Review by: Brian Clair

Savage is the cool real-time 3D animal game from the Discovery Channel. In Savage, you play a young lion cub on the Serengeti who matures through the game to become a ferocious hunter. Through the game you progress through a series of missions, each of which teaches you how lions learn their skills and the dangers of living in the wild. While you’re young, your mother will nurse you and help to keep you from harm. Once you grow up though, you will have to fight to survive by hunting food and avoiding hunters or this game is over.

Savage uses a 3D-engine to simulate the experience of life on the Serengeti. Using detailed images of animals, vegetation, rivers, and more, Savage looks very similar to the real thing. As you progress through various missions and roam through map areas, the game will give you the option of looking at built-in movies from actual Discovery Channel footage of the Serengeti. These movies are by far some of the most exciting elements of the game as they show you real lions doing what you should be.

Besides the cool movies, Savage does a good job of patterning itself on real animal behavior. You’ll see creatures like zebra’s running around in herds which you can then chase for a tasty kill. If you don’t eat a kill, the vultures will in this game, just like in real life. To simulate hungar and thirst, Savage uses two colored power bars. If one of them reaches the bottom, you’ve ended up starving or killing yourself by hungar or thirst — inappropriate for one of the Serengeti’s most vicious hunters! Savage also simulate’s other parts of lion society like marking your territory and sniffing the ground. You can even hide behind cover and then leap out to attack unsuspecting prey!