This is just about the ultimate sim game from a number of points of view. First, like SimThemePark and RollerCoaster Tycoon, you've got the whole "please-your-people" aspect. You want them to have pretty paths to walk on, easy access to food, drink and restrooms, rides and attractions to see. Your visitors love looking at animals, and the happier the animals are, the more the people enjoy their experience.

But in Zoo Tycoon, instead of "boring" rides that you merely maintain, you now have incredibly animated animals! Put in a pair of lions, and you'll find them running around with glee, chasing each other, and lounging on rocks you give them. If you don't give them an environment they enjoy (say arctic tundra with cactusses) they'll pout and growl instead. If they're content, they might even have lion cubs, that you can watch grow over time!

The game is great for kids, adults, and everybody in between. I have friends with 3 computers in their house and all 3 are running this at the same time, as each little zoo is being worked on. You can have lions, tigers and bears ... flamingos and ostriches ... black leopards and rhinos, elephants and giraffes. You can research the ability to work with endangered animals, build aviaries and other special buildings.

The scenarios are great. You take over badly-run zoos, and cringe when you see the concrete-and-steel tiny homes these poor animals had! The pleasure you get when the once-miserable animal runs around its new home, happy and content, is very real. Their free-form games mean that you can build yourself your ideal zoo, too, on any number of map-styles.

Highly, highly recommended as a game that will be enjoyed for months and months!

56 of 61 found the following review helpful:

Excessively COOL Game!  Dec 29, 2001

The lions have escaped, and the panda is very sick, and all of the guests are hungry, and, and, and! Running your own zoo is not always easy. Many things can go wrong, but just as easily they can go right. Like watching the polar bear playing with her new baby or winning awards. In Microsoft's game, Zoo Tycoon, you get to experience running your own zoo with great graphics and features, awesome gameplay, and new suprizes everywhere!

There many games that are great but have terrible graphics. Zoo Tycoon is different. It has many veiw points, and beautiful scenery. All of the animals actually look real and not like robots. The people wander around and you can tell what they're doing. Whether it's sitting on the picnic table or cleaning up Zoo Poo. In conclusion, this games graphics are one of its strong points.

The best part of playing games is playing them! ZT has many features such as baby animals and wild animal escapes that make ZT one step higher than the average computer game. The people are a challenge alone to please and the animals are a whole other story. It is not impossible though and it is fun to get awards and extra cash for making everybody happy with animal toys and burger stands. On the other hand, for the more mischeveous mind, it is just as fun to build a zoo just to terrorize it! So with a last word, ZT is a great game to play, not just to look at its box:)

If you would like to have the full challenge of playing this game with no hints, I advise you do not read the following paragraph.
As in most games there are cheats in ZT. Perhaps you were running out of cash, you could just push Ctrl-4 and you automatically get 10,000 bucks. (do this before you build anythin as it destroys your fences) Or if you were feeling very mean you could name a gueest Alfred H. and birds would come and freak out all the people. Alfred Hitchcock lives on! There are many cheats to either help your zoo or make the people miserable. You can find them on many Zoo Tycoon web sites.

Overall Zoo Tycoon is a great game for all ages to play and I highly recomend it. I enjoyed it!

Pros:
-Great graphics
-Cool Cheats
-You get to pick male or female animals
-The animals have babies
-Good information on the animals
-You get to design exhibits with foilage and decorations
-Freeform or challenge zoos
-In freeform you can have up to 500 thousand dollars
-Terrorize the zoo and its inhabitants with one click of a mouse

-Build a beautiful zoo to please animals, guests and yourself

Cons:
-It can be slightly slow at times
-You can only have right angles on the fences limiting creativity
-The people and animals can be to hard to please

Overall it's a very neato frito game

30 of 31 found the following review helpful:

A winner for all types of gamers  Dec 11, 2001
By Shannon B Davis "Nepenthe"
This is an excellent little game in the style of Rollercoaster Tycoon. It is quite suitable for children or non-gamers, because of its simple interface and unobjectionable content. However, it kept this long-time game player riveted for many hours.

You are in charge of a zoo, and the animals and guests are your primary concern. You'll spend most of your time making the animals happy, as guests are pleased primarily by happy, well-adjusted animals. The great cats are notoriously hard to please, but all animals have their demands - from a certain type of terrain, to toys, to shelters. You also have to consider the most suitable fence type to keep your lions away from your Thomson's gazelles. The most difficult portion of the game strategically is raising the money to afford all of these improvements.

The game includes both scenarios and free-form maps. I prefer the scenarios as they offer a challenge - for example, build a zoo with at least 6 different endangered species within 12 months. There are cheatcodes available to give you unlimited money, which could be fun in free-form mode to build one's perfect vision of a zoo. Imagine that you're building Disney's Animal Kingdom or your favorite local childhood zoo and you have the idea.

Microsoft/Blue Fang have released a number of updates to the game, including new exotic creatures. They also included a bug-reporting feature. If you do experience a crash, Zoo Tycoon will upload information to Microsoft for troubleshooting.

This game exceeds efforts of similar games, such as SimSafari. Its mass appeal makes it an excellent Christmas gift, and it's definitely suitable for children as well as adults. You won't have to worry about unnecessary violence or sexual content here - although the animals do produce offspring, there is no hint of how they did so. And if the lions do leap the fence and eat your gazelles, you won't be seeing any blood spatter. The lack of these elements doesn't spoil gameplay, while making the game stand out as a game that parents can feel comfortable sharing with their kids.

33 of 35 found the following review helpful:

Worthy Software Game!  Oct 31, 2001
By Clare
When I looked at this game without opening it, I thought to myself it reminded me of Roller Coaster Tycoon. The graphics are very detailed and wonderful! I tried and game out. Let me tell you, if you love RollerCoaster Tycoon, you will adore this game!

You can build secure exhibits so people can see animals like the elephant, penguin, and sea lion. But be careful. If you don't have a strong enough fence or a fence monkies can't climb out of, or your animals can escape and terrorize your guests!

There are many buildings to add to the fun like a Japanese Garden or Animal Show.

So all together, the gameplay is pretty much the same as RollerCoaster Tycoon, only this is a zoo instead of a themepark. =o)

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