The greatest thing about Zoo Tycoon is that you can remove the walls of the exhibits and let the animals run loose, eating guests and causing mayhem until recaptured. The hard work stops as soon as you’ve finished your objectives, and all there is left to do is twiddle your thumbs until you rub your fingerprints off. And it doesn’t exactly make for good gameplay. You can spend ages adding a bit more savannah grass, and tweaking the amount of dirt on the floor before the critters are fully satisfied. As well as company, toys and food, your animals need their original environment recreated with just the right percentage of ground covered with the correct surface. There isn't much micromanaging to endure but, as if to make up for this, Zoo Tycoon has a very stupid system for ensuring the well-being and happiness of each of the animals. You start off with a small number of animals you can 'adopt’ and stick in the exhibits, but you can research new species (not quite sure how that works) as well as new habitats, shelters and toys, while also improving staff training. In both cases you have to build paths, fence in areas and hire keepers and repairmen. The game is divided into two modes: scenarios and freeform, the first one setting out very clear objectives to be completed within a specified time, the second closer to the original Theme Park, giving you carte blanche to build until you simply can’t take it anymore. For one thing, we haven’t seen such a boring management game since Sim Ant. Putting moral considerations aside though, Zoo Tycoon is still open to criticism. Zoos are still portrayed as the place the whole family can go for a fun day out and a perfectly suitable subject for children’s books. Not that the public at large will think so. But building an empire around a bunch of animals shoved in cages for visitors munching candyfloss to stare at still seems distasteful. On a scale of questionable ethics, a game about running a zoo doesn’t quite compare with say,Ĭoncentration Camp Tycoon.

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