Customer Reviews

Zoo Tycoon 2

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I was going to resist getting Zoo Tycoon 2, having recently being disappointed by the update of Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 (which is NOT an improvement). I am, however, a simulation/strategy game addict--and I am happy to report that I don't regret giving in to the impulse to buy Zoo Tycoon 2.

The original version of this game was not one of my favorites. I found changing little squares of landscape and mending fences rather tedious for long term game play, not to mention only having income from entrance fees and food/drinks keeping my bank account in a permanent decline, and visitors loosing interest in the exhibits too quickly.

WHY THIS VERSION IS BETTER:
* 3D Animation - I tend not to care much about graphics in general, however these graphics are quite well done, and you can zoom in quite close to observe the animals. You can also click on any animal and find out what it's doing at any given moment.

* Photo Safari - In certain scenarios and challenge games, you can earn awards by taking pictures of specific events. Switching to a digital camera style view, you may have to take a snapshot of two animals, or an animal running, etc.

* Interactive Mode - You can switch to guest view, and walk around your park, getting a close-up view. Further, you can play caretaker and clean up after animals (and guests), clean animals and fill food dishes yourself.

* Donations/Income - Guests continue to visit all exhibits as the game progresses, and contribute donations at each exhibit. The more interesting the exhibit, the more they donate (they like biomes: exhibits in which the terrain, plants, rocks and animals are all appropriate to one another).

* Guest/Animal Detail - Similar to Roller Coaster Tycoon, you can view each guest or animal's specific needs, discovering which are fulfilled and which are not. You can also view lists of this information that can be organized by any category (which animals are pregnant, which guests most need a bathroom, etc.)

* Responsive Guests - In the previous versions, guests nearly dying of thirst would walk right by a soda stand complaining. Now they form lines (though they'll whine if the line is too long) or give an opinion ("I want something other than soda.")

* Atmosphere - Part of your score depends on the appearance of your zoo. Guests will get unhappy without fountains, arches and bouncy kangaroo rides to keep them entertained (and you'll get a message if too many of them are dissatisfied).

* Zoo Rating/Progress - As your zoo improves, so does your rating, unlocking more objects and animals.

* Exhibit Design - As with the previous version, you paint exhibits with appropriate terrain and fill them with the right vegetation for the animal. However, you paint in broad strokes, rather than micromanaging every square. Also, you don't pay for the change of terrain, which keeps the costs of building an exhibit much more manageable.

* Gifts to Wear - There's a different gift for each animal, and guests will buy those relating to animals they've seen in your zoo. You might see them walking around with moose antlers on their heads or peacock backpacks.

* No Broken Fences: The fences no longer deteriorate, so animals only escape if you use the wrong kind of fence, and predators will not kill other animals. Guests will still flee from escaped animals, however.

*Animal Adoption: No longer can you purchase unlimited flamingoes or tigers. A limited number and variety of animals are available at a time, the higher your zoo rating, the more species available and the more options you have. You can choose to pass on adopting a species, and it will be replaced by a random other species after some time that isn't already an option (but each level only makes certain species available, you need to earn 5 stars to get the rarest animals).

* Specified Research: Rather than having to research several things you don't want to get the one you do, you can choose the specific object you want to research next for a set fee. Objects available for research expand with your zoo rating.

WHAT IT LACKS:
* Number of Scenarios: I've had the game less than a week, and have already beaten most of the campaign scenarios. However, there are many challenge games still to be played. No doubt an expansion pack is already in the works to fix this.

* Number of Animals: There are only 30 different animals, mostly the same as those found in the previous version. However, there is a wide variety: for instance you have one species of tiger, one of elephant, etc. I imagine there will be an expansion pack to supplement this, too.

* Limited Initial Animal Choice: You always start out with the same three (Moose, Peacock and Camel) and need to establish them before more are made available, which gets a bit tiresome when you play a number of scenarios.

BOTTOM LINE: A family-friendly game, I'd say this is one of the best simulation games of 2004 (and I've played a lot of them). Easy enough for kids to play, but entertaining enough for adults. If you're a fan of Rollercoaster Tycoon or SimCity, this is an excellent choice.

