It's been a long time since the cult smash Pokemon Snap landed in our laps. What seemed like a simple rail shooter only with a camera turned out to be a game with immense depth. Now we've got Sea Life Safari, which could arguably be the most relaxed game on Xbox Live Arcade. You play a photographer who works for Dr. Wills. The man's working on a research journal full of underwater creatures. Of course, he's unable to take pictures himself, so it's up to you and your trusty camera to help him out. The gameplay is remarkably simple. It's got a lot in common with the rail shooter genre: the camera is moved by the game slowly, but it's up to you to point it in the right direction to take pictures of the underwater wildlife. Needless to say, there's more to it than simply taking a basic photo. The game has "gizmos," which is a fancy way of saying distraction. You throw these items at various sea life creatures to get them to react to the distraction. Taking a picture of the creature during its diversion nets you a better score on your photo. With the photos, the doctor judges them and picks the best set of photography for his research album; the rest, you can save at your own favorite photos if you'd like.

In addition to wildlife, you can collect golden seashells with the gizmos by hitting them, which are the equivalent of collectible items in other games; they don't do anything nifty but add something for “completists” among certain gamers. Finally, on the third playthrough of a level, you unlock the ability to take pictures of special objects in the environment for that stage. Taking shots of these will definitely boosts your final level score. The game judges a photo as someone would in real life, which include the angle, the detail, if it's centered, etc. You can collect up to three stars for each photo. It's tricky at first, but eventually taking good shots becomes second nature. Of course, there's a limit to how much film you've got. You can only take 24 pictures per playthrough of a level. Thankfully, your previous work isn't erased. You can simply replay a level over if you miss a certain fish or want to get a better score for a certain fish. Sea Life Safari is even aware of the time you play the game. Certain fish only come out at night, while other fish kinds only appear during daytime; so there's a lot of replay value to be had.

There are five levels in the game, although it's not as if you can expect to go through all of them in a hurry. To unlock levels, you need to have a certain amount of stars. These are totaled throughout all levels, and the maximum amount of stars you can build-up per level is limited. The numbers of stars you need to unlock a level obviously depend on the level itself. You start from taking pictures in a serene coral reef that includes average, typical sea life, and then you move up gradually to taking pictures of various unique creatures such as a mermaid, and in more exotic locales, like a volcano. The graphics are pleasant considering the whole scenery takes place entirely underwater. The fish are nicely modeled and quite animated. The developer did a good job of giving sea creatures an adorable facial expression like you’d find in Finding Nemo. The environment looks vivid and colorful. The water bends light down to the ocean floor, which is actually a neat effect you don't always see in games. The audio is quite fitting. From the calm oceanic music to the charming sounds the critters make, the game provides a relaxing score that eases your mind. Overall, Sea Life Safari is simply an adorable underwater adventure that's easy to pick up, and should be considered a wholesome entertainment for a family.