Zoo Tycoon

Pros • Loose the lions! • Many structures and scenery objects to choose from • Haven’t you always wanted a monkey?	Cons • Must complete beginner scenarios before you can play intermediate or advanced • Not as deep a simulation as it may first appear • We’re not talking innovative gameplay here
Bottom Line Nothing new, but it’s a zoo in here! The Dr. Seuss classic, If I Ran the Zoo was a favorite or mine growing up and if you’ve ever had the urge to “…open each cage…unlock every pen, let the animals go, and start over again” this is the game for you. Zoo Tycoon is a variation on a theme that’s become nearly as classic to PC gaming as Seuss is to children’s literature: the sim. Even though the gameplay might have been moldering under the videogame bed for quite a while, when you pull it out and dust it off it’s nearly as good as new, or at least as welcome a sight as that left sneaker you thought had been eaten by the dust-bunnies.

Like any type of sim title, Zoo Tycoon is capable of sucking up the hours like so much dust into the vacuum cleaner. You get involved and if you’re like me, you begin to care--maybe too much--about the world you’re creating. A notice that Crocodile 7 is sick will send you racing over to the croc exhibit. You’ll spend far too much time trying to ensure that your hippos will breed. I was devastated when a computer freeze-up consumed one of my unsaved zoo projects. I had just installed an animal theatre to educate my patrons!

There are over 40 animals to adopt and countless structures to build. Perhaps you’d like to specialize in herd animals like zebras and gazelles (which can be kept in the same exhibit). Or maybe you see yourself as a big cat kind of a guy, with leopards and Siberian tigers. You may even learn a thing or two about animals since there is zookeeper info about habitat and habits for each species. Regardless of which animals you choose, the fun here is in the details. From choosing the type of path your guests will walk on (cement vs. cobblestone) to selecting a nice fountain or maybe a Japanese garden or duck pond, Zoo Tycoon allows you to spend oodles of time on the minutiae of zoo aesthetics long after you have created plenty of animal exhibits. A carousel, a gift shop, even the most appropriate of ornamental fencing is a choice to be considered.

While this sim shows surface signs of incredible depth: conservation research, zoo marketing expenditures, and employee training for example, it’s really not that complex. The challenge of the game comes from the size of your zoo and the number of animals you’ve got, rather than any of these extraneous factors which are generally a case of selecting minimum, average, or high, monthly allowances to the area. (Example: setting your animal research to a high monthly allowance will ensure that you get access to animal toys and better shelters in a shorter period of time.)

You are given many tools to help keep tabs on the happiness of your animals and patrons including a ranking of your exhibits and task lists for your employees. What’s missing though is the ability to stroll the grounds as a guest seeing things from the first person perspective.

Aside from the free-form play where you select a location and go wild with your imagination, there are scenarios offered that you can play, including reviving a run down zoo and achieving various animal and patron happiness milestones. You must complete all of the beginner scenarios before the intermediates will open up, which I really disliked. If you’ve played any other sim, you’ll catch on quickly to the gameplay and be ready to tackle something more challenging than what the beginner scenarios offer.

The graphics aren’t going to stun you. There are times when the characters walk through each other or when a hippo will be splashing around on what looks like dry land. You can see the differences between the different types of trees though, and the animals are sufficiently detailed. It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough.

While you’re playing Zoo Tycoon, your computer will sound like it’s full of animals. For the most part the sounds are fairly ambient and as a player you’ll quickly absorb them into your subconscious, but if you step away and come back to it, you’ll be amused by the squeals and growls emanating from your speakers.

Of course you can satisfy your darker urges and let loose the lions, which produces a satisfyingly chaotic response from the crowds involving hand waving and screaming and those cats will shake the jelly out of any unfortunate fool they manage to sink their teeth into. However, all too soon a zookeeper will come along and box up the escaped pussy-cat putting an end to the rampage…though I suppose you could fire all your staff.

Zoo Tycoon does contain sometimes persnickety gameplay. For example, you may get a message saying there is too much sand in the exhibit for Zebra Number Two and the only sand existing within the exhibit is underneath the animal shelter that you built for them. Keep your mind attuned to such finicky possibilities especially while you’re completing the tutorials.

Zoo Tycoon will be instantly familiar if you’ve played any type of sim game before, but the zoo theme is a lot of fun. Newcomers to sim gaming may get more bang for their buck, but oldtimers with a Noah (as in the Ark) complex will enjoy it as well. Now if you’ll pardon me, my ostriches are not at all pleased with their exhibit, the crocodiles are reproducing too quickly for their small enclosure, and there’s a sick dromedary camel on the other side of the park. Who said these games were relaxing?

Info & Screenshots