“SimAnimals”
Genre: Life simulation
Developer: Electronic Arts
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platforms: Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS
ESRB rating: “E” for everyone
Price: $49.99
Grade: C-

Someone once said the Nintendo Wii hasn’t lived up to its potential because the majority of games made for it are drop-dead dreary.

In fact, I think I was the one who said that. Because if it wasn’t me, that sounds just like something I’d say — especially now, after finishing a few turns at “SimAnimals,” a life-simulation game by Electronic Arts.

The title makes one think of all those “Sims” games floating around the market that collectively have evolved into a social phenomenon by demonstrating the joys of virtual omnipresence. Nothing’s more fun than orchestrating people’s lives as if you cared one whit about them.

But with “SimAnimals,” no such joy exists, probably because it’s apparent that no such joy went into making it.

In “SimAnimals,” players oversee a small forested area populated by assorted animals who defy stereotype and must be prodded into survival. There are bears and squirrels, badgers and hedgehogs, and assorted birds, all of which prosper or perish based on what players do with a giant disembodied hand that floats across the screen in concert with the movements of the Wii remote and attached nunchuk.

The animals are smart in knowing that a floating hand is not normal in the wild, so players start small by assuring them the hand is their friend — one that finds food for them, pets and rubs them to encourage certain behavior, even picks up and moves trees and plants to make them feel more at home.

Eventually, the hand acquires everyone’s trust and develops immunity from evolutionary persecution, allowing players to then decide which animals they just bonded with get to become dinner for other animals. In time, the forest becomes an overgrown, overanimated mess — sort of like my back yard in July — and the player’s actions become routine and, frankly, yawn-inducing. Even my 4-year-old niece, who could pet animals all day, would go back to bugging real bugs and critters out in her yard in no time.

But what really bothered me was the visual quality of the gaming environment, something resembling an Animation 101 class project circa 1999. True, Wii lacks the graphical power of nearest rivals Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, yet there was no obvious reason for the developers of “SimAnimals” to set their standards so low — unless maybe they were under budget constraints. Trees and plants appear to float on the ground like styrofoam wedding decorations, and the animal forms are blocky and their movements stilted.

In short, nothing about this version of nature appeared … well, natural.

Nintendo’s Wii has the amazing capacity to bring players into games. If only some game makers understood that, maybe “SimAnimals” wouldn’t be for the birds.