No, you can’t turn their paws into novelty ashtrays. The only shooting that happens here is the digital SLR kind. Afrika is all about respect for nature – the kind that sees you tip-toeing though bushes secretly taking pics (which is fine, apparently, when you’re on safari and not holding in next door’s garden). So this is a first person shooter, but a polite, voyeuristic one that has you snapping beasts rather than accumulating a grand piano’s worth of ivory using a scoped 308 Winchester.

Your expedition beings with a character selection screen where you choose to play as either Anna or Eric. They’re both freelance photojournalists encamped in deepest Africa, but equipped with a laptop and email access through which their mission objectives are relayed. These range from fat thumbed basics – take a picture of some animals’ – to sophisticate special requests about specific animals and vantage points, for instance, shooting giraffes from a high angle, which can be reached by climbing a tree. As the missions get more complicated, you’re driven on to discover new environments and animals, while the money you earn can be put towards better cameras and equipment.

Once you’ve accepted a mission and selected a suitable camera, Afrika leads you directly to the open bush and the 360 degrees panoramas on which its reputation will be built. At first glance it looks implausibly good, bright African vistas stretching to the hi-def horizon – but look a little harder and the cracks start to emerge. The animals are beautiful, each one incredibly detailed and painstakingly crafted, but the infinitely stretched textures and warped background scenery spoil the otherwise near photorealistic effect.
[via IGN]