For the casual game fan, Facebook is a seemingly endless fount of fun where you can spend your time tending your farm for a while before loading up your Tommy Gun and taking out a few mobsters before settling down for a quick bite to eat at your own little café. There's no real shortage of games to play and adventures to have, but how many can actually make a difference in real life? Well, Sony Online Entertainment is answering that question with its latest Facebook release, Wildlife Refuge.

Much like the title of the game would indicate, Wildlife Refuge puts players in charge of their own personal animal refuge deep in the heart of Africa. Starting out with a simple plot of land, players expand their refuge over time by adding features like rocks and water to the landscape, as well as buildings such as water towers and veterinarian clinics. You can head to the shop and pick up supplies as needed or even call upon the kindness of your friends to donate some extra supplies to your budding sanctuary.

Of course, all the landscaping and building in the world doesn't amount to anything unless you have some actual animals to take care of. This is where the game's Exploration mode comes in. Players can pile into their handy safari jeep and explore the African wilds in search of animals that need help. Clicking on the various trees, dens, and other objects in the wild, players will occasionally uncover animal tracks along with coins and experience points. Following these tracks will eventually lead to an animal that's in need of help, which the player can then load up into the jeep and take back to his refuge to care for. Eventually, with a little good ol' fashioned TLC, the critter will be healthy and happy enough to release back into the wild, earning the player a bonus bundle of experience.

Once you've got your refuge in place and you've got a few resident animals to care for, there's still plenty of work to do. Aside from regularly caring for the animals and maintaining the plants and buildings of your refuge, you've also got to keep a sharp eye out for other dangers to your well-organized habitat. One of the most frequent issues you'll have to deal with is poachers. These nasty little hunters show up at try to pick off the animals out in the wild. Luckily, they're pretty easy to run off with a few quick honks of your jeep's horn. Also, you'll have to deal with other random events that may pop up, whether they're manmade threats or just the forces of Mother Nature. Still, if you can hold your ground and keep things together, you'll eventually build up a higher Ecosystem Rating, earning yourself the right to care for even more exotic animals.

While all of this virtual animal care is all well and good, it would be nice if you could actually do something to help the wildlife out in the real world this easily. Actually, thanks to a commitment from Sony Online Entertainment, you can. SOE is offering up special items for sale, such as a group of baby cheetahs to add to your refuge, with a portion of all the proceeds benefitting the Cheetah Conservation fund, with support for other charities planned later down the road. It's a great little way to have some fun and do some real good at the same time.

Sure, it's true that there's no shortage of casual social games available on Facebook to spend your time with. But the thing about Wildlife Refuge is that you actually feel like you're doing some good in the world when you play it. Better still, if you chip in on some of the virtual goodies, you actually ARE helping out in the real world. Doing good and having fun at the same time? It's a hard offer to pass up.

Final Score: B+