Planet Zoo Reviews

Planet Zoo is ranked in the 83rd percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Digitally Downloaded
Matt C.
Top Critic
Nov 25, 2019

Ultimately, Planet Zoo is to zoo management games what Planet Coaster is to theme park management games—a spiritual successor to tycoon games of days gone by, with more depth and more freedom for creativity than ever. Some of the more complex elements can take a while to really click, but when they do, Planet Zoo becomes an engrossing experience.

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Cubed3
Top Critic
9 / 10
Dec 5, 2019

Nearly flawless, Planet Zoo is a masterpiece of tycoon simulation, and is one of the most relaxing, engaging, and fantastical pieces of entertainment of 2019. It's a showcase of fun mechanics, and it really draws from the wealth of experience in Frontier Developments as a developer. It's impossible not to recommend this to anyone who has even a passing notion about the genre. Get this!

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BaziCenter
Danial Karimi Tar
Top Critic
8 / 10
Dec 5, 2019

Planet Zoo is a very entertaining title for the fans of strategy genre, as good visuals, smooth gameplay, great customization features and a huge amount of animals and insects to play with in the Zoo, make it one of the best strategy games of 2019.

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8.7 / 10.0
Dec 16, 2019

I suspect that many players will have an uneven time with Planet Zoo. At times, it's pretty straightforward and provides the player with plenty of feedback so they can improve their zoo. Other times, the game has you digging around in areas that are unnecessarily tough to figure out, with tutorials that barely touch on the feature (if at all). The thing with Planet Zoo is that it is so charming and appealing that the fun parts outweigh the frustrating ones. It's not a perfect game in the genre, but it is one of the best ones you can play right now.

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8.5 / 10.0
Dec 16, 2019

A tremendous game that really pushes the boundaries. Both an excellent educational resource, and a superb time sink. This would be a perfect-scoring title if it wasn't for a few too many bugs and stability issues, but I still recommend it incredibly highly.

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8.6 / 10.0
Nov 11, 2019

Planet Zoo is the ultimate video game for people you like to play animals but don't want to put them in cages in real life. This is also the best game ever for people who are looking to try their hands at managing a virtual zoo.

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9 / 10.0
Dec 11, 2019

In the end, I had a blast playing through Planet Zoo. Sure there were a few hiccups once a while with some minor glitches and some features that I feel need improving. But the amount of creativity you can achieve, the fun and varied game modes, stunning visuals and appeal, and more. It’s so hard to let these minor flaws affect my experience. If you’re looking to get into these types of simulation/management games, then Planet Zoo is the best way to start. And if someone who loves these types of games like Zoo Tycoon and Tropico like I do. Then I promise you will have a great time!

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9.5 / 10.0
Nov 15, 2019

Planet Zoo doesn’t shy away from being a deep theme-park sim as it manages so well to be friendly to newcomers in this kind of game. What I love the most about Planet Zoo is its in-depth gameplay mechanics. I immediately fell in love with the game after the first level of Career Mode. I’ve spent a lot of hours here than on Jurassic World: Evolution and I’m continuing to spend more time cranking up my zoo’s rating and trade animals with another player. Frontier Developments, you guys definitely need an award for this.

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Nov 13, 2019

Despite its unapproachable first few hours and some severely rough edges, Planet Zoo is one of the best tycoon games of the year. It offers near-limitless potential through its construction and exhibit tools, while Frontier’s visually stunning animals feel authentic and supremely detailed. With some patches, there’s no denying Planet Zoo could wind up being something extraordinarily special.

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Ben Dye
Top Critic
7 / 10
Nov 18, 2019

An amazing portrayal of real-life zookeepers at work, with all their dedication and accomplishments on full display for all to see.

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8 / 10.0
Nov 18, 2019

Despite the odd issue, Planet Zoo is easily the best modern zoo management title available today.

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Recommended
Nov 13, 2019

Let's talk about building! With the career mode, you'll have a pre-built zoo for the first couple of levels whilst you learn the ropes. Slowly, you'll be made to build habitats for your animals, how to fill said habitats with animals, and how to keep them happy behind the glass. There is also small exhibits--things such as spiders and snakes to take care of in the very same fashion. It's not straightforward and there's many factors to consider when bringing the animals in and getting them settled it, but to me that was the fun of it. I loved reading guest comments about how my hippos looked particularly content, or how my tigers appeared well fed as they sat belly up to the Sun.

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Rapid Reviews UK
Chloe Osborn
Nov 20, 2019

Frontier has also been great at communicating with their audience, letting us know when updates are available and what they’re for, as well as when franchise mode is down for maintenance. They’ve really created something special here, and I couldn’t be happier with how Planet Zoo has turned out!

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9 / 10.0
Nov 24, 2019

Enter and create the animal kingdom of your dreams in Planet Zoo, micromanaging never looked or felt so awesome.

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B
Nov 25, 2019

Your mileage will depend on your tolerance for digging through layers of text, but if you can stomach that you will find a wonderfully satisfying zoo experience. Come for the cute animals and stay for the satisfaction and pride found in creating a thriving animal sanctuary.

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8.5 / 10.0
Nov 12, 2019

I see and understand some of the frustrations from other players, but this game is just too good and has too much to offer to just be tossed aside this early in the game’s life. If you a fan of the simulation genre then I fully recommend Planet Zoo.

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Nov 15, 2019

Planet Zoo has some balancing issues and explains certain concepts poorly. Once the game is understood, however, it offers such loveable inhabitants and deep simulation that its shortcomings can be forgiven. The game shows how difficult running a zoo ethically can be, but also convinces the player how worthwhile that endeavour is by offering adorable animals at every turn. It is clever, complicated, and perfect for animal lovers.

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8.5 / 10.0
Nov 10, 2019

The simulation aspects are a big step-up from Planet Coaster and Frontier have been pretty quick to resolve some of the biggest problems with the game during its launch. While the online marketplace and steep learning curve may put some people off, Planet Zoo is a beautiful zoo tycoon game nonetheless, chock full of educational content mixed in with realistic animal behaviour. It’s not perfect but it’ll almost certainly serve as a worthy replacement for Zoo Tycoon for the time being.

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Nov 8, 2019

It’s clear that earlier Frontier games like Kinectimals, Zoo Tycoon and Planet Coaster have been stage-setters for this ultimate zoo sim. Whether you enjoy theme park builders, economic sims or most importantly, creating the zoo of your dreams, Planet Zoo will satisfy you, but be prepared for an order of complexity that the previous games managed to avoid, or at least hid a little better.

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8 / 10.0
Nov 19, 2019

Even with all of its faults, it really is hard not to love this game, Every time the UI bugs me, or a keeper gets stuck, I just head to a habitat, sit and watch the baby Panda’s walking around with their parents, or head to the chimpanzees to watch them play and socialize and all of sudden I’m reminded of why this game is so great. Planet Zoo is so close to getting a platinum thumb, If only the UI was a little easier on the eye and the path-building wasn’t so frustrating. Planet Zoo more than deserves the Gold Thumb!

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