Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Apr 10, 2022

  I loved the original Zoo Tycoon game and I was really excited to play this one. It's quite different from the original game, so if like me you bought this expecting an improved Zoo Tycoon experience, then I really get why many people were disappointed. Pros: - enjoyable graphics - beautiful exhibits - mini exhibits! - lots of new animals - fun zookeeper view mode - animal variety and different species for each animal type Cons: - cannot custom design exhibits anymore - limited exhibit item slots - did not like the path layout - did not really enjoy the time limit for campaign and challenges (I just like to build and enjoy my zoo and like taking my time thanks very much) - missed some animals like camels, On the whole, it's a really different experience from the old game. I kinda miss it, but I still enjoyed this one.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 8, 2022

  If you played the original two Zoon Tycoons back in the early 2000's and wanted this to try and get a blast of that familiar Zoo Tycoon nostalgia, this is not the game for you. You can't customize exhibits or anything like that. I regret spending the money on this honestly.
• Gaylord

  Oct 3, 2022

  TL/DR; buy this on sale if you just want a simple, cute game you can turn your brain off for because this is a game for that. If you're expecting it to be like its predecessors do not buy it expecting that, this game is nothing like them and only uses the name as a cash-grab (standard for Microsoft). Mechanically, it also doesn't work well on mouse and keyboard as it's poorly ported over from Xbox, but if you have a game-pad (or don't mind the clunky keyboard controls) then go ahead! I think it's fun despite its simplicity. I'm going to start this off by saying that I have always loved the Zoo Tycoon franchise. I remember one Christmas I was incredibly excited, unpacking my Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection game when I was 7 or so (even though it was several years old by that point) and that I'd desperately wanted Zoo Tycoon 2: Zoo Keeper Collection for my birthday when it had first come out (and then the same when Zoo Tycoon 2: Ultimate Collection came out a few years later). I played the demos for the new Zoo Tycoon 2 dlcs as they became available and would replay them again and again *for hours*. It's safe to say that Zoo Tycoon 2, especially, is my all-time favourite game, no matter how many years it has been. Zoo Tycoon (Xbox release: 2013 / Windows release: 2017) is not like the other games in the franchise. It bears no resemblance to its "predecessors" and the only thing it has in common with the previous free-form titles is that they all are zoo management games. That's it This game is simple and easy to learn and very obviously aimed at young children in my opinion (because it lacks free-form). In spite of that, I enjoy it! It's cute, fun and looks nice! It is one of those games where you can almost turn your brain off for, not needing to pay much attention and only needing to keep everything in the green (animal needs, animal variety and guest needs), but that's about it, really. Aside from the poorly ported controls, but you can remap your keyboard controls so it's not as bad as it could be. The game's downfall, and reason for so many negative reviews, is that Microsoft wanted to market this game as a carry-on of the franchise without actually putting any thought into why the game franchise was so beloved and successful in the first place, let alone 21 years later (at the time of writing this, it was 12 years when the game was first made for Xbox and 16 when it was brought to Windows). Because of that, the game doesn't feel like Zoo Tycoon and the fans who grew up with the series tend to hate this game and what it means. That brings me to reason 2 of its downfall: the target audience isn't the original fan-base. The game's target audience is children - young children - not the adults who grew up with the franchise (or the teens for those like me who were born around/after the release of the first game). I think the game is fine if treated as removed from the franchise, which is how it should be treated. But I do like turn-off-your-brain type games because they're chill. I hate that there isn't a change speed option tho but the series has never had those.
• 本斯

  Oct 4, 2022

  ---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☑ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☑ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Difficulty }--- ☐ Just press 'W' ☑ Easy ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Significant brain usage ☐ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☑ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☐ Isn't necessary to progress ☐ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☑ No Story ☐ Some lore ☐ Average ☐ Good ☐ Lovely ☐ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☐ Average ☑ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☑ Worth the price ☐ If it's on sale ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☐ Never heard of ☑ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☑ 8 ☐ 9 ☐ 10
• helen.f.keleher

  Oct 12, 2022

  Bought this thinking it would be an updated version of the original tycoon games, but was very disappointed. The UI, building, and gameplay were instantly clunky and unintuitive, and the fact that I can't even make my own custom enclosures was a dealbreaker. Part of the fun of the old games was the ability to "tetris" together unique enclosures, adding to them and expanding over time, and they made it super easy to lay out paths and buildings too. So if you're looking for a replacement for Zoo Tycoon 1 or 2, do not get this game: hoping my refund will go through, because otherwise this was a huge waste of money.
• satans asshole

  Nov 27, 2022

  I am a veteran of tycoon games. Especially Blue Fangs hit franchise, Zoo Tycoon. So when this game was announced, I was over the moon. I remember playing Zoo Tycoon 2: Ultimate Collection on my PC every day after school and even now as a grown woman, I still escape to its choppy graphics and comforting sound effects after the monotony and harshness of adult life and work as an underpaid middle-class American. This game did none of that. This game gave me nothing but a headache and the urge to play the game that was released ten years before this one. For all its impressive graphics, this game has nothing nostalgic or charming about it. If anything, it has taken part of that nostalgia and wiped its a-- with it because its gameplay is so simple and creativity bankrupt. There is none of the creator control here that existed in the previous games. Habitats are already pre-built for you and you have little liberty in where you want animals, flora and toys placed. That is like a cardinal sin in any tycoon game, if this can even be called that. I have so little to say about this unremarkable mess of a game that I cant even make this review last more than a couple paragraphs. Unimaginative, lackluster money-grabbing, 3.4/10 tripe not worth 20.00$. Go on Amazon and purchase a digital key for the Zoo Tycoon 2: Ultimate Collection. That is a game worth your time, energy and creativity.
• SilverBlade

  Dec 26, 2022

  If you want the a classic fun sand box game that you grew up with. don't buy this. it isn't it.
• Reaper

  Jan 21, 2023

  Took me 5 mins to realise you can't feed your guests to the animals so i uninstalled.
• Ankhesenpaaten

  Mar 22, 2023

  THIS IS NOT ZOO TYCOON! If you are looking for the original Zoo Tycoon, look elsewhere. This is a very awkward playing game. It insist on having you walk a character around the 3d zoo - even following prompts for this action is difficult. I did not even make it through the tutorial. It kept saying 'see what your elephants need'. Well, whatever it was, I am sure my virtual elephants are dead now, because no matter how hard I tried, I could not get it to let me take care of them. It continued to say 'press space', well... pressing it brought up the Animal Care menu, but when pressing the only action that it allowed me to do - did not open the care window. Some games were not meant to be so-called 'improved' upon. Give us the original Zoo Tycoon. This game stinks. Just like the remake of Roller Coaster Tycoon that they insisted on making 3d :( At least I only paid $5.00 for this garbage. Terrible, just terrible.
• ♥♪♫♥

  Apr 21, 2023

  Don't buy this game if you're thinking "Oh, I just want to play Zoo Tycoon like I grew up with. It is nothing like that game, it sucks. It's all first person and tedious. I played the first few tutorial levels and it's buggy and bad.