Wild Earth: African Safari for the Wii casts you as a wildlife photographer. You’re working for a magazine and are sent into the wild to get pictures for various articles. Yes, there are minigames you can unlock as you finish each assignment, and there’s a cooperative play mode, but the real meat of the game is in the photography assignments.

You begin the game in game. There’s a nice tutorial to help you learn how to move around, look around and, most importantly, take great pictures of what’s around you. This is all handled with the combination of the Wii nunchuk and Wii-mote. It’s quick and easy to look around you and equally easy to zoom in and zoom out for your shots.

Each assignment has a specific overall theme — which makes sense because you’re taking picture to accompany an article, but you’ll be taking more pictures than just that. In the upper left corner of the screen, you’ll see a list of pictures for you to try and get. Some are mission critical and will stay there longer, while others are bonus shots for flavor (and additional points) and will only be options for a short period of time. Flavor shots might be “three frogs” or “termite mound.”

I like that as you take each picture, the interface labels the main part of the picture. If the label doesn’t show up, or you get a different label than you expected, you’ll know you missed your shot. For example, I was trying to get a picture of these herd animals that were behind the group of elephants I was watching. Even though I had the herd animals in the frame, the picture label was still of the elephants so I knew I was taking the picture from the wrong vantage.

There’s some nice narrative to describe what you’re looking for and why, and there’s kind of a little minimap to help guide you in the right direction. You can go in the wrong direction if you want, and there’s nice landscape to see, but if you want to succeed at your assignment, you need to stay with the game plan.

Along with moving across the countryside and looking for the pictures you need, you have a little proximity meter you need to keep an eye on. The closer you get to interfering with the wildlife, the higher in the red the meter goes. If you get too close to an animal, it may charge you. Stay at a safe distance and keep it in the green. We don’t want anyone getting hurt, and if you cause too much trouble, you might ruin your assignment.

At the end of your assignment, if you’re a success, you’re rewarded with the finished article, including a selection of the pictures you took. The article for my first assignment on elephants was about nine pages and was actually fairly educational.

I thought the sound effects for Wild Earth: African Safari were done well. Nothing leapt out at me — which was good. The sounds helped keep the feeling of immersion in the wild countryside. When I walked through the swampy area, I heard the splashing and other water sounds.

The graphics are very nice. I enjoyed looking around the landscape almost as much as looking around at the flora and fauna. Animals were recognizably themselves, and the movement of the animals felt right. The camera functions worked well for me. It was nice to have digital zoom without that moment of blurriness I’d get on a real digital camera.

I found it refreshing to play a game in which I’m not trying to kill anything. My goal is to get close enough — without getting too close — and get pictures of animals in their natural habitat. While my daughter might need help with some of the instructions and staying on track, there’s nothing in African Safari that I’d be afraid for her to see.

I do have to give one small negative that is most likely just my problem. I have some nerve damage to my inner ear. By the end of the first assignment, I was somewhat motion sick from the walking around and zooming the camera in and out for my shots. The typical person probably wouldn’t have a problem, but it was an issue for me.

I recommend Wild Earth: African Safari. The game looks good and sounds good. You get to move around attractive countryside and take pictures of wild animals while learning more about them. Nothing is getting killed, and the game is still fun. Refreshing!