honest question : is the backlash in this thread from people who played the asian/japanese game or just from people hyped about the game but haven't played it yet?
I have the Asian version and I love it. It's not a 3.5 to me, but that's my opinion, just like it's the IGN reviewer's opinion that it is.
I'm very happy with Hakuna Matata (Afrika). It's a relaxing game which contrasts well with most of the other games in my library. It's a good game to play while listening to podcasts. If someone is looking for a different type of game experience that is, in the very least, competent, I'd recommend Afrika.
I imported the game back when it came out in Japan, and I mostly agree with the IGN review. Not the score, but he's right about how disappointing the mechanics are. The animals never do anything but walk back and forth across predetermined paths unless you take missions that script them to do something else. The photo-taking is great but it utterly fails as any kind of wildlife simulation.
If you're wondering -- and just about everyone who has stopped by my desk has been -- you can't die in Afrika. If you get too close to the animal, you'll see them starting to get all riled up and you have a few movements to get the hell out of there. If you don't move, the beast will charge at you and you'll wake up at base camp. Similarly, you can't run down animals in your car. If you hit them, the car stops and your lazy partner reprimands you.
It's not that the photography concept is boring. I was actually looking forward to being out in the bush and carefully framing my shots. What's boring here is how everything is presented and executed.
you're going to run into a number of technical mishaps. For starters, there's a seven-minute install at the beginning of the game, but it appears to do nothing to make the title run any better. In fact, Afrika is littered with framerate dips. When you're awkwardly running across a field, you'll see what I'm talking about. When you click on the disc from the XMB, you're looking at more than two minutes of waiting before the game loads and gets you to the actual gameplay. If you choose to save -- and this is every time you save -- expect the process to take one minute and 12 seconds. That's right -- more than a minute of staring at that little progress bar fill before you can do anything.
I checked with my Gamestop yesterday and they had no idea if they are getting it. I just ordered it from amazon.com (US) and their system said they only have two left now.
They seem to completely messed up the launch :/
September would have been way better, competing in October with games like Uncharted 2 AND this release date mess can only result in no good.
Just picked it up from GameStop. The guy there said they only received two copies and both of them were reserved. He also said that probably the only reason his store got any copies is because we reserved them. I'm guessing this game's going to be a bit hard to find soon.
you're going to run into a number of technical mishaps. For starters, there's a seven-minute install at the beginning of the game, but it appears to do nothing to make the title run any better. In fact, Afrika is littered with framerate dips. When you're awkwardly running across a field, you'll see what I'm talking about. When you click on the disc from the XMB, you're looking at more than two minutes of waiting before the game loads and gets you to the actual gameplay. If you choose to save -- and this is every time you save -- expect the process to take one minute and 12 seconds. That's right -- more than a minute of staring at that little progress bar fill before you can do anything.
They seem to completely messed up the launch :/
September would have been way better, competing in October with games like Uncharted 2 AND this release date mess can only result in no good.
Got my copy from Amazon today, it's a shame I couldn't find this anywhere else.
For the artsy fartsy crowd (photographers and artists), nature lovers who watch NatGeo and Discovery/Animal Planet, and people who need a great edutainment game for their kids/family (or something to show off to their nerdy girl friend and parents), it's great. Beyond that, I don't see many people staying too enthusiastic for long. I mean, once the novelty wears off that this is essentially a realistic Pokemon Snap (as mentioned before), it becomes boring. But the extra features (night and day cycles to shoot, various locations, different missions, National Geographic unlockable footage) could keep one entertained for a while I imagine.
I've only played it three hours so far, but I'm loving it
I'm shocked it pulled me away from Uncharted 2 for a brief moment.
I just wish there was some sort of co-op online, and I also wish there was spoken dialog, since all dialog is text, which reminds me of an old PS2 game for some reason.
Edit: Looking forward to getting more lenses and a bigger SD for my cam. Also can't wait for the mission to
photograph the cheetah hunting at 60mph without it becoming too blurry, tomorrow... and the midnight shoot with the cheetah in the trees that I've seen in them pamphlet.
If you're into photography, I highly suggest this.
I received a copy from Gamefly today. After looking around at local Gamestops (five of them) earlier this week and not finding single copy, I decided to place the "keep it" order. I think it's $39.14 well spent.
I'm going to assume they're just progression based.
Preordered, only copy they got at the Gamestop (Toronto), and it's "full price", $59.99.
What's really throwing me off is the installs (2.4GB + 387MB Save), the long load times (The main intro load is at least 2 minutes), and I have yet to find the invert Y-Axis option. Outside of those complaints, it's been pretty enjoyable.
