Introduction
With the success of Rollercoaster Tycoon many developers have tried to replicate that success with clones that weren’t very good. Zoo Tycoon seems to be more innovative and overall a higher quality product than most of the recent tycoon games however. Blue Fang Games is on the right track with Zoo Tycoon, with interesting gameplay, an intuitive interface, relatively nice graphics and a strong addiction factor, this game looks to be a hit with Tycoon fans.
Gameplay
When you start Zoo Tycoon you can choose between two game modes, free play and scenario based. If you’re just starting out and don’t know much, scenario is the way to go since it offers tutorials that will help you learn the ropes. In the free play mode there are few rules and you can start with certain amount cash which you can lower or raise to your liking. To begin with, you need to make an exhibit so people will have a reason to visit your Zoo. To build an exhibit, you need to build an enclosure that is strong enough for whatever type of animal you will be putting in it. For instance, you can’t use a weak chain link fence for an African Elephant; you would have to use cement. Once you create the enclosure, you need to adopt an animal to place inside it. There are many types of animals at this point; however there should be more once the game is released. Ranging from Giraffes to Crocodiles, you have a wide variety to choose from. You will have to put money into research before you can adopt more exotic types of animals such as a black leopard. Now that you have an animal inside your enclosure, you must make that enclosure suitable for the animal or else it will become unhappy. Unhappy animals make unhappy guest and that is always a bad thing. Not to mention the Zoo board will shut your park down! So you have to put in the right type of terrain and in some cases, insert more animals to make the animal happy. Be wary of putting animals inside that may not get along too well. They will at least become miserable and occasionally even kill each other! If you put the enclosure too close to a busy path, the animal will become unhappy due to all the noise, I assume. It’s a very difficult balancing act and takes a while to master, if you ever master it that is. What increases the challenge even further is the fact that while you need to keep your animals happy, your guest are complaining that they are hungry, thirsty and are issuing various other complaints. This challenge is actually great fun and makes the game very interesting. Exhibits aren’t the only thing you can build inside your park of course. There are many different types of shops, scenery and entertainment structures you can build to please your guest and make money in the process. If you love animals, Zoo Tycoon will probably appeal to you. If you love the challenge of making your animals and guest happy and to make money at the same time, Zoo Tycoon will appeal to you. If both of those statements apply to you, Zoo Tycoo is what you’ve been waiting for!
Graphics
Zoo Tycoon doesn’t have leading edge graphics which isn’t a big surprise for this genre of games. The graphics are nice for this genre however. Objects and terrain are detailed enough to please and the game runs smoothly on my system which is a higher end PC. I haven’t tested it on a lower end PC yet so I can’t comment too much on performance. I imagine it should run well on at least mid level PCs however. Animations for animals and other objects are good but nothing special. The fights between animals are similar to Tom and Jerry cartoon fights, where dust covers the two fighting until it’s over. So there is no need to worry about your child playing Zoo Tycoon.
Final Words
Microsoft is a proven publisher of quality games and Blue Fang Games is no slouch either. They’ve impressed me with Zoo Tycoon in this early build and I’m looking forward to release. With so many dismal Rollercoaster Tycoon clones, Zoo Tycoon provides a breath of fresh air into the genre. Look for Zoo Tycoon on store shelves this fall.
