bothered me with the gameplay was the fact that the boundaries on the rocks felt a bit pushy. You could only come within about two feet of boulders and it just seemed like you should be able to go further. While it bothered me, it is a rather minor complaint.

As far as Wild Earth’s graphics are concerned, the game looks very good. All of the animals look realistic and the environments are very believable. I really liked the way the water flowed down streams, how the time of day was done, and noticed that most of the animals’ movements were well orchestrated. However, when animals interacted with each other, such as the time I witnessed an alligator eating a wildebeest, they didn’t come close enough to each other.  I also noticed that there was a bit of a glitch when I was walking through water. When walking while looking straight ahead, there was some sputtering once and a while in my lower field of vision. Again, I have few minor complaints but nothing major in this area.

The music, as I stated above, was relaxing and helped me to enjoy the overall environment…it might also help to calm kids down. All of the animals made distinct noises that sounded life-like. I also noticed that as you move from land to mud to water the noise of your footsteps change accordingly. There was one issue I had in the sound department. When I was near a waterfall, the guide’s voice became inaudible. Now, there are subtitles when the guide and your character are talking to each other but I just thought that you should be able to hear the guide at all times.

So, what is the point of taking all these photographs? At the end of each assignment, given you have taken enough pictures, an article is made up with your work included in it. The game actually puts together an HTML article that is comprised of all sorts of educational material. You can launch an article as soon as you complete an assignment – the game will minimize and your internet browser will launch. There are also other links given that will provide further information on the subject.

Now for any parents reading this preview I’ll mention that the game is the equivalent of watching the Discovery Channel as far as the content is concerned. There are some brief references to mating and I thought I’d mention that, considering the game is targeted at a younger audience.

It is important to remember that at this point, Wild Earth is still in beta status. The game is shaping up to be a very promising title overall and there is a chance that some of the minor bugs I pointed out in this preview, may be fixed by the time it hits the retail shelves. Wild Earth will be a perfect game for grade-school children.  It includes humor that only they will be able to appreciate: for example, taking pictures of large piles of elephant dung in order to track them. I was pleased overall with the game and would recommend it for the correct audience.