Afrika (PS3)

[Johnny]

Got this this morning and have put a few hours in. Gameplay is fun and simple. You start out by choosing a male or female character and are given a basic camera, a GPS and some binoculars.

You have access to a computer at your camp where you are given 'missions' by email. The ones I have done so far have been very basic stuff like take a picture of an animal. Once you receive your mission, out you go into the wilderness with your guide and are able to freely walk about and snap some pics.
Once you've got some, back to camp to upload them and reply to the email where you are given a cash reward which can be used to buy new equipment and so on.

So far, so good, although all the missions are obviously in Japanese and there's a couple where it's tricky to tell exactly what they want you to do.

[Matt]

What are the graphics like? Draw distance, frame rate, LOD popping. Please let us know

[Johnny]

What are the graphics like? Draw distance, frame rate, LOD popping. Please let us know

Graphics are pretty impressive, runs at 720p. Frame rate is fine except for animals that are far into the distance, they must move at 5 fps :P

Textures on the bushes etc are poor and flat but overall it's very nice to look at

[Phar]

Whats the controls like for taking pictures, I read that you had to use the sixaxis, just wondering how well that works.

Also what version you got Johnny, Asian or JPN. I went and ordered the asian one but since heard the online options greyed out. Just wondering if you went for the asian one to confirm that.

[Johnny]

Whats the controls like for taking pictures, I read that you had to use the sixaxis, just wondering how well that works.

Also what version you got Johnny, Asian or JPN. I went and ordered the asian one but since heard the online options greyed out. Just wondering if you went for the asian one to confirm that.

Yup, you can rotate the sixaxis to take a portrait shot which apparently is necessary in certain missions. Works well and naturally. Aside from that, Square gets your camera out, the right analogue stick zooms in and circle or R1 snaps.

I went with the Japanese version, tbh 'Hakuna Matata' just sounded too cheesy for me :P
Online mode isn't much special tho tbh. You can upload your pics and vote on ones others have uploaded. I think there are going to be contests held by Sony at some point but there's no multiplayer or DLC or anything.

[Phar]

Sixaxis control sounds fine then, I was a bit worried it'd be a bit fiddly to control like most games that use it. I was going to go for the JPN one as well tbh but read that there was a full english manual with the asian one, since found out it's a 2 page pamphlet. Might have to pick up the JPN one later if theres the possibility of DLC, don't want to end up like it was with the asian Initial D.

[Fuddle]

just had a very quick go on this, japanese version here too.
after the install, i left it at the title screen to see if there was some nice attract sequence, but when it started the music was juddering terribly, so i just started the game. and again the same piece of music sounded awful. all of the other bits sound perfectly fine though... very strange.

had a little ride in the jeep and took a few photos. as johnny says above, the animals that are a reasonable distance away really are very stilted in their movements. but as soon as you get closer its ok. they all look good and move really nicely.

not really sure if i actually did the first mission/email or not. i assumed it was a photo of a zebra they wanted as there was a little silhouette/logo of one there already. uploaded a photo and got ranked, but nothing seemed to indicate i had completed it on the laptop. so i uploaded another and it did they same thing.

hopefully all these missions are in a set order, and a faq will appear shortly.

[Johnny]

not really sure if i actually did the first mission/email or not. i assumed it was a photo of a zebra they wanted as there was a little silhouette/logo of one there already. uploaded a photo and got ranked, but nothing seemed to indicate i had completed it on the laptop. so i uploaded another and it did they same thing.

hopefully all these missions are in a set order, and a faq will appear shortly.

I think that first one is basically for you to submit photos of new animals. For example, I took a picture of a zebra, submitted it and then got a zebra based mission. Same for all the other animals.

There does seem to be a set order - after taking pics of the zebra, giraffe, hippo etc, I now have one where I need to snap a leopard. Also got some new equipment after the, admittedly tough, hippo one.

As far as a guide is concerned, check out the GameFAQS boards for Afrika, there's one or two guys currently compiling one and they can help in the meantime if you post a request

[Baseley09]

No 1080i?

[Johnny]

No 1080i?

480p and 720p going by the back of the box.

[Phar]

Mine finally arrived today and had a few hours with it, I like what I've seen so far, plays like pokemon snap but with a bit more freedom. Pity you can't control the Jeep as such, you just tell your guide to stop and start with the R2 & L2 buttons, but I suppose it's there to keep you in a set area of the map for certain missions. The wildlife I'm come across so far looks fantastic and is well animated, theres some nice heat effects and dust blowing about the place, seems like you can see for miles as well when using the binoculars.

Haven't really come up against too many problems with the language barrier yet as the few missions I've done are pretty easy to guess what to do by the pictures given to you on the email, the only one that I can't figure out yet is the same one as Fuddle mentioned which is the first mission, all the other ones are now in my done folder except this one.

Apparently the animal index in the game although not in english is exactly the same as the one found on the National Geographic site so that comes in handy if you want to read up on anything.

Overall it's a nice change of pace to the other games in my collection, don't think it'll be for everybody though, read a few comments on other sites with people asking if they can shoot the animals or run over them in the jeep.

[Fuddle]

i think that first zebra logo one is purely to get a bit of extra money for each new animal you find. and also for rating your photos, as once you submit one for a mission, its done. you can use the that one to find out which pic is best before you submit one.

i got the first big game photo today, which was the cheetah catching a gazelle(?). and can now watch a mini movie of it any time.

hopefully later on you wil be able to choose the location the jeep goes though. wandering around helps you find new landmarks which are added to your map which must have some purpose.

oh yeah, i've also been trampled by a hippo and a zebra.

[Phar]

i think that first zebra logo one is purely to get a bit of extra money for each new animal you find. and also for rating your photos, as once you submit one for a mission, its done. you can use the that one to find out which pic is best before you submit one.

oh yeah, i've also been trampled by a hippo and a zebra.

That makes more sense, as I was sure I was doing it right but it never showed as complete. Haven't been trampled by anything yet but I've been kicked by a zebra though.

Has anyone managed to get a decent picture of a gazelle yet, can't seem to get anywhere near them, they always spot me and run off, I'm not sure how realistic this game is but I might try to get a bit closer by heading into the wind to see if they don't pick up my scent.

[Johnny]

hopefully later on you wil be able to choose the location the jeep goes though. wandering around helps you find new landmarks which are added to your map which must have some purpose.

oh yeah, i've also been trampled by a hippo and a zebra.

A few missions after the leopard one, you can

->Open Spoiler<-

drive the jeep wherever you want if that's what you mean?

And yeah, those hippos are vicious! Made them very pissed off on that mission where you need to get a pic of them yawning.

[hush]

do you know if this is getting a western release ?
if not i may have to pick it in jap