Like many real Zoos the animals aren't the only part of the game, you have to put in some extra entertainment venues and food. With the animals enclosures you are given options to only allow 3 sizes, small, medium and large, each only allowing more animals in the enclosure and more ability to add feeding/washing stations or toys, the problem is you only need 1 of each and they are happy. For starters many classic Tycoon games require you to create paths everywhere for guests to make attractions accessible, in this wherever you place an attraction it automatically draws you out a path/paths from the nearest attraction.Īnother way the game unclutters is the lack of customization to any attraction or exhibit. The game tries to get over the issues faced by many ports to console straight away with uncluttering the game and making it quite simple. Zoo Tycoon tries to accomplish this with 2 possible views, one as a Zoo Keeper in which you can run around at a 3rd person level and another as the top down more reminiscent of the classic view in which you will spend the majority of your time.
Many top down games such as tycoon or RTS have not really made a great transition to the console and remain in the realm of PC player, this is due to the usually very complex controls or difficulty mapping it well to a controller. This is where the game begins to make itself more unique.
Zoo Tycoon was never a game to require a story to drive you forward but get you more in the gameplay.
It pushes you forward with in game challenges which act as some sort of story driver which can have you taking care of a sick animal from another zoo with the benefit of a free animal and some bonus cash. Each Zoo you encounter within the games main modes is given a small backstory (usually with some sad tale of neglect) just before selecting it and in short it is your job to fix it.ĭespite having no story the game does not require it. The premise is simple, run a zoo, but did Microsoft go in the right direction especially as a launch against the PS4? The original PC game received moderate scores around the 70% mark coming out around the peak popularity of the classic tycoon game along with Rollercoaster tycoon and Theme Hospital. Zoo Tycoon is a reimagining of the 2001 PC game by Microsoft Studios.