I'm into the 4th zone and really enjoying it so far. Was a little disappointed at first because the photo quality wasn't that good, but since I got a new camera and lens I've been very happy with the results.
If have any interest in photography this game is surprisingly fun.
I don't even know what you're talking about, haha.
Say I'm an idiot all you want, but even all the way back to Sewer Shark on Sega CD, I couldn't play because of the stupid controls. I'll let you guys have your fun though, I just needed to vent.
Where can I get a copy of this game? I called Eb/Gamestop and they have never heard of it. I wanted to give this to my wife for xmas. She is a picture taking game nut. Its between this and Aquanaut's Holiday. She is not into storyline so Im leaning toward this, if I can find it.
This game could have been sooooo much better if Sony had taken it seriously like they pretended way back at E3 and showing it off as a key title for PS3. But as of now this is a a good game but made frustating due to long ass load/save times and restricting the player a lot in terms of controls and gameplay. I can ignore all other short comings but the fucking load times are just unbeliveable for a game that is not even 5% of a game like UC. The worst is that even saving a game which should be couple of seconds take more than a minute!! My kids want to play this game but get frustrated when the loading/saving takes this long.
Other than that game is good. The animals look and behave realistically. Overall the grahpics are not too bad but of course don't do justice to what the PS3 can achieve (again shows average effort was put into it). Gameplay is simple but very restrictive as you can't drive on your own and can't go any where you want to. Getting good cameras and lenses is a slow process too. Another annoying thing is that after a mission to get back to the base, you have to fucking ride the slow ass jeep back to your camp instead of giving you an option to press a button and instantly going back to the camp. Stupid things like this makes it hard to love this game. This game is not for every one specially those who lack patience. But for nature lovers and ppl looking for something different it might be a good option as there are not many games like it.
6/10
It could have been an easy 8 if they would have designed it better and used some better coding techniques. I do hope they make a better sequel for this game but I doubt they will since there is such a small market for these types of games.
Where can I get a copy of this game? I called Eb/Gamestop and they have never heard of it. I wanted to give this to my wife for xmas. She is a picture taking game nut. Its between this and Aquanaut's Holiday. She is not into storyline so Im leaning toward this, if I can find it.
Amazon. Always and forever. Amazon. Stop going to Gamestop. Amazon.
And good that she doesn't like story, because the "translation" in Aquanaut's Holiday is pukey.
A.R.K said:
Another annoying thing is that after a mission to get back to the base, you have to fucking ride the slow ass jeep back to your camp instead of giving you an option to press a button and instantly going back to the camp.
I did like it, but the load times are just bad and makes me not want to play it as much I want to. And as I said it could have been so much better if they put in some effort and used Sony ninjas to help them out.
but I agree with restriction in general, e.g. I was disappointed that you can use equipment like the remote control camera only at specific locations.
Some of the later missions are better, but the game would have been (more) awesome if made more open/sandbox, like "you have all that stuff, now use it to take the best photo of this animal doing something" - w/o triggers and including that YOU have to know when to use the equipment (e.g. shy animals etc.).
regarding the load times: isn't there only one real long loading after you insert the disc, similar to GTA? Can't remember long downtimes during the gameplay aside from the saving (which I accepted due to the photos, though it shouldn't take that long if you only have like 2 new photos, I guess it always saves it as it would create a complete new save?)
Impressions are sounding good. I've bought this for my wife. She loves animals and peaceful games. I hope she makes a happy face when she opens the present. (I got her something else too, don't worry!)
I've found this game extremely relaxing to play. Along with Aquanaut's Holiday, which someone here was kind enough to sell to me, these only make me long for what Endless Ocean could've been (or could be, in a HDWii future). I'm pretty sure these two will always stay in my collection....
I did like it, but the load times are just bad and makes me not want to play it as much I want to. And as I said it could have been so much better if they put in some effort and used Sony ninjas to help them out.
Gameplay is simple but very restrictive as you can't drive on your own and can't go any where you want to. Getting good cameras and lenses is a slow process too.
after a few missions you can drive where ever you want to go on the map...
as far as the good camera lenses and the overall process of getting everything in the game.... I didn't have time to finish this game initially, so I just downloaded someone's game save that was 100%.....so if you want to teach your kids to be lazy like me, just get the game save and play all the missions you want.
Buying this game for my wife seems to have been a huge success! She had a huge smile on her face while playing it, and she kept being overjoyed by all the animals she found. A question though:
Can you grind money later in the game? My wife wants to buy stuff, but she needs way more money. Can you re-do missions?
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