Zoo Tycoon 1 - Quick Review (PC game)

This game is Zoo tycoon the way it should have remained; good, simple fun. If you read my review of the latest Zoo Tycoon game for the Xbox consoles, found here, you'll know I hated it with a passion due to its lack of customization options. In this original game, that's one of the best features.Though everything may not be extensively detailed and with 3D interaction it’s still a fantastic and addictive game. This classic tycoon game is about building up a zoo and managing it to success, there is no limit on what you can build and the animals you can keep so you can fill your park right up. It’s all shot in an isometric view which makes it easy to see what’s going on and, despite the camera being fairly limiting on how much detail you can see it’s still enough to know where everything is at any given time. The graphics were, for its time, really good and even though they’re dated now they still look pleasant enough and is very similar in style to simulation games like Rollercoaster tycoon 1 and 2. Despite some graphical drawbacks the game is still nice and detailed and every animal looks just like the real thing. Guests differ from each other in only in their shirt colour and generally they just meander around and make gasping and ooh’ing noises at the animals.   

Not only fine looking but fun and educational. If you don't want to be educated, just ignore it.

Money isn’t a problem in this game as there are plenty of cheats to bolster your funds but if you want to play the game as it was intended then there are plenty of campaigns to keep you occupied, many of which are genuinely challenging. The campaigns often revolve around a theme such as conservation or trying to breed extremely rare and exotic animals like pandas or panthers. The variety of animals is immense and you very quickly unlock more, along with different kinds of foliage, buildings, exhibit features and decoration as time progresses. The addition of the expansion packs makes everything that much better and allows you to keep dinosaurs in immensely robust enclosures or, if you have the marine expansion pack, keep aquatic creatures like dolphins, sharks and whales. You can fund research into developing new, special things like additional shows for animal houses, rare animals and foliage, staff improvements and special toys for your animals that are necessary to keep them happy and occupied.

The game is surprisingly educational and you will most definitely learn a lot about animals from playing this, though it’s not in your face informative so it doesn’t feel like you’re being bombarded with facts about things. All in all, the educational aspect of it is optional as most information is contained in a separate tab. Keeping your animals and guests happy can be a bit of a struggle if you’re not used to this type of gameplay though as they often require very specific conditions. The happiness of the animals depends on the suitability of their exhibit and often requires an exact amount of foliage, terrain level, rocks, terrain types, animal house and a toy if they’re a playful sort of animal. To help you build the exhibit you will see the animal approve or disapprove of things you add to the exhibit and you can add and remove until it’s satisfied. It can be quite hard to get an exhibit perfect for particular animals who seem designed to be ultra-fussy, especially the mountainous creatures.

Unintrusive menu system, lovely isometric camera, fashionably dressed guests.

Guests are pretty easy to manage; they get hungry, thirsty, tired and bored by walking around in the park for long periods of time. You can keep them entertained with restaurants, fancy scenery, gift shops and interactive buildings like a petting zoo or elephant ride. All guests have a favourite animal, which is a nice addition, so they’ll be extra excited to see if you’ve got one of those in your zoo. There’s so, so many different items you can put in the park and you can very easily set themes across your zoo with special items and buildings for styles such as Japanese, snowy, jungle ruins, Mexican and desert. There’s something nice about being able to put down Aztec style temple restaurants and flaming torches among your Jaguars and Orang-utans.

Choosing where to put your own paths, what a revolutionary idea!

Overall this game has aged brilliantly and is as much fun now as it was when it was first released. It plays great on newer operating systems so there’s no worry about compatibility. Though the graphics and ability to interact directly with the animals is not present in this original version it just goes to show that you can strip away all the fluff and still be left with a game that is fun to its very core; no frills, just a great game. If you like simulation games that include animals or a system of management
then you’ll likely enjoy this retro pc game.

Score – 8/10

If you're currently playing Zoo Tycoon (Complete Collection or otherwise) then you may want to check out my list of cheats, codes and unlockables found here.