Zoo Tycoon Reviews
Frontier Developments' park sim is gorgeous, does a fine job exploiting Kinect, and is surprisingly fun regardless of age.
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.
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.
There's definitely a zoo, but where's the tycoon?
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.
Zoo Tycoon overcomes some small issues with charm and a good heart
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.
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.
Building exhibits and interacting with animals in Zoo Tycoon isn't much fun when you're fighting with this menu system.
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.
Zoo Tycoon's animals are adorable, but a clunky interface prevents this management sim from reaching its potential.
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 is a great casual game with plenty of enjoyable animal moments, but the experience is marred by an over-emphasis on simplicity and a terrible menu interface.
From a mechanical standpoint, Zoo Tycoon works quite smoothly, but a ridiculously low agent cap severely detracts from the game's longevity.
There's huge satisfaction to be had from building your zoo, observing the animals and watching all the graphs go up. It's just a shame that over time, as the novelties wear off, the lack of depth makes it hard to keep coming back. But who knows? Perhaps a future update will introduce monkey butlers.
... Zoo Tycoon is an addictive effort that rides in with just enough content for a good play.
Keep in mind that Zoo Tycoon will most likely keep your kid's attention way longer than it will keep yours, and that's fine, it's that type of game. But where Zoo Tycoon cuts corners to appeal to a wider audience, it also alienates it with overly cumbersome menus.
Zoo Tycoon may be one of the lesser known Xbox One titles, but it's not one of the lesser quality ones. With four modes, a deep interface and multiple activities, it's clear that a lot of effort went into its development.
You can take a certain hypnotic bliss from simply working along calmly and peacefully, making sure that your park is running as smoothly as it can and improving the conditions for your ever-growing menagerie of creatures. This game was never going to be he bombastic launch title that blows the minds of gamers. Zoo Tycoon is a different pace of game for a different type of player. With the Xbox One Microsoft are looking to create a device that provides all forms of entertainment, for everyone, and a game like Zoo Tycoon certainly shows their commitment to creating a broad base. It may ultimately be a little shallow, but it has bags of charm and there is more than enough on offer here to provide hours of animal magic.
Though creating a zoo is pleasant and breezy, after building several zoos with all of the animals, you've pretty much experienced the lion's share of what Zoo Tycoon has to offer.