Safar’Wii

Ready Up Junior: Amber

Age: 9

What can you tell me about Safar’Wii?

Amber: When it starts off you have to choose whether you want to be a boy or a girl. I chose the girl. You can’t change what she looks like at all. Then you get a part where it shows you travelling in the plane to Animal Island. You have a new job there, you live in a tent on the island. There aren’t any other people there but you have a robot helper. The robot’s name is Robo-maru. He’s like the training guy, who shows you what to do. You have to read all the instructions that he tells you, there were quite a lot of them.

Robo-maru teaches you how to look at your map and check your items, stuff like that, then he drives a jeep out into the jungle and you go to find the animals. You have to take photos of the animals cause that’s what your job is. The robot drives you around and you try to spot where the animals will be. If there’s some dust going up into the air or the bushes are moving you press A and then you can jump out of the car and go and see if anything’s hiding there.

When you find the animals you have to go slowly otherwise they will be scared and they will run away. If they don’t run away you can take a photo of them. If you take photos of them then they start to like you and you see a heart above their heads. You take as many photos as you like but you can only take 20 every day, so not really as many as you like. You don’t need to take loads, though. Sometimes you get special missions from your boss, he tells you in a message what to look for and if you find the thing he wants and send him the picture you get a medal. You can send other ones to your boss and he decides if they are good of bad and if they’re bad he tells you to do better next time.

Did you enjoy playing the game?

Amber: Yes I did. I think I would like to do that job when I’m older. I like the animals and I like taking photos. I didn’t like the boss that you talk to cause he looks a bit freaky. The robot was cute and when he talks there’s a funny beeping sound. He says too many instructions at the start of the game. Sometimes I wish he would talk instead of the words coming up. When my Mam helped me read them it was ok but when I was on my own I skipped them and didn’t know what to do so we had to make a new game. Sometimes it’s tricky to take the photos, like if you get too close and the animals run away you don’t get to do your special missions and sometimes I think I’ve taken the picture properly and it tells me it’s not right. Sometimes you see the movments in the bushes and you go to look and the animals aren’t there so you have to keep looking. I like choosing my best photos to save in my album. Soon I will have to delete some cause there are loads! I want to keep them all!

Parent’s Comment: Safar’Wii is a pretty looking game. There’s no real skill or challenge involved, it’s simple and chilled Amber out so it was great for lazing around, or playing before bedtime.