The Collection Chamber: SIMSAFARI: STEP INTO THE AFRICAN SAVANNAH!

SimSafari brings Africa to you! Imagine yourself in rugged bush country, peering through binoculars at vast herds of elephants, zebras and lions. Choose from exotic plants and wildlife to create your own safari park. Team with a neighboring village and build a flourishing safari camp. Even tack wild missions!
Learn about Africa's endangered and fiercest animals
Save your animals by balancing their prey and predators
Keep your eye on the budget and run a successful camp business
Get the inside scoop from expert advisors

See your park's animals up close and in action.
Pitch tents, construct lodges and build swimming pools to make park visitors happy.
Create your own park filled with a diversity of African plants and animals.
Challenge your knowledge of African wildlife with the Safari Smarts trivia game.

~ from the back of the US box

After managing the complex ecosystems of island paradises last month in SimIsle, we're back to something simpler with SimSafari: Step into the African Savannah. Developed in-house by Maxis and released in 1998, this would be last entry in their educational SimSpinoffs. Outside of SimCity and The Sims - which would come to dominate in the following years - I've found these titles to be hit and miss despite the occasional flourish of inventiveness. So, how does this foray into Africa's nature reserves fare?

To be honest, it fares just about the same. It is a take-it-or-leave-it management strategy game with simplified mechanics to cater to the young target audience. You can play SimSafari like a sandbox or you can attempt to create a viable virtual business inside your computer. Both will garner some enjoyment, but it's not an entirely satisfying experience unless you have a nostalgia for it.

Talk to the Park Ecologist (left), the Business Manager (right)
or the Village Elder to get info and objectives on their respective locations.

Unlike the similar SimPark, you have three maps to manage; the savannah, the resort and the local village. The savannah is where you manage animals, plonking animals and plants as you see fit in an attempt to balance out food, predator and prey. There is an attempt to have these creatures interact with each other, but it's the bare minimum. Lions will supposedly feed on the zebra, but all you'll ever see of it is the sudden disappearance of their prey and a drop in their stat numbers. Having more than one of the same creature will encourage them to breed, but every species has only one animation sprite. You'll just have to suspend your disbelief that all those obviously male lions can somehow produce offspring. At least the act itself is not seen.

If order to afford this nature reserve, you'll need some tourist money. This is where the resort map comes in which plays much like the other city builders in the series. At your disposal is a number of guest accommodations from tents to chalets to entice the wealthiest of clientele. Other amenities like restaurants, toilets, amphitheatres and hot tubs can make for quite the five-star experience however they all have to be staffed. And how will you staff them? By exploiting the residents of the local village.

You can get informative blurbs on each of the animals that populate your park (left).
Talk to the Park Ecologist to take an educational animal quiz (right).

You cannot directly affect what happens in the village. The people here are just trying to survive and should they have the resources they'll expand on their own initiative. By earning a wage as employees of the resort, they could maintain wells, small farmlands and schools. Whatever happens in the savannah and resort directly affects them. For example, should you not pay the people a liveable wage, they'll try to make ends meet in other ways, such as poaching. If you over-populate the reserve with large animals, they might encroach on village causing havoc which is one of the many disasters that could befall your carefully curated holiday destination.

SimSafari may be a slight experience, but it shares the same charm the series is known for. The educational side of the game is implemented well, with small animal biographies instructing you on their ideal environment and food source. It's not in your face either, leaving you to focus on the business side of things should you so choose. The Maxis Kids SimNoun series doesn't exactly end on an all-time high, but it remains a solidly entertaining entry for strategy fans too young for the more complex likes of SimCity 3000.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber runs natively on Windows with QRes and Fart-It to help with changing resolutions and altering configuration files respectively Manual included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 63.4 Mb. Install Size: 99.6 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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