Alba: A Wildlife Adventure

Just a joy to play. It is a short game but it is such a beautiful island environment, positive vibes and a fun mechanic of photographing and scanning animals. A treat!

If you like what you see, then you should definitely buy it!

So nice and laid back. Really enjoyed the collectathon. A good experience for those needing a vacation from death and destruction.

Let's cut to the chase: This is a game meant for kids. As a parent, I loved the game. I loved the concept, the graphics, the non-violent approach, the extremely slow pacing, 100% behind the concept. And I would love my son to play this rather than something else. Except, this game is not for me, it is for kids. So, what I think doesn't matter. Well, what do kids say? Kids say this: "What am I supposed to do? This game doesn't explain anything! Why can't I jump? Why can't I go over there? Why is there an invisible wall? This is the most boring game ever, what am I even supposed to do in this scene? Why is that girl suddenly grown up? How do I even aim with this camera? What buttons am I supposed to press? Why can't I change the buttons? What is this ****! Stupid bird watching? I can look out of the window, if I want to see birds. I can do nothing in this game!" In short: To appeal to kids, games need to approach the young players according to their age; But this game doesn't do that. Which is why, as an adult, I love it (5 stars, chef's kiss). However, I'm not the target audience. The target audience would need a lot more explanations, better controls, and a lot more action to draw them into the scenario, before the game lets them run free. And for the love of all that's sacred: Kids require the option to adjust the key bindings! Their hands are smaller. They cannot use the same keyboard layout on a full keyboard as us adults AND control a mouse at the same time. This game has no way of adjusting the keys for small hands, making it--if not entirely unplayable--a chore to play. In the end, the game is a hit with everybody except the kids it was designed for.

TITLE: A lovely game with some unfortunate choices Alba begins with organizing a protest against a hotel getting constructed. Kind of ironic that people who screwed over nature particularly badly by building low-rise houses all over the place would object to the construction of a tall hotel that would make use of space that is sacrificed much more efficiently. But... partly misguided messages about saving the environment aside, it's a really gorgeous and fun game. Nice to have a game where you can explore a beautiful world and do tasks that aren't kill A, steal B, etc. Particularly the animations are fantastic - whether it's the different walk/run animations for Alba or those for all those different animals. Despite the stylized visuals, one can really see all the love that went into creating those. Similar with the care and attention to sound design. Oh yeah, another thing that I'm not particularly fond of is the writing. I think they try too hard to make the kids seem authentic. And the grandparents too awkwardly worldly. There are of course pretentious people like that but I would've preferred it if at least those main characters weren't and they would've stuck with either English or Spanish. At least I suspect that it's Spanish - I can't read those words. And so if you buy it for your child, be prepared to get bugged about the meaning of words frequently. Or supply a Spanish translation dictionary, I guess. Still - overall, a great change of pace compared to most other games out there. And if you don't buy it for yourself but a child, I doubt that it'll notice most of the minor gripes I've described above.