I love Zoo Tycoon 2. I played the original & the expansions & loved them as well but Zoo Tycoon 2 is so much better. I really like the ability to build diagonically. The zoo looks much better with this ability. I also find it really neat that you can go into Zoo Guest Mode which allows you to walk throug the zoo & see what everything looks like from the guest's point of view. The Photo Safari Mode is neat also. It allows you to go into the exhibits & take really good pictures of the animals. Did I mention that the animals are a lot more realistic & easier to please? This game is really awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone.

I love "tycoon" games of all sorts. Zoo tycoon 2 and its expansion packs are great and most of the scenerios are fun (if not a little time consuming). You can zoom in and walk around the zoo like a guest as well as save yourself some money (in the game of course) by doing the zookeeper and maintenance tasks yourself.

This is a great, educational game for kids. They'll learn about many different animals and conservation efforts. It's also the sort of game that you could sit down and play with your kids.. help them out with planning and ideas and read about the different animals with them.

I'm also happy to see that Microsoft is donating money from the sales of this game to the World Wildlife Fund.. all the more reason to buy it :)

This game is exellent. I loved the first Zoo Tycoon, but I love this one better. It's even better than Zoo Empire. You can pretend to be a guest and walk around your zoo in Guest Mode. I loved that but my favourite feature is being able to release animals back into the wild! It's worth every penny!

While the updated 3D graphics are very cool, I'm actually quite bored after playing for 3 days. The selection of animals, buildings, etc. is very small, even in freeform where everything is available and money is unlimited. I am ready to go back to playing ZT complete collection.

First, The paintbrush tool that just paints a swath of appropriate land type, vegetation, rocks, etc. is cool, and takes all the guesswork out of making the habitat correct for the animals...but it also takes the challenge as well. I'm basically just sitting watching my zoo animals wander around their perfect habitat while my zookeepers make a beeline for the nearest bench every chance they get. What fun is that?

Second, there is no way to tell if what you are doing is having a progressively positive/negative impact on the animals or guests; they are either happy or not. If they're unhappy, there's no clear way to figure out what's bothering them and how to fix it. E.g., the animal has a low social rating... Huh? Does he need more animals or fewer animals? A mate? A keeper? All the other animals in the exhibit are deliriously happy. Who knows? That's not fun.

Also, both keepers and animals regularly fail to figure out how to reach feeding bowls, etc. that are right in front of their noses. The keepers are even bigger idiots in this game than in the first. I'm so tired of all the "can't reach" error messages I want to scream.

I think the thing that bugs me the most is that the animals often kill their mates, for no discernable reason. Then, you can actually sell the dead carcass for money! Why was that necessary? Eeeewww!

On the other hand, this would be a great game for a 7-year old.

Compared to the original Zoo Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon 2 offers new and better scenarios and tutorials, more realistic animals and exhibits, and provides you with a greater interaction with your patrons and animals. In the first Zoo Tycoon, you were only allowed to make very boring square exhibits. However in Zoo Tycoon 2 you are allowed to build realistic exhibits, using the biome brush you can create one that greatly resemble the animals' natural habitat.

This game allows you to take a "hands on" approach in your zoo. You can be a worker or zookeeper and clean up after animals and guests, clean animals, and fill food and water dishes. You can take pictures of significant event in your park or everyday things and in some scenarios you can earn awards for some of these pictures.

In the first Zoo Tycoon when you researched to get object that would better your park you would have to go through several things you don't want to get the one you do. In this Zoo Tycoon you can choose the specific object you want to research next for a price You also get better choices as the rating in your zoo increases.

While in the first Zoo Tycoon you were able to see your guests and animals needs it was very hard to make everyone happy. You would have a thirsty or tired guest and they would walk right by the bench or soda stand. In 2 you can view each guest or animal's specific needs do what needs to be done to fulfill those needs. While the patrons cooperate and interact with you by making logical choices.

Your fences no longer rust and break allowing your animals to escape and create chaos in your park although guests will still flee from an improperly enclosed animal. I highly recommend Zoo Tycoon 2 and I hope this has been of some help to you in making your decision on buying the game.

