Imagine: Zookeeper (Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi)

IMAGINE: ZOOKEEPER, yet another entry in Ubisoft’s quickly growing line of Imagine games for girls, is a simple animal care adventure. It puts players in the role of a young zookeeper who is recruited to join a nature preserve. Her job is to explore the wilderness, documenting animals and taking sick creatures back to camp where they’re treated and cared for. Out in the wild, players take stock of animals in helicopter flyovers, track them by their footprints, cautiously approach them, and pet and examine them to gain their trust and see if they require medical attention. Should they need immediate help, you’ll hop into a jeep and drive them back. All of these activities take the form of simple touch-screen minigames. Back at camp, players get to construct customized buildings, including enclosures, watering holes, and medical facilities, again, using simple touch-screen controls. Preserve management performance is graded with stars, which are awarded when animals are given adequate food and water, are properly cared for, and when all buildings have enough energy to function properly.

Imagine: Zookeeper is among the more simple animal care games available, leading players through quick and easy missions in the wilderness and holding their hands through camp construction and animal care. It does a good job of keeping players in the action and out of menus; players will be sent on their first exploration mission within a couple of minutes of powering up the game, and there’s never more than a few lines of text to be read between events.

Plus, the graphics are great. Zebras, lions, giraffes, and koalas animate nicely and appear surprisingly large on the DS’ tiny screen. Plus, they react to our interactions with genuine emotions, moving their heads into our strokes and rolling over to show us their bellies when happy. It’s a bit low on educational content—we’ve seen evolving animal encyclopedias in similarly themed games—but its accessibility and fast-paced action ought to appeal to young animal lovers.

Online interaction: Not an issue.