Upon first hearing about Afrika for the PS3, I was intrigued for a few reasons. Natsume (of Harvest Moon fame) was publishing a photography sim set in Africa. Since photography has been touched on in video games but never done to my satisfaction I figured I would give this title a shot. It also helped that Afrika had a very limited run of copies localized for North America and you all know I am a sucker for hard to find games.
There is a lot to like about Afrika. Good graphics, realistic photography (to an extent; more on that in a few minutes), and lots of stuff to take pictures of. I like taking pictures in real life so I figured that my skills and knowledge of photography would translate well into the game. You start off by picking one of two characters and getting sent on assignment to a wildlife preserve in Africa. From there you take various photographic assignments with varying degrees of difficulty and reward. As you progress in the game, new cameras and lenses become available to you and that in turn enhances your pictures and the ease at which you can take some pictures. That is pretty much it in terms of plot.
After playing the game for many hours there are some very obvious flaws in the game’s implementation. First, unless I am a moron (and this is a possibility) I can’t find an option to fast travel to different areas on the map. The landmass of this game is huge and you do get a jeep to speed things up, but when you are trying to reach a section of the map that is three sections away from your base camp, it takes the better part of twenty minutes of real life driving time to get to it. It becomes an African version of Desert Bus after a while. For better or worse, I don’t think this was an oversight on the part of the game’s developer, Rhino. Life and events are happening all around you as you’re driving and I think Rhino wanted the player to be able to stop the vehicle at anytime and take pictures if the need arises. There are special random events that would not be possible to experience if there was a fast travel option, but I still think the player should have the right to choose to experience that or not.
The biggest gripe I have has to do with the photography mechanics of the game. I think I am nitpicking here because I simply expected more and didn’t get it. I should have known better than to expect real life photography and all of the minutiae the hobby entails to be simulated perfectly within a game. The game does a pretty good job but I just expected more. When you take a picture for submission to an assignment, you are graded on your distance from the subject, the angle, and a couple of other criteria. The problem is that in order to get a good grade and more money for your shots, all of your shots have to be taken in a certain way. The game requires the subject to be the center of the photo and when it isn’t you can be graded down. This eliminates photo-enhancing elements such as the rule of thirds in which the subject of the photo can be located in the center, far right, or far left third of the frame and the human eye finds these placements pleasing. In Afrika, the subject has to be in the center of the frame. This rule also takes the use of S-curves out of the picture…literally. The human eye finds gentle curves interesting and it is drawn to them but this game doesn’t allow the use of them.
The worst crime that Afrika committed is that it let itself become a commercial for Sony branded products. I know and follow a lot of photographers and not a single one of them uses a Sony camera. Not a single friggin’ one. In Afrika, Sony cameras and lenses are the only equipment available. When National Geographic sends one of their pros to Africa to get pictures, I would be willing to put good money on the vast majority of them carrying either Canon or Nikon gear. In the realm of pro photography, almost no one shoots with Sony equipment. To rub salt in my photo nerd wound, Sony decided it would be cool to make players watch a little mini commercial every time a new lens or camera is introduced in the game. It makes me want to kill.
The last thing that irks me is that you start the game with a crappy little 35mm Sony camera and a cheesy lens to go with it. There isn’t a photo agency in the world that is going to send its pro photographers into the field with a 35mm camera and a lens that would be more appropriate at a redneck family reunion. If you are a pro, you are going with a Canon 5DmkII minimum but most likely a 1DmkIII. On the Nikon side, you are shooting either a D3x or D3s. Either camera is going to be equipped with a portrait lens for intimate wildlife and native shots and a 300-400mm zoom for the crazy wildlife shots that nature mags are known for. I understand that the game starts you off with a crappy camera so that you can upgrade and see the difference that new equipment makes in your workflow but it takes away from the realism of the sim. It also subjects players to more of Sony’s obnoxious commercials and I suspect Sony likes it that way.
Something else that prospective players should understand is the amount of real world time that it takes to play this game. Long drives are only one time sucking element of Afrika. To get a good shot, the player may be hiding in a virtual shrubbery for half an hour or more. One point early in the game makes the player capture a photo of a hippo yawning. In order for a hippo to yawn, it must be relaxed. Hippos do not relax with a photographer present or any other animals for that matter. This translates into you sitting in a bush or a tree for long stretches of time, hoping and praying no other animals approach your precious hippos. This mission took me an hour of sitting still and staring at three virtual hippos lounging in a muddy pool in order to get the shot I needed. While I do think this aspect of the game is very true to real wildlife photography, it doesn’t translate into a fun experience for someone playing a game.
Overall, I am not sure what I think about Afrika. I think it is a cool idea for a game that was just implemented poorly in some aspects. There is not a ton of depth to it because all you do is take photos based upon assignment criteria. Gamers are not going to like the lack of action or long drive times that being a pro photographer requires, and photographers are not going to like the fact they have to endure a game that is one long Sony camera commercial that does not allow them to fully utilize their knowledge of photography. Having said that, Afrika is a graphically pleasing game and can be a relaxing exercise on days when I can’t go out and take real pictures. Afrika emphasizes the simulation aspect over the game aspect and in that sense, it is a refreshing addition to a medium filled with driving and flying titles. My big reason to justify this game’s purchase was its future collectibility and with that in mind, I think it was a good buy. Playing Afrika is a unique experience that can be rewarding but I don’t think it is for everyone.