I was a huge fan of Zoo Tycoon since the very first one hit the shelves. After that, I purchased each and every expansion pack as soon as they came out. I grew older though and soon distanced myself from the series which was about the time Zoo tycoon 2 came out. I was cleaning up my stuff one day and found my old Zoo Tycon: Complete expansion pack. Floods of nostalgia came pouring in as I set it up and played it. I then recalled them making a brand new series and so I looked it up. By then, Endangered Species came out so I downloaded a demo of it and loved it! The very next day I went out and purchased Zoo Tycoon 2 and recently, purchased both Endangered Species and African Adventure. Needless to say, this is not like the first series but it holds it own.

The exhibits are not challenging to make (I recall yelling at the stupid Markhor to like his exhibit in the old ZT) however the ennviroment that ZT2 has makes up for it - how the animals interact with thier surroundings.

The original had 44 animals. We see alot of these return however some favorites don't make it into this game. However, ZT2 includes animals that people were begging for (i.e. Ring-tailed Lemur, American Beaver, Peafowl, Red Panda) even though it's only 30 of them. These animals would of never been able to be put in the orginal ZT but in this series, we get them. As well, this might of had 30 animals in it but add 40 extra animals from the most recent expansion packs and you got yourself a nice selection of animals to choose from.

The zookeepers are pretty dumb in this game however the guests are very animated and more personal.

The zoo keeper mode is just plain cool.

The only thing I am a bit skeptical on is some of the animal behaviors and the amount of buildings in this game. I miss the Bird, Reptile, Insect houses that the first ZT had.

Overall, it's on par with the orginal series cause it adds it's own qualities that ZT1 didn't have and vice versa.

What in the heck?? The 3D effects are good. But where's the challenge? Where's the strategy? Making the "perfect" exhibit is no longer a challenge. I remember in the original having to have hills, mountains and the like to make certain animals happy. Now all it takes is a click of the mouse and the biome is "spray painted" into place.

If the animals are unhappy, you have no idea what exactly the reason is (unless it's overcrowding, then they do tell you). I don't mind the limited selection as much as I mind the fact that you don't get any rewards (other than a certificate) for breeding endangered species.

One feature I found disturbing was that if the animals are unhappy (usually the big cats), they can kill each other! I had my black leopards and snow leopards doing that all the time. And what is really nasty is that when they die, the dead one becomes one of those carcass containers for the meat!! The others eat it! And the zoo keepers can refill it. That is just too much of a gross factor for me.

And the zookeepers! They are so brainless. They are unable to manage to walk to a food trough or a water dish even if these things are unblocked and not even near anything that could be in the way. They never seem able to get to the poo either. So you get about a million (no exaggeration) messages "Zookeeper cannot reach the big cat poop" and "Zookeeper cannot reach the hay" etc, etc. It is SO annoying. And so they just sit there on the benches unable to "reach" anything.

The photo safari feature is okay, and I can see where people might like it. Though, I got tired of "Take a picture of a red panda resting in a tree" and the like.

I disliked the "guest/third person" mode. I only have used it to clean up the poop and refill the food and water dishes that the zoo keepers are unable to do.

If you loved the first Zoo Tycoon and its expansions for its scenarios and challenges - do not get this game. This game is very informative and might be fun for younger kids but it gets boring really fast and is not challenging at all like the first one. If I had known what it was like before buying it, I would have saved my money.

I definitely think that if you liked the first Zoo Tycoon computer game and all of its expansions, you will also very much enjoy Zoo Tycoon 2. However, I will tell you right now, it does not require you nearly as much to use strategy skills, as the first one does. If you have already read the reviews of Maria Padue "Strategy Game Fanatic" and D. Neal "Catlady", you may be quite appalled by this game by now. But before you decide that Zoo Tycoon 2 is definitely not the right game for you, just hear me out, because I think that they are both missing the beauty of the game. They obviously were both looking for something in the game that made them think and use strategy skills, and I think that that is why they particularly did not enjoy the game. However, if you are someone that likes to use their creativity, like me, I have no doubt that you will love this game.

