"Campaign" mode directs you through a series of themed scenarios. The better your zoo's fame score, the more objects you'll get. "Challenge" games offer limited money and limited objects. If all you want is to release your inner park planner, that's the game type for you. You can select "freeform," to play with all objects already researched, no time limits, and no money issues. Zoo Tycoon 2 includes three types of play modes. Music doesn't exist at all in the game except in the menu system, unless you purchase a "music rock," an object that projects music to customers. People speak in gibberish, cheer for the animals, and make other crowd-type sounds, and the animals make their appropriate noises, but the sound just doesn't register as interesting. The sound is less impressive than the graphics.
It's a minor annoyance, but it's odd that this game excluded that feature. You can zoom, rotate, and move, but you can't tilt the camera to a position more to your liking. The only disappointment with the 3D camera is that the pitch is limited in overview mode. The first-person view also allows you to use the camera to take pictures. You can even take over the roles of your employees, such as cleaning and feeding the animals and sweeping up trash, if you're so inclined. There's a lot more detail this time around.Īnother benefit to Zoo Tycoon 2's switch to 3D is that you can enter the park in a first-person view and walk around. You can even see them with their gift shop purchases, so a customer who purchased a peacock backpack will be wearing it. One nice touch is that whenever a customer has something from the park, such as an ice cream cone, you can see them carrying it. The customers are far less detailed, but they do come in a variety of ages, genders, and races. The flora and fauna look terrific, with animals that move realistically and flowers and trees that look quite attractive up close. You can modify the terrain to add mountains, hills, valleys, and more, all with simple modeling tools (and it doesn't cost you any money). The first major change in Zoo Tycoon 2 is the jump to full 3D, and the game looks fabulous as a result. Blue Fang Games and Microsoft have gone and created a tycoon game that looks good and plays well, even if it's not exactly a title for the serious strategy gamer. That's the driving mechanic behind Zoo Tycoon 2 (instead of, say, Cages Full of Bored Animals 2), a sequel to the best-selling tycoon strategy game that improves in almost every way on the original. And customers spent more money when the animals were happier. Fortunately, zoo managers soon learned that their animals lived happier, healthier lives in exhibits simulating their natural habitats. Then, as in the first game, they can then modify the climate and elevation of land on their lot, to create ideal conditions for the new animals they plan to bring in.Īlthough most of us are probably too young to remember it, there was a time when most zoos were simply concrete and steel cages full of bored and depressed animals. Players can consult detailed, in-game information about each species they are considering adopting. As in earlier versions of Zoo Tycoon, creating good habitats to house the animals will be central to a zoo's success. While players can still take an encompassing top-down view of their parks, they now can also zoom in, to follow behind individual patrons as they explore the zoo or give up-close and personal attention to an animal in need.
This sequel, from the same parties responsible for the original, aims to recapture that winning mix, and present it with full 3D graphics. With its "tycoon"-style business sim elements, its honest and detailed approach to real zoology, and some nice promotion from publishing giant Microsoft, Blue Fang's original Zoo Tycoon sold very well and remained on store shelves for an unusually long time, inspiring at least two expansion packs along the way. Virtual zookeepers return to their computer screens, to care for exotic animals and the people who come to visit them, in Zoo Tycoon 2.
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