'Jambo! Safari' (Wii)

Also available on: DS
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Adventure

Released ten years ago as an arcade title, Sega's Jambo! Safari gained a devoted audience for its romping mix of jeep driving and animal lassoing on an African safari park. An updated Wii port of the game was therefore all but inevitable. Unfortunately, just as predictable was that Sega would ramp up the cutesy factor and dumb down the difficulty level to appeal to the console's so-called target audience: families and children. In taking this approach, Jambo! Safari's original audience will find little to love about the new version. However, the title instead provides an enjoyable and content-packed dose of safari action, unashamedly aimed at younger gamers.

Jambo! Safari on Wii essentially takes an open-world approach, spread over three main map areas and nine individual zones. Players drive around in a rather slapdash, Nunchuk-controlled jeep to engage in various missions, which must be completed to unlock new zones on the map. As an ambitious trainee, it's your goal to achieve ten certificates and become a fully qualified park ranger. After choosing a character from four options - two women and two men - players are then thrown right into the melee without so much as a cursory health and safety lecture.

Missions range from basic checkpoint driving challenges to research tasks, where certain animals have to be captured under a time limit so that they can then studied. Players can also test their animal knowledge or engage in photography assignments, such as capturing a treasured moment between a gazelle and its baby. Each photo taken is graded, with the computer sometimes scolding, "Could be better" for poor performance. There is an incentive to work through the photo assignments as ten must be completed before getting the big zoom lens to take a ride on the tantalisingly placed hot air balloon.

Without wishing to labour the point, it's important to stress that Jambo! Safari on the Wii is aimed squarely at younger gamers - a fact epitomised by its difficulty settings: Easy - ages 3 to 9 or Hard - ages 10+. Older players nostalgic for the arcade experience will instantly find the missions far too basic, pedestrian and boring, and so are advised to steer clear. However, anyone who enjoyed Nintendo's Endless Ocean may find comfort in Jambo! Safari's bright, colourful and unthreatening environment.

The biggest aspect of the gameplay is lassoing animals on the plains to either complete missions or bring them back for treatment. Players have to drive the jeep up behind an animal before twirling and then launching with the Remote to snaffle it with the lasso. From here, it's a mad chase as the animal bucks wildly at the unwelcome snagging. The player must track its movement in the car while pulling the rope with the B button, being careful not to let it break. When close enough, the Remote is used to throw a strange glowing net over the rampaging beast to nab it.

The whole lassoing experience may be slightly jarring for some people, especially as the bigger animals tug so hard on the rope that the jeep pretty much flips over. It wouldn't be surprising if the WWF has a permanent protest camp around this particular game reserve. It's also somewhat strange to spend the majority of a wildlife game not exploring the world on foot, but tearing around in a jeep, occasionally being broadsided by ostriches.

Captured animals can be dumped back into the savanna to nervously await the next roping or sent for treatment at The Ranch. Treatment involves nurturing the animals back to jeep-bashing health in some rather bizarre mini-games, such as feeding gazelles from a conveyor belt or brushing a lion's teeth before giving it a soothing massage. The Ranch also hosts a progress map and a My Place hut for changing the player-character's appearance, with various amusing options for hair, clothing and boots (extra items are available to purchase with earned Ranger Points). The hut also features a trophy cabinet and noticeboard for snaps taken on photo assignments.

Graphically, the game could sympathetically be called a mixed bag. The animals are largely animated okay, but there are a few poor examples when boxy movements make the creatures almost seem unrecognisable. The African plains are not very well recreated either, with cutesy yet also spongy renditions of the lush savannas not helped by a garish colour palette. Aside from the main story, the game also features an Arcade mode where two players can co-operatively take on a series of challenges, with one driving and the other controlling the lasso. There is also a range of party modes, such as Ostrich Racing or Stone Skipping, which offer some fleeting fun for up to four players.

Overall, Jambo! Safari on the Wii is a rather dumbed down, weakly re-produced version of the arcade game. Gone is the fast-paced driving and frantic lassoing to be replaced by basic, rather boring missions that will fail to inspire nostalgic, older gamers. However, the title does pack enough dip-in, dip-out brightly coloured content to broadly appeal to younger gamers with short attention spans. Despite the poor visual presentation, the sheer variety of missions and side-challenges remains strong, which therefore makes the game still worthy of being captured and taken back to the ranch.



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