Zoo Tycoonish (Zoo Tycoon (PC))

Member Name: jason_webb

Product:	Zoo Tycoon (PC)
Date:	22/04/02 (408 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You get to build a zoo

Disadvantages: Too little to keep you interested

After the release of Chris Sawyer' Roller coaster Tycoon, which was a massive hit, it has become fashionable to stick the word ?Tycoon? in front of any game that has a management theme. As happens with any copycat culture, some will be good and some will be bad, so how does this latest title measure up.

This latest game, published by Microsoft and developed by Blue Fang Games, puts you into the roll of a Zoo manager, whose roll it is to create the most popular zoo possible.

As with most Microsoft games the manual is very polished and clear, offering all of the essential information to get you into the game along with some useful game play hints. When you first start the game, you will be presented with the following menu of options,

Play Scenario Game - This allows you to play one of the 13 in built scenarios, starting with the tutorial games and unlocking harder levels as you go. Each scenario will set you a goal to achieve within a set time period, like creating a zoo with 5 exhibits and a good rating within six months or turning around a failing city zoo etc. Once you have completed the scenario, you have the choice to either move onto the next scenario or continue with the one you are playing for as long as you can stay in profit.

Play Freeform Game - These games allow you to start a game with a blank canvas, where the only thing that can stop you is running out of money. You get to set the amount of money that you wish to start the game with, thus controlling the difficulty of the level.

Load Saved Game - Load and play any previously saved game

Continue Saved Game - This option will return to the last game you saved

Get New Zoo Tycoon Items - This option allows you to pick up new animals and zoo objects from the Internet or local files downloaded from other sites.

So what about the game itself, well if you have played roller coaster tycoon you will have no problem getting to gri
ps with the game play or controls as it is all very similar. In game, the main play area occupies the centre-right of the screen, with toolbars to the left and bottom of the play area. The main toolbar on the left of the play area houses the main icons, which are as follows,

Construction - This houses all of the tools that will be used to physically build the zoo environment, including Fences, Paths, Foliage, Rocks, Terrain Type and Terrain Height. All of these have their own importance within the game, for example if you use the wrong strength fencing for some animals they may escape and cause havoc with your visitors and ratings. At the same time you will want to make your zoo as attractive as possible or give some animals more privacy (which they will demand in some cases), so this mix along with the cost concerns means that you will need to be prudent with your choices. Some of the other construction options like Terrain and Foliage you will have less control over, as your animals demand very specific types and amounts of these to create their ideal environment, which will ensure that they live long and happy lives.

Adopt Animals - This section allows you to purchase the actual animals, the shelters for them and toys for some of the more playful ones. Each available animal is shown in the adopt tab along with a brief of their preferred terrain and foliage when clicked on, so that you can make sure that you have the basics available to you before you choose to adopt them. If you need any more detail on your chosen animal, there is an information button that will give you an even more detailed description of its likes and dislikes. You also have the option of adopting a male or female, remembering that you will need to place one of each in an exhibit if you want them to breed.

Structures - This tab will allow you to buy buildings and scenery for your zoo. The buildings range from toilets and drinks machines to elephant rides and anima
l
shows for the guests. The scenery option lets you place items like benches and picnic tables for the guests to rest and also items like flowerbeds to improve the look of the place.

Hire Staff - This tab is pretty self-explanatory as this is where you employ the Zookeepers, Tour Guides and Maintenance Workers. The zookeeper?s feed and look after the animals and exhibits, the tour guides share information about the zoo with the guests and the maintenance workers fix the fences and clear up the trash around the park. Both the zookeepers and tour guides can be assigned their own unique exhibits, which is especially important for the zookeepers as if they are spread too thinly, animals will starve or die from illness.

The rest of the tabs allow you to undo the last action (useful, as placing objects can sometimes be awkward), clear objects, list the last messages that you received, put money towards research and conservation and gain information about the scenario. The most important of these is your research and development, which allows you access to more animals, foliage, buildings and staff training.

Along the bottom of the screen you have access to the mini-map to zoom and rotate the play area, pause/resume, current date (important to scenario targets), available cash, zoo status, animal list, guest list, exhibit list and the staff list. The last five options allow you to access much more detail about the state of your zoo, animals and staff and the options that you need to manage them.

The overall point to the game is to create a zoo with plenty of popular animal exhibits and enough amenities to keep your guests happy and your zoo in profit. Unfortunately this is where the game ends, as the management of the zoo as a whole has been simplified to the core. Once items like burger bars or gift shops have been set up the only options that you have available to manage profitability is to raise or lower the price of the good
s avai
lable. This leads to one of the more difficult things to understand about the AI, as guests will quite happily pay a $10 hike in the entrance fee to the zoo without the flow of customers slowing down, but get very unhappy about a 10c rise in the price of a pizza. The animals themselves, once set up in their ideal environments require little management as long as the staff are in place, apart from the odd piece of trampled land that needs replacing from time to time.

Graphics and audio are passable with resolutions available up to 1280x1024 (but found that it is best played in 800x600) and audio consisting of various animal roars and squeals. Even at maximum resolution and zoom all of the guests can be picked out individually and animals are easily made out for what they are, items will only become pixilated when you zoom right the way in.

Overall the game played smoothly on my machine (PIII 500, 256MB, 32 MX400) but I would say that the suggested 233MHz, 32Mb & 4Mb Graphics would struggle heavily with this game on some of the larger scenarios.

In summary, Blue Fang have produced a run of the mill management game with some nice touches here and there, but with limited animals and scenarios it tends to wear thin very quickly. Even the addition of an update facility to download new animals and items has been no major boost as has only handful have been produced and we are unlikely to see many more at the moment as they are due to release an expansion pack. You will return to the game now and again for an hour or two on a rainy day, but it will not stay at the top of your play list for long term. My advise is to buy this game if you live and breathe management games, but wait until the bundle packs come out (as the will) and get it all in one go.

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