Zoo Tycoon

"Yawn."

PROS: Animals actually feel somewhat realistic; easy to figure out; variety of products

CONS: Scenarios blend into each other; graphics aren't the best; dreadful sound effects; far better Tycoon games exist; yawn

Let me tell you right away: Zoo Tycoon is not a great game.

Zoo Tycoon is yet another game where you're in complete control of a specific area of land. This time, you have to build a zoo and cater to the animals living in it.

There are scenarios here, but they aren't very good. They all focus on the same thing: building a zoo and taking care of the animals. Since there isn't much of a selection of animals, you'll be using the same ones in every zoo. Lions, and tigers, and bears. Oh my! Oh my aching head…

This game is kind of boring. Not Pokemon Channel kind of boring, but kind of boring. It's not as fun as Roller Coaster Tycoon. All you do is watch your zoo unfold. There is interaction here, but not a lot of it. Like most tycoon games, you have to place a crapper here, a food stand here, and tables and trash cans and everything like that. The buildings are hideously ugly, however, and the ability to change colors doesn't help because they're still ugly, if not uglier. However, you can still build zoo-related buildings. An aviary. A monkey house. You get what I'm saying. But you only can look at them, not actually control what's inside.

The presentation here is as dull as can be. The graphics are decent, but aren't at all the best, even for 2001. The land detail is as close to a plain color as you can get, and the people are pretty dull. The buildings are hideous, and the game as a whole is pretty boring to look at. Also, the sound effects are boring. You'll hear the constant chatter of people and these awful sounds that sound like violins screeching when you change something in an animal's cage.

Let's go back to the animals. Their AI is pretty good. They know what they want, and happy or sad faces will appear when you change something. However, these animals are pretty flat to look at because they have no personality. Your staffers are the same. Good AI- the zookeepers know when they have to pick up a terd somewhere- but no personality. In Roller Coaster Tycoon, each guest had ride preferences, but here, there's no variety between two different things. Also, you can't get in the minds of your guests here- there's just an overall approval rating, and you can't see exactly what your guests are complaining about.

You get to choose what kind of fence surrounds each cage. Some animals escape easier with certain fences, and trust me, they will escape if they can. It's actually quite fun to watch your guests flee in terror when a polar bear breaks out, but the game's presentation is mediocre, so it gets old after four times.

Overall, this game isn't at all challenging to figure out or to play. You build until you're low on cash, go to the kitchen and get a slice of pizza, come back, eat your pizza, build more, and then get more pizza. Hmmm… Pizza Tycoon. Maybe I can make that game. It might be better than this game. Wait… it says that there was a Pizza Tycoon game that came out in 1994. So maybe I'll call my game Pizza Tycoon: Andy's Kitchen. I'll likely get myself sued…

Even by 2001 standards, this isn't a good game. Once you've run out of money, all you can do is watch. There's not as much strategy to it as Roller Coaster Tycoon, which is a far better tycoon game. It's pretty dull to look at, and kind of dull to play. This game isn't at all that bad because you actually do something, even though that something isn't that much fun to do. This game could've been better. I give Zoo Tycoon a 5 out of 10.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/27/06