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Wildlife AdventureEnglish language edition
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from 7 customer reviews
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Just as you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, neither should you judge a game by its. The box art says - 'Kids', but the game within holds an appeal for all ages.
Essentially this is a route playing game, but it is far removed from an abstract puzzle, even though the mapboard has a curious sense of geography.
The idea is to 'discover' various members of the animal kingdom, and thwart your opponents in doing the same.
Starting off, you'll think this animal spotting business is a bit of a doddle, but pretty soon each 'trekker' will have their own idea on which route the expedition will take so you may find yourself planting some obstructions in their path.
Addiitional motivation to find our furry and feathered friends is added when you have to call out the name of the animal you've discovered. After all, there are not many games that allow you the facility to bawl out: 'I'VE JUST DISCOVERED A HAIRY NOSED WOMBAT'. Are there?
This game receives high praise from nearly everybody, and I often thought it would be great if I could somehow try it. But how? Well, one day I went to a garage sale in Ruch, Oregon, and there, in a tattered box, I saw Wildlife Adventure by Wolfgang Kramer for $1!
This game is wonderfully simple: place an arrow on your turn, try to lead the expeditions towards the animals you have listed on the cards in your hand. This is a great family game, but it isn't merely a family game. I play this with my game group, and they love it too. It really is incredibly well done, and though the graphics are definitely blase, the game more than makes up for it. Another nice thing is that the game can be played by 2-6 players. Six might have a bit of downtime, but with a few games under your belt, you'll probably have your next move planned by the time it's your turn (something that also happens in Aladdin's Dragons).
I am quite willing to play this game, and with repeated playing the game still holds up, probably because it has such a clean design without too many picky mechanisms that would make it too novel. (And I have a lot of German games to compare this with!) I find mechanically and thematically this game doesn't really remind me of any other game, so there is no feeling of too much overlap in my game closet (eg: Vinci/Risk or [page scan/se=0908/sf=category/fi=stockall.asc/ml=20]Entdecker/Streetcar). On top of everything else, it's got a great theme: find all the endangered species on the planet!
This game is a great deal of fun to play, and I think it will have an excellent shelf life.
Wildlife Adventure was the first serious boardgame I bought through the Internet and I did so based on Alan's mention of it in his Desert Island games list at the Game Cabinet web site. I'm really glad I did, because this game is everything he mentions right down to the stomach tension! I don't play a lot of games that are dice-dependent for moves, and Wildlife Adventure was the first game to whet my appetite for a different game mechanism. The board is extremely attractive and of course, the components are Ravensburger.
This game will probably continue to fetch high dollars on auctions as it is truly a classic and a lot of fun to play. Pick up a copy if you can find one... if you don't like it, there will always be someone who will want it, as this game is NOT artificially over-hyped, but is 'more game' and becomes a lot deeper than one or two plays would indicate.
