National Geographic Panda

SCORE: 80

The WMG stopped being surprised about what kinds of video games are released years ago. National Geographic Panda is essentially Nintendogs with Pandas. National Geographic has their very own flare into this Nintendo DS video game. A DVD on Pandas is included, and they brought up two issues that parents will be interested in hearing about. The first one is the highly controversial belief that the world is millions of years old. The second is breeding of pandas. Depending on the age of your children you may have to answer some questions your children are not quite ready for. Trust the WMG when it comes to having "the talk" - there is such a thing as too young. They will not comprehend certain things under later. Play this DS game knowing those two issues are a part of the game.

The pandas animate decently in National Geographic Panda, although the coloring in the game starts bland. Players take care of pandas, teach them tricks, and have them play with things like swings.

The WMG is disappointed with the sounds in National Geographic Panda. This goes beyond the millions of years belief system, and breeding. It just feels too quiet, especially after watching the DVD where the forest was alive with life. It also makes little sense that the DVD talks about pandas in zoos have a high mortality rate, and the game has them in a zoo setting. Playing with them in the wild would have made more sense.

There are a fair amount of unlockables, and items. Many of the unlockables are lessons about pandas. The game includes lessons in all aspects of their lives. Only one person can play this game at a time.

National Geographic Panda does not give gamers a lot of things to do. Pet the panda, have them interact with certain items, dress them up, feed them, and buy them stuff. The majority of the game play is family friendly. It just felt like the WMG was watching the pandas do stuff, and not really interacting with them a whole lot. The positive side is the touch screen is very forgiving in this DS game.

The idea of National Geographic Panda really intrigued the WMG. This is a very interesting animal based video games that gets many things right, and needs to have some things worked on in any sequel. Taking care of animals is a good lesson, and the two bad lessons have already been mentioned.
- Working Man Gamer

Graphics: 85%
Sound: 73%
Replay/Extras: 83%
Gameplay: 79%
Family Friendly Factor: 80%
System: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Rating: 'E' for Everyone

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