GENRE
	Simulation
	DEVELOPER
	The Sims Studio
	PUBLISHER
	Electronic Arts
	WI-FI ENHANCED
	No
	WII EXCLUSIVE
	Yes
	EXPECTED RELEASE DATE
	January 20, 2009
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Animals and pets have always been a part of the Sims world, but never so exclusively the focus of the game as in SimAnimals, a new title completely devoid of human Sims and instead populated by over 30 species of animals, ranging from owls and ducks to foxes and bears. The footprints of civilized humanity are apparent in the game's stages-- a dilapidated manor and an overgrown orchard are two of the playable areas-- but, in a deliberate design decision to keep the game focused, human Sims don't appear in the title, creating an interesting impression of what the earth could be like after humanity's wiped out but mother nature left in tact. In either the Wii or DS version of this game, both of which have distinctive appeals, gamers are challenged with repopulating these human-abandoned areas with happily coexisting animals.

media

impressions

The Sims franchise has always had broad-reaching demographic appeal, and that's what made EA's Sims team feel best to launch yet another possible Sims franchise on Nintendo's Wii and DS first, much like last year's MySims. Initial concept art for the games' animals skewed Disney-esque, as we saw with many large pencil sketches on the development team's office walls, but the Wii version's creatures were instead designed with a less stylized appearance, given some of the serious aspects of the game like environmental pollution and the animals' finite lifespans. Obviously the animals aren't over-realistic, either, since this is still a video game: they'll cutely wiggle around on their backs when they're enjoying a good rub-down from the player, just like a pet dog would.

Yet these animals are motivated by five core needs-- hunger, safety, energy, mating and fun-- and their trust of the gamer is not automatic. While every animal that enters the area often has a cute name like Quackles the duck, Quackles must first have an environment he would live in or near, such as a pond, and he must be fed food before he'll let the gamer's hand (or stylus) near him. Gamers achieve this trust and meet animals' needs (which are not transparently represented by a series of bars as in regular Sims games but rather by how the animal reacts to his environment, the gamer's hand and other animals) via three key interactions: offering things such as food or materials, touching via pats, and throwing. Yes, if a bear is being particularly fussy and eating all the rabbits and ducks in the forest, he can be picked up and thrown to a less busy area to see if he'll settle down. Of course, throwing the bear will probably cost some of his trust and overall happiness meter points, but so too will losing the other small animals that the bear has been eating. Perhaps planting some berries or apples from a nearby bush or tree and growing a new, herbivorous food source in a different area will keep the bear away... it's the gamer's choice how to proceed.

The fun factor of interacting with these wild yet tame-able animals is figuring out how to get them to "move in" to the area while not killing each other. Making a beaver happy and shaking a tree into little pieces of wood will cause the cheerful beaver to dam up a stream in the forest clearing. Damming the stream creates a pond, which then encourages ducks to arrive. Ducks can be appeased with berries, and provided the bear doesn't eat them, they'll move in (which includes an official on-screen announcement, "Quackles has moved in!") as well. Yet the one thing constant through all stages is the aforementioned stream, so if a beaver dams it up in the forest level, that may mean no water is getting to the game's future levels.

Later stages aren't so cut and dry, either: progressing onward through the stages will take the gamer to areas that are more and more polluted by an unknown source, which is revealed in the final stage. Creative horticulture of native plants and fungus, and balancing those with native animals, will help clean the place up for everything to thrive. Gamers very fond of their work in the forest clearing or any other stage also shouldn't fret with moving on: they can return to any previous stage they'd like (perhaps to tear that dam down, for instance), and the animals that were there before will still be there, ready for interaction.

Just as environmentalism subtly pervades SimAnimals, so too do the harsh realities of the animal kingdom. Animals, no matter how cute their names, have lifespans and will pass away of old age. There's also the threat of animals who don't like each other battling and eliminating one another, though this is always carefully presented via a cartoony, bustling cloud of dust straight out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. What's intriguing about SimAnimals's design is that the developers have provided ways to address these realities. A baby rabbit and fox, for instance, could learn to like each other when little and grow up into adults that still play with each other, provided the player manages their interactions well enough. Also, the aforementioned horticultural aspects can potentially produce a magical fruit that will return a given animal back to its baby stage, allowing it to potentially live forever if the time-reversing plant is well-maintained. Plants and berries can also have other amusing side-effects, as well, like recoloring animals' fur to otherworldly shades of purple or blue when consumed: it's up to gamers to figure out the secrets and possibilities.

