With morality dimmed and an arsenal of weaponry beneath their casual attire, the antiheroes at the center of most video games today answer the call only because they are forced to by betrayal or tragedy. catalyzing. Then they strike down their foes with a similar penchant for violence.
Alba is not like other video game heroes. On the one hand, she's a young girl, not a grizzled half-tuck with a skill tree full of punches to the throat. Alba only has a smartphone, a laptop and a map. She's not a reluctant hero either, as more than anything, Alba is a fierce determination to do good for her community and environment.
His tireless spirit is as infectious as his ever-present smile, and it's that call to action that makes Alba: A Wildlife Adventure the best family game of the year.
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure Review: The Best Family Game of 2021
Alba is everything most sandboxes aren't, and that starts with its modest size. As an Alba, you can walk, jump, and stroll around the perimeter of Pinar Del Mar in about seven minutes. It's not a sandbox meant to fill every waking hour for weeks on end, though it's a pleasant enough game that shows you what to do and then lets you do it at your own pace.
Alba is still a game that could take you weeks to play, but probably only because you fell in love with its photo mode, which also serves as your main gameplay mechanic. Infused with a penchant for birdwatching by her abuelo, Alba spends her vacation with her grandparents taking photos of local animals, cleaning up the nature reserve, and asking the mayor to break her deal with a developer. sleazy real estate who wants to build a mega-hotel in the middle of the close-knit island community.
Over the course of roughly a week of play, Alba must use her eternal fire within to spark a similar passion in others before it's too late to protect the island's natural allure. For some, it will be Alba's healing of sick birds and squirrels that will inspire them to sign her petition. For others, it may be his charming photos of eagles, dolphins and dogs. With each, the message is clear: look at what we stand to lose if we don't protect it.
Every good deed is gamified, but barely. Picking up the trash, petting the dog, and healing an injured animal is always the same one-button prompt, which, while simple for a seasoned player, makes Alba incredibly inviting for inexperienced or younger adventurers.
In that context, there really is nothing quite like this game. It offers players a manageably sized open world filled with community service as a motivating factor. In a world where wholesome games have carved out their own niche, Alba is among the few who truly embody the spirit of doing something for the right reasons and in the right way.
Alba's music and art round out the game's charm. An original score by Lorena Álvarez captures the game's lively yet breezy atmosphere, while the simple environments always provide a dazzling view no matter where Alba points her camera . Although there is no voice acting, Alba can talk to anyone she wants and will usually get a few lines of dialogue from them each game day. As the main day quest is completed, the characters signal that you can go home to advance time, but there is no penalty for not doing so.
Alba never pressures players to keep moving, and while you want to rush through the three-hour story to see how it ends, the game cleverly lets you loose on the island for the last day before you go home, which becomes an endless mode where you can take all the pictures and greet all the friends you want.
More than any other game I've played, Alba captures the magical optimism of childhood. Adults can be cynical, weathered by jobs and bills, but for Alba, like many children, the world is still full of wonder, and she feels big and brave enough to change it for the better. The most wonderful part of Alba: no one tells her she can't – and she does.
I loved this game so much when I first played it on Apple Arcade last December (it even made my top 20 games that flew under the radar list), and most of all it looks just as good now that it's on consoles. However, it's worth mentioning that those not playing on iOS (or probably Switch) will lose some of the game's charm in two ways. For one thing, the photo mini-game tracks your actual movements on iPhones and that's lacking on consoles.
Related to this, the in-game photography save and share features seem to do nothing, at least on the Xbox version I played. On iOS you can save beautiful galleries of your photos, but right now it just doesn't work on consoles as far as I can tell, although the options are still there.
Alba: A Review of Wildlife Adventures
Benefits
- An adorable story told with a lot of heart
- Memorable characters throughout the city
- Photo mode takes center stage as its own integral story mechanic
- Airy yet beautiful AV design
- Relaxed and easy to learn mechanics
The inconvenients
- Backup and photo sharing buttons don't seem to have made the leap from mobile to console
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is obviously and immediately adorable, but as the brief story unfolds, it reveals a much bigger purpose: a call to action from its players. The people of Pinar Del Mar do not frequent Alba, they sincerely support her, lift her up as she, in return, lifts them up. Alba thinks she can, so she does. It's the kind of story of empowering children — especially young girls — that video games seemingly never did before, but are now so obviously needed.
It is a story not just of passive admiration but of passionate activism. Alba is an example of the fundamental principle of the game: we are the heroes we expect.
[Note: Ustwo provided the copy of Alba: A Wildlife Adventure used for this review.]
