SimAnimals Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 30th January 2009

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Wii head off into nature.

SimAnimals Details:

	Simulation
	Nintendo Wii/Nintendo DS
	EA Games
	EA Games

Out Now

Is it just me or is EA’s “Sims” brand taking over the world? First we had The Sims which took over peoples life’s as they concentrated on fulfilling the dreams of their, Sims. Then we had MySims targeting younger gamers and now the brand is on the march again, this time with animal lovers in its sights with SimAnimals.

The premise of SimAnimals is pretty basic, and that is to befriend animals by tendering to their whims and needs just like in The Sims games, although on a much simpler scale. Like MySims, SimAnimals is obviously aimed at the younger gamer and its simple nature reflects this! So if you were expecting a game which is just like The Sims but with animals you’ll be disappointed.

The game is set in a forest and starts with only one area available to play in, and here you will be introduced to the basics of how to play the game. New areas are unlocked by improving an areas happy energy rating. This is done by getting animals to trust you and becoming their friend by fulfilling their needs, which can be seen with the games discovery mode. This opens an encyclopaedia which tells you the animals needs, favourite foods and trust level towards you and so on. Then it’s just a simple case of feeding them a few times until they’ll play with you, at which point they will happily become your friend. It’s all very simple and allows for fairly rapid progression into new areas.

As well as having to unlock new areas with happy energy, each area also has a number of challenges for you to complete, again these are all in keeping with the games simplicity and include things such as getting a certain number of animals to move into an area, or introducing animals to each other so they have babies. Completing these challenges gives more happy energy and allows quicker access to new areas, but also unlocks new animals and rewards you with medals.

Whilst the early stages of the game only have you tending to the needs of the animals as you progress, you will also have to tend to plants that produce the food that the animals eat! Making sure they’re planted in the right type of soil and well watered and so on. Again it sounds more complicated then it is and it’s easy to get the necessary seeds and fruits from the plants in order to feed your animal friends.

Whilst most gamers will find the gameplay in SimAnimals very simple, you need to keep in mind that the game is aimed at children and this simplicity makes the game highly accessible, which is absolutely vital for a game aimed at a younger audience. However due to its very repetitive nature even the intended audience will probably tire of the title fairly rapidly as the game just consists of feeding animals then petting them until you gain their full trust. This is the games biggest weakness as despite moving to new areas, the gameplay stays constant throughout.

One of the best things about SimAnimals is the excellent control system it employs! It’s a very easy system to get to grips with and almost feels like you’re using a computer mouse, allowing you to easily move around, zoom in and select animals and items with ease with a point and click interface. I would even go as far to say its one of the best systems I’ve encountered in this type of game.

Like most games in the “Sims” brand SimAnimals is presented flawlessly. Menus are all easy to navigate and the screens well designed. However this doesn’t transition well to the actual gameplay graphics, which are bland to say the least. Areas all tend to look the same and are lacking in any real depth or distinguishing features, they’re also fairly limited in scale. Animals have been done in a cartoon styling and are ok, I would say that they are animated well, however, the game seemed to struggle to keep the frame rate constant. This is especially evident in the animal entrance animations. The game also seems to have a bug of when you pick up an animal and put it down, it will briefly drop below the ground before quickly popping back up! Almost as if the game was trying to hide the fact it ever happened.

Sound is probably one of the games biggest weaknesses, not because it’s bad, but because there’s not much of it. Animal sound effects are pretty good, and the ambient sounds of birds singing is all fitting with the games nature theme. Title and in-game music (what little there is) is done in a typical Sims style and again is fairly good.

SimAnimals will probably disappoint a lot of “Sims” fans due to its simplistic and repetitive nature, however despite the fact the game doesn’t live up to its potential, younger gamers may find some enjoyment from the title for a couple of hours at least.