TITLE : Afrika: A Step into Duma Stepp Preview

The objective in Afrika is simple: capture the souls of various indigenous animals via your trusty camera. You can play as either Eric or Manna, whomever you choose not to play as will set up shop at the Base Camp and pretend to be helpful. James, your chauffeur, generally drives you around to each "mission" so you can go ballistic on beasts, camera style. If you are feeling rebellious you can opt to stop at anytime and roam the lands of Manyanga. You mostly travel by Jeep and foot but later in the game a hot air balloon comes into play.

Manyanga All the Way

There are a variety of tools at your disposal. The basics are your GPS and binoculars. Binoculars come in handy for playing peeping tom on animals or just surveying the land ahead of you. Other equipment such as a memory card, for extra storage space, and picture frames are available for purchase once you start raking in some cash from photos. You get cash by doing requests for various people received through email on your laptop. The computer is also good for shopping for new tools, storing your photos, and even has an Animal Library. Base Camp, where the laptop is located, is your one stop shop for getting organized and well pretty much everything else with the exception of snapping shots. Camp even caters to the sleepy photographer. If you grow tired of waiting on new assignments or exploring the land you can nap until the next day.

Each assignment is graded based on four important assets: angle, target, distance, and technique. Taking into consideration all sorts of real-life photography practices will put you on or around the top of the spectrum without a doubt. Since you are the first to research Manyanga, a new conservation area, you can send candid photos of every animal you come across to the Manyanga Research Project to populate their field guild which in turn shows up in your Animal Library. So if you shoot a zebra in all its stripy glory and shoot it over to them a new mini-encyclopedia entry will then be available for your viewing pleasure. The facts included in each entry are a profile, fast facts, National Geographic pictures and video, and a picture of the animal that you can toggle between a 3D view and an actual photo of the beast.

To Watch a Hippo

Missions are fairly simple. The assignments range from snapping a Masai Giraffe drinking water to capturing a Cheetah on the hunt. The most mind-numbing task by far was catching a Hippo yawning. I must have waited an hour trying to get close enough without being charged by the alpha male before I finally could get them to relax and make yawns. A maddening yet completely realistic feature of the game is the scare/attack system implemented. If you get too close to most herbivores they will run away, some, like the hippopotamus, even attack. When you piss off an animal the screen edges will begin to pulse red and that's when you know you need to get the hell out of dodge or return to base camp and start at square one. Although animals can be skittish and flighty at times they tend to work the camera for you. You can click in the left analog stick to whistle. This is a great way to get an animals attention for a spectacular photo sesh.

If you take it slow, the Hippos will take no notice of you snapping shots.