Afrika (PS3) Preview

Posted by Mark Salmela on 08.22.2009

411’s Mark Salmela takes a look at the closest thing to a new Pokémon Snap. Oh, and that’s a good thing.

Afrika has been a very weird title. While it isn't actually being published by Sony, it is a PS3 exclusive that Sony spent a good amount of time hyping up… back in 2006. Afrika was first announced back at E3 2006 and since then has been talked about very little by anyone in North America. The game was quietly released in Japan on August 28, 2008 and was announced to be coming to North America this spring. The game was developed by Rhino Studios and is being published by Natsume.

The closest comparison I can make to Afrika is that it's Pokémon Snap except it's not on rails. Afrika gives you total control of a photographer deep in the African jungles and even gives you your own jeep to drive around in. You can go at anytime of the day and can you a variety of photography equipment.



The main focus of the game is to take as "good" of pictures as possible of a variety of animals set throughout the jungle. You'll find everything from leopards to exotic birds to rhinos to hippos. Depending on where you are and what time of day it is the animals will be in a variety of locations and will be doing a variety of actions. You can catch them grazing, you can find them at the watering hole, you can catch them hunting, and you can find them sleeping. And before anyone asks, I don't think you can catch them mating, as I somehow doubt that Afrika will feature any sort of animal sex.

You also have a field guide to build up which is where most of the players will spend their time. The field guide is officially sponsored by National Geographic and features pictures, text descriptions, 3D models, and videos of every animal in the game. There is also a shop to buy upgrades to your car, upgrades to your camera, and even items such as tents which I assume will be used for when you're doing late night photo shoots.

The driving controls in Afrika are about what you'd expect. You use the right trigger to accelerate, left trigger to brake. You can control both your car and your character on foot by using the left analog stick, and you can control the camera movement via the right analog stick. Pretty standard stuff here.



One of the more surprising features of Afrika is just how deep the editing process is on your photos. With the basic cameras you can't do much more than point and shoot but once you unlock some of the more advanced *and officially licensed* cameras you can start editing the lighting of the camera, the amount of blur, the sharpness of the colors, all of that good stuff that professional photographers love.

I had the chance to go hands-on with the game back at E3 2009 and I must point out that the game does have some framerate problems. While I'd normally say that there was still time to fix it I have my doubts in this situation due to the game already being out in Japan for over a year now. It seems unlikely that technical issues such as the framerate would be addressed in a translation port. Also I am saddened to report that Afrika has no multiplayer mode what-so-ever. This game is single player only.

All in all Afrika isn't the most action packed game out there. Sure there are some pretty cool scenes you can shoot including one where a Leopard hunts and kills a gazelle, but this game is meant to be a more peaceful experience. If you enjoyed Pokémon Snap back on the N64 than Afrika is a game you should definitely check out. Afrika will be released exclusively for the PS3 on September 22, 2009.