Gameplay in SimAnimals is as accessible as can be. The Wii version features a Black & White-styled "god hand" that moves across the terrain by grabbing on to it and pulling, and the hand also has waggle controls to pet the animals and shake trees for fruit or literally break them down into twigs. Rain can be created by grabbing a handful of water from the stream or pond and dropping it over an area, such as a sapling, in order to get it to grow. Wii supports multiplayer by allowing up to four players to use individual remotes and have "god hands" simultaneously on screen, though, amusingly, animals will develop favorites and enemies of each of the four hands depending on how they're treated. The DS doesn't support such multiplayer but uses the stylus in the same way for moving across the landscape, watering things and interacting with animals and plants: a scribble often replacing a waggle.

While fundamentally the same, the DS has its own compelling features. For one, the game's not 3D but instead presented in an overhead, 2D sprite-based graphics engine. Animals are hand-animated with "thousands of frames of animation," and thanks to the lighter requirements of displaying a sprite-based animal instead of polygonal animal, a given stage can be filled with an incredible number of animals at once. The hand-crafted presentation is apparent with the solid, colorful animations trees and animals have, and animals themselves are almost more endearing when viewed in a status screen on DS's top screen. A portrait of the animal's current state-- worried, tired, happy or angry, for instance-- is shown next to other status indicators. The animals are far more cute and cartoony thanks to this presentation, and between that and literal stylus-touching interactions, almost make for a more compelling gamer-to-game experience.

The DS version also sports several other fun enhancements. Filling up the happiness meter in the DS game unlocks environmental powers at certain points, allowing the gamer to make wind (by blowing into the mic, of course) or have lighting strike with an on-screen tap. Furthermore, the game keeps track of real-world seasons and the moon cycle. Plants growing in the orchard in October are likely to be pumpkins but something entirely different in the Spring. In-game wolves during the game's accelerated day-night cycle will actually howl at the moon if there's a full moon in the real world the day the gamer's playing.

Regardless, the DS follows the same level progression, including the number of levels available, in a quest to repopulate humanity-vacant lands with happy animals, all while cleaning the environment as needed. Animals' trust are gained via the same multi-stage process of dropping some food near the animal, then hand-feeding the animal, then getting the animal to sniff the in-game hand, and ultimately allowing a pat on the head. On the DS, an overhead map of the game's stage is presented on the top screen when not checking an individual animal's stats, and the great thing about that is the map will highlight if a plant or tree needs watering and where each of the animals are at any given time.

word on the street

The Sims franchise has a rabid following in PC gaming, but EA has had a bigger challenge getting lightning to strike on consoles. Nevertheless, the Wii and DS provide the closest demographic match to Sims' target audience, and as last year's MySims success demonstrated, SimAnimals could really catch on with many Nintendo gamers, particularly children and families that game together.

press release notes

Venture into the wild world of animals like never before. Embrace all the adventure, fun, and mischief that await you in the vast forest. Feed a bear what he craves. Pick up a rabbit or hedgehog, and bring him to his friends. Discover what other creatures lurk in the wild. You have the power to reach out and touch, pick up and move everything in the forest from squirrels and foxes to trees and flowers. Make your wild animals happy and maintain a forest that lets them flourish as you venture further into the forest than you've ever been before! Engage wild animals, experience life in the forest, and let your creativity run wild in SimAnimals.

Features

• Engage with wild animals - Touch, move, and play with over 30 species of animals from the Northern Hemisphere including bears, squirrels, foxes, badgers, and owls! To journey deeper into the forest, you need to fulfill these animals' basic needs.
• Earn your animals' trust, and they'll play with you; be mean to them, and they will fear you.
• Explore the vast forest and make it your own - Embark on new adventures when you unlock forest areas including woodlands, swamps, or an eerie abandoned cabin. Move and pick up everything in your forest. Some plants grow better near water, and certain animals are healthier when close to particular food sources. The happier your animals and plants, the more places you'll have to explore and discover new objects and animals!
• Solve challenges - The animals need YOU in order to survive in the forest. Help them gain access to food, move into your forest, clean polluted areas, and much more.
• Survival of the fittest! - Find out who the troublemakers and the good guys are, and make sure they all get along... or not!
• Discover secrets in the wild - More lies in the forest than what meets the eye. Uncover one-of-a-kind objects and animals, some with special abilities, by completing tasks.

overall

Aside from the basic gameplay constructs, one of the most entertaining aspects of SimAnimals is its relative unpredictability. Each animal species has its own traits, and individual animals even have distinct personalities. Should a squirrel win a battle with a bear (it can happen!), it will become stronger, more territorial, and likely to win future bear-on-squirrel battles. Even in our gameplay demo we saw the developers laugh as the animals would often engage in realistic but unexpected ways-- not keeping an eye on a predator to focus on a new arrival would sometimes mean that new arrival was lunch. Adding in environmental puzzle solving and the cute interactions tamer animals provide to gamers makes SimAnimals a compelling post-holiday offering for Wii and DS gamers.

SimAnimals will arrive in stores on January 20, 2009 for both the Wii and DS versions.