The new tools and features are so much better than the ones in the first Zoo Tycoon. They allow you to build much more unique and realistic exhibits that resemble your animals' natural habitats. In the first one, the game only allows you to make box-like exhibits, and if you want to raise or lower the ground in an area, it will only do it in squares. In Zoo Tycoon 2, the tools allow you to shape the ground so that it looks natural. Also, the new biome brush makes it much easier to meet the environmental needs of your animals. The game allows you to construct the pathways, fences, and buildings diagonally as well, which gives you more options and lets you be more creative when you are building your zoo.

The new 3D effects are also absolutely awesome!! When I am in the zoo guest mode, I feel like I am really walking through a zoo. I love that it allows you to get a truly close-up look of the animals. (you can take pictures of them and put them in your photo album too!!) The new zooming and turning features are also very handy. I find it quite frustrating in the first Zoo Tycoon that the closest it will let you zoom in is still a pretty far distance away, and you only have four angles to view your zoo from. Zoo Tycoon 2 gives you the maximum "zoo-viewability", with almost every angle you can imagine. It makes it much easier to see things that you need to get to, like an empty food trough that is hidden behind a tree.

Also, the different playing modes allow you to choose how you want to play the game. I especially like the freeform mode because you can be as creative as you want while building a zoo. In this mode you do not have to worry about how much money you are spending in doing so because there is an unlimited amount of money that you have to spend. And even when you do want that extra challenge, you can go into the challenge mode, where you do have a limited amount of money.

Overall, I think Zoo Tycoon 2 is amazing!! They did an awesome job of making a new and improved version of the game. I definitely suggest that you buy it. I think the true challenge of the game is to use your creativity to build you ultimate dream zoo, and that's what makes this game so awesome!!

* If you want a better feel of the game, I would suggest going to www.zootycoon2.com. They have some awesome close-up screenshots from the game, info, and other cool stuff.*

I hope my review was of help to you.

I am a HUGE huge fan of the Zoo Tycoon series. Zoo Tycoon 2 is well worth buying - the graphics are amazing and the gameplay is quite addictive!

First off, the premise. You are the owner of a zoo. Your aim is to create the best possible habitats for your animals so they are happy - and to keep your visitors happy so they give you money so you can get more animals. It is just as important to educate the people as it is to sell gifts to them. It is critical that you learn what environment each animal enjoys - from the type of terrain to the trees, foods and other such items that they want around them.

Where Zoo Tycoon made you do this all through memorization, Zoo Tycoon 2 has really optimized things. Right on your animal screen, you have a zookeeper telling you what that animal enjoys. So your selections are automatically limited to the appropriate items. It's very easy to paint terrains, add in foods, shelters, toys and more.

Moving terrain up and down and changing its type does not cost money, so there is no fear of "how much will it cost to fill in this lake". That makes general construction MUCH easier, and you save up your money for building the fences, shelters and various gift shops that keep your zoo running.

While some of these changes are very common sense and make the upkeep of your zoo much easier, some of the simplifications actually seem to make the game TOO easy. For example, in the first game, it mattered where you put the trees and rocks. Some animals liked having a 'full' landscape to hide in, while others liked having trees along the edge and a nice big open area to run in. With this current game, they really don't care. Drop in a tree and a rock and they're happy. It gives me much less of a sense that the animals even notice what I'm doing.

There are the normal challenges, and the sandbox mode, so you can either tackle a specific puzzle or just play in a zoo to your heart's content. The prompts are always quite humorous and entertaining. The message in the game is clear - saving animals is important, and having happy animals is important. They emphasize donation boxes heavily - perhaps trying to encourage us to donate when WE go visit zoos.

The graphics are just amazing, and you can zoom right in to each animal. There is a 'camera' mode where you can walk around in your zoo from a first person view, taking action photos of creatures and things. It's really quite fun! There are the traditional clipping issues - sometimes the zebras seem to merge into each other as they turn around - but that's a standard problem in pretty much any game involving polygons and motion. It makes for some amusing photos of two headed horses :)

Highly recommended!