SimAnimals – NDS – Preview

Within the
realm of the EA Games’ Sim franchise, players have controlled the lives of
people and have built and managed cities. SimAnimals is bringing a new take on
the whole element of simulation with SimAnimals, a game that masks some strong
gameplay elements with real-world behavioral patterns beneath a veneer of
cuteness that should please and entertain most gamers who pick up the title.

Whew! That was
a mouthful. But SimAnimals is that cute. The game, available on the Wii and
Nintendo DS early n 2009 will give players the opportunity to progress beyond
the backyard of their Sim neighborhoods and into the forest. There they will
encounter various species of animals (32 in all) with distinctive behavior.

The game is
actually designed for the 8-10 year-old age group – so the control scheme has
been designed for ease of use.

In SimAnimals
you go into the forest and are tasked with taking care of the animals there. Of
course, being that these are wild creatures, they won’t trust you initially. You
will have to earn that, but feeding them. Fundamentally, the DS version is the
same game as the Wii version, with some changes to the control scheme.


SimAnimals Nintendo DS screenshots

The minimap is
on the upper screen and the DS version has some seasonal elements included. The
DS title is also a 2D game (compared to the 3D Wii title) and for a simple
reason – the DS has a 2,000 poly limit for both screens and with the data
involved, trying to take the game to 3D territory would have restricted the
onscreen options and elements. You can also use the NDS microphone to simulate
wind in the game.

In addition to
animals, there is also a plant game. You can only plant certain plants in the
right soil, and if you are successful in the botanical phase, you may end up
with a rare plant that might give your animals some interesting buffs. The game
also has a goal panel. You achieve the goals to unlock animals. Animals can be
placed into a backpack (which serves as the inventory) and moved around. You can
also store food in the backpack to feed to different animals. Do not, though,
get the idea you can teach a meat-eater to be a vegetarian. The animals all have
certain base behaviors that will not change much. You can build relationships
between animals that may override predatory behaviors but generally you cannot
teach an animal a species-contrary behavior.

The animals
also have finite lifespans. They will age and die. But they will also mate and
have offspring.


SimAnimals Nintendo DS screenshots

The game is an
expanding sandbox title. There are different levels and there are problems to
solve, like pollution, that may travel through the levels. And if you dam a
river at a higher level in the game, it will have a trickle down (pun intended)
effect in that the downstream levels will dry up. But animals and locations
lower in the level chain will not be affected by changes (in terms of
environmental or animal lifespans) if you are not actively playing those levels.

This is very
much its own game, not a port of the Wii title.

The world of
SimAnimals is very touchable and players who get their hands on it might well
find time slipping by quickly.

SimAnimals was
one of the featured performers are EA’s Bloggers’ Day event in San Francisco
this past Friday, but it was clearly one of the star attractions. This is a game
with certainly a lot of potential, and with a lot of fun built in.