Zoo Tycoon 2 Review

Although the game does look childish, what I really loved about Zoo Tycoon 2 was the way animals acted. They all behaved as they do in real life, making exactly the same noises, engaging in the same activities, displaying the same psychology. It felt great watching them eat, play and procreate. I was a part of that process and I really enjoyed it (you were part of their procreation process??!! -Ed). If you in any case don't like animals, you won't understand my joy as I watched two little cubs play with a ball two times their size or as I participated in the silent happiness of a female moose who's just given birth to two little mini-moose, or whatever they're called. Unfortunately, the game suffered from some tiny bugs, so sometimes strange things happened. In one exhibit I had two horny bastards (I don't know the bastard's name; I just know it lives in the mountains and has horns, dammit!).

The boy had been lonely so I brought him a girlfriend to occupy himself with and wow, was he happy. They chased each other, over hillocks and the small artificial lake, and the guests gathered in front of the cage and cheered. After half an hour of this, I looked at the bastards and they were making their hundredth circle around the lake. I decided something was wrong so I picked them both up and stopped their sick little game. All their stats were critical: they were hungry, thirsty and decidedly horny, but in the good way. They simply were "stuck" in their game and would have continued to run until they dropped dead had I not stopped them. Luckily, these things don't happen too often, but you'll learn to pay your animals a regular so that things like this don't happen.

Zoo Tycoon 2 now runs on a new 3D engine that does not only make things look beautiful, but also helps you to build and decorate your Zoo better and decide about the position of the exhibits. By rotating the camera, you can now build with more ease and you'll always know what you're doing. While your staff and guests look nice, the biggest attention has been paid to the animals, which are rendered with a lot of accuracy and detail. They all look and move very realistically, just as their surroundings. For a tycoon type of game, Zoo Tycoon looks good, especially when you switch to first-person view - and while you're browsing around in first person, why don't you make some use of your camera and take some photos of the animals that you'll later put in your photo album. The game does not sound that good, though, as the audio effects are not varied enough. Guests always make the same kind of noises, just as the animals do, so after a while they will start repeating themselves. I had the impression the atmosphere was too quiet for a Zoo which is always full of different animal noises.

Another complaint I have with this title is the fact that the frame rate will drop significantly if all options are set up to maximum and you're playing on a large map. Sometimes it would take me a minute to scroll from one part of the Zoo to the other. This only happens when your Zoo is crowded with people, visitors and buildings, as it does not happen with smaller Zoos with fewer objects on the screen.

Taking everything into consideration, here is how I feel: Zoo Tycoon 2 looks and plays good. It does have that irritating childish feel and some minor bugs, but if you're an incorrigible animal-lover such as myself you will love it, for one and one reason only, and that is its addictiveness. Although it is lacking in number of scenarios and difficulty levels, this is an incredibly fun game to play, and although you may not be able to shoot the humans, you can feed and tend the animals, which will give you that happy, warm fuzzy feeling. After all, this game does not have any major flaws or downsides, it is easy and fun to play and you can indulge yourself in it for many hours. It's not all about competition, it's rather a virtual simulation of a Zoo where you can simply spend some pleasant hours with animals, watching them play, give birth and eventually die. Especially die. (Freak. - Ed)