Review: National Geographic Panda
One of the best things about working for Gaygamer is I get to try out games that I would never consider getting for myself. No sooner than it came in the mail did Fruit Brute toss me a copy of National Geographic Panda. This title that I had been guiltily following since it was announced for a US release.
As someone who's schedule has been increasingly less forgiving to free time activities, National Geographic Panda fit perfectly into my spare moments at the office, on the plane and wherever else I could find a few minutes to prod the screen with my stylus.
The core game revolves around caring for one to four pandas. Starting it you're set to run the gambit of various in game activities back to back as the tutorial shows you how to love, train and care for your new pet. My pet was named Pando, I wasn't feeling particularly creative that morning. The tutorial covered feeding, watering, shopping, teaching Pando how to do a summersault and basic UI usage.
It is fair to say that National Geographic Panda is a high quality title. The game features realistic models, detailed environments and a very responsive UI. You're never more than a few clicks away from what you want to be doing. That being said, the game is obviously heavily modeled after Nintendogs. The ways you teach tricks, the way you wash your panda, even the way you play and interact with your panda are nearly direct copies from Nintendo's title. If it were no or the fact that you can care for four pandas at the same time, I would probably have speculated that Namco Bandai licensed the engine.
Graphically speaking, the game is really quite superb. The pandas have really reached a level of realism that I can't imagine being exceeded on the hardware. They roll around, grab at toys and generally gallivant about. It's nail bitingly hard at times to not ooh and aww over your cute little panda. My only complaint is that the UI elements look a little rushed, although it does get the job done quite well.
National Geographic Panda is not all butterflies and rainbows, however. The game play is really slow. Not painfully so, but it's hard to not accomplish an entire days activities in an hour or so. You find yourself with out any money and simply an exhausted panda. At the start of your day, you're given an allowance that is ultimately the limit on how much time you can spend with your panda. The more time you spend with your panda on a grand scale the more of an allowance you will receive. I suppose this is the pacing they were aiming for when they designed the game, but as a "hardcore gamer" I found myself wanting to poke poor Pando with a stick to get him to do more.
Don't get me wrong, National Geographic Panda is a great title. It was surprising to see that someone other than Nintendo could really pull off the mobile 3d pet genre on the DS so well. In a field with title and title of rehashed, half-assed shovel ware it's nice to see the occasional title that shows that with a little polish and effort you can create a game that, while there isn't much to do, keeps you coming back every day for a little more.
8 out of 10
Asterick
Posted to Video Games on 1 December 2008
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: namco bandai, national geographic panda, nintendo ds, virtual pets
The problem with these games is that eventually they all end up like The Sims. E.g., you start abusing them for fun.
Is there a virtual ASPCA to take your panda away and lock you up? :)
Never would have guessed you're a bear lover...hehe
Looks like fun...its on my Christmas list now...