Zoo Tycoon Reviews
A simulation game fan looking for a hardcore micromanaging experience might want to look elsewhere, but for anyone else, Zoo Tycoon offers a whole lot of fun - with an important and oft neglected side dish of education and awareness raising.
Zoo Tycoon's animals are adorable, but a clunky interface prevents this management sim from reaching its potential.
Zoo Tycoon is a game that knows its target market and embraces it wholeheartedly. It may not be the deepest or most challenging simulator out there, but it's a great option for those with young children and its charm is simply undeniable.
Building exhibits and interacting with animals in Zoo Tycoon isn't much fun when you're fighting with this menu system.
The game struggles a little over the mid-to-long term: the difficulty doesn't fluctuate much and, soon enough, you're merely turning the cogs rather than responding to thrilling challenges, but Zoo Tycoon is pleasant and engaging, even in its absence of spectacle.
Zoo Tycoon has a distinct lack of depth, but if you're capable of sitting down with this simplistic simulator, you'll smile more times than you can count. The simulator fan in me was a bit disappointed by the ease of it all, but the child in me couldn't help but enjoy myself.
Zoo Tycoon overcomes some small issues with charm and a good heart
A fun demonstration of the Xbox One's capabilities but unfortunately much more a stealth sequel to Kinectimals than it is a proper Tycoon game.
There's definitely a zoo, but where's the tycoon?
Zoo Tycoon's biggest crime is its lack of ambition. With all the power behind it and a renowned sim-orientated brand, it's as if family specialists, Frontier, wasn't sure which crowd to cater too. Despite that, the pseudo-deep sim game is feature-heavy and an ultimately enjoyable ride.
Frontier Developments caught my attention with a game that promised "Tycoon" style sim management and, yes, the ability to play with adorable animals. What I didn't expect was how deep and satisfying the sim would be.
Frontier Developments' park sim is gorgeous, does a fine job exploiting Kinect, and is surprisingly fun regardless of age.