Zoo Tycoon (PC)

• Build and manage a thriving zoo.
• Easy to learn and get into.
• Two gameplay modes - freeplay and scenarios.
• Choose from over 40 animals, 60 habitat building materials, and 40 building materials.

.co.uk Review ------------- Zoo Tycoon bears more than just a title similarity to Roller Coaster Tycoon: it even looks as if it's based on the same basic game engine. Building pens and paths, decorating, placing buildings and managing your staff, even the way your patrons look and how you tweak pricing all are extremely similar to the fun of Roller Coaster Tycoon. The game play consists of a series of inventive scenarios, sometimes building a zoo from scratch, and other times taking over a failing or failed zoo and bringing it back from the brink. Specifically, you've got to build pens and habitats with an eye toward the needs of each animal species. For example, putting bears in a savannah setting results in depressed, possibly , bears. You also have to tend to your human animals by including gift shops, restaurants, drink stands and bathrooms. Then you've got to adopt animals and hire zookeepers to tend your creatures. All of this costs money but cutting corners can result in irate customers and unhappy animals. Unhappy animals bore people, and worse they make it difficult to adopt more exotic and finicky creatures, such as pandas. Happy and well-fed animals will cavort and play, making your guests very happy. And happy guests mean more money for you to improve your zoo. It's a balancing act, keeping all the animals, keepers and little wandering people happy, but the game is also a decorator sim. You've got to beautify your park and it's easy to forget the specific scenario objectives and lose yourself in building the ultimate zoo. If you ultimately tire of the objectives, you can delete some of your fences and watch the animals run amok on your guests (sometimes, through negligence, they can break free on their own). The carnivores grab, pin, and fling your guests (no blood, and no killing here) and this lowers your zoo rating and dissuades people from visiting for a while. Still, it's great fun to watch.--Bob Andrews Manufacturer's Description -------------------------- Microsoft Zoo Tycoon gives players the rtunity to build a zoo from the ground up. Build habitats, adopt zoo animals, staff the zoo, and monitor guest satisfaction. But remember, animals have unique ways of reacting to their surroundings, which present new challenges never before experienced in a tycoon game. The intuitive UI and interactive tutorials help players begin playing and enjoying the game right out of the box. Two gameplay modes - freeplay and scenarios - freeplay allows the player to build the zoo at will with no constraints other than the regular game rules in force. Engaging scenarios allow the player to try to meet challenges and objectives as a part of gameplay. Choose from over 40 animals, 60 habitat building materials, and 40 building materials - bring in visitors using zoo favorites such as lions, giraffes, elephants, and bears as well as more exotic fare such as the Giant Panda and the White Siberian Tiger. Players can make their zoos bigger and better with fences, terrain, foliage, flowers, paths, benches, shelters, and rocks. While some attractions and materials are available at the start of the game, others become during the course of the game.