When trying to find a single square of trampled terrain, for instance, it would be great to be able to turn gridlines on, and turn foliage and buildings off, to see exactly which square is the problem.

It’s nice to be able to rotate the screen and objects to get better angles at things (and great to be able to rotate object icons in their selector screen), but it would be even nicer to have different levels of view, such as many other sims have. Even in windowed mode, the next level of zoom isn’t terribly useful because things get far too pixellated. In full-screen mode, you only have two zoom levels and the closest zoom isn’t close enough. However, like Age of Kings, even at a low resolution, many items are so small as to be very hard to see and click on. Overall graphics are fairly decent- something along the lines of Age of Kings. Assigning a zookeeper to an exhibit is good, but it would also be nice to be able to tell it to feed the animals or to heal a specific one. It would also be nice to have a better timeline, than just month to month.Īlso on my wishlist for gameplay options is the ability to assign zoo workers to specific tasks. In cases like this, having speed control instead of just a pause button would be really welcome. It took me only one month of in-game time to complete the objectives for the first gameplay scenario and then I had to sit around for the next five 'months' waiting for it to realize I’d done so. Scenarios are actually a little too simple and winning them should have been goal-based rather than timed. But in a very similar situation to real zoos, the newly borns are simply visitor-fodder and there’s no chance of returning them to the wild.Ĭonsidering the barely functional graphics, irritating music and repetitive gameplay, parents who buy this for their children could well be accused of cruelty to children. You can also achieve the one thing zoos are good at: preserving endangered species and helping them to procreate. 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.

Zoo tycoon for mac 2017