User Reviews (1 - 11 of 213)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Another Good God Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 58 / 60
Date: October 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game takes up a lot after the Theme Park series but is a lot more in depth and better in my opinion. You have to keep the customers and your zoo animals happy. You hire animal handlers, tour guides, and clean up crew. If you played Theme Park you will find this game has a lot of the same tests and struggles. You have 50+ different animals to choice from and you get to choose their sex (Yes they reproduce). Now making the pens for your new found friends is fun! You start out with green grass... you have to make the enviroment for all the critters from the jungle to the artic from rocks to waterfalls. This is indeed an intense game. If you like god games you will probably like this...

Excessively COOL Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 55 / 60
Date: December 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

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

Great Fun for All Ages

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 44 / 48
Date: January 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The tycoon games get more and more fun as each new one comes out - the developers definitely learn from past experience and build suggestions into the new versions. Zoo Tycoon, the latest release, is about as fun and addictive as you can get!

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!

Worthy Software Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 32 / 34
Date: November 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

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)

OK!! My turn now!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 32 / 32
Date: November 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Common words in my house over the past couple of days. Now Microsoft even owns my four kids! From 6 to 16, my kids can't leave this game alone. And when my wife or I try to play, all we hear are complaints, "When are you gonna be done?"; "It's MY turn now!"; "We haven't eaten for three days!" ...stuff like that. Not since 'The SIMS' has my house gone through so much turmoil. Loading this game for play in my house is like watching lions battle for dominance in their pecking order after a kill on National Geographic.

It's a true credit to this game, that they have made it simple enough for my 6-year old to play (and do pretty well), yet challenging enough to keep my 16-year old off the phone for hours.

You start with any one of a LARGE number of open terrain maps of varying sizes and shapes for your zoo. Build an enclosure, make it good so the little animals are happy, adjust the terrain, add plants and toys, get a trainer, reasearch new items, skills for your workers, flora and fauna, as well as new places for your customers to go. You even get awards for different accomplishments! This game really has it all! AND if I ever DO get bored of being the all time #1 Zoo Tycoon in my family for all available maps, I have plans for terrorizing guests with a "SUDDENLY IT'S A WILD ANIMAL PARK!!" idea...

Buy the game. You'll see what I'm talking about - just don't tell your kids you have it for a few weeks.

A winner for all types of gamers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 29 / 30
Date: December 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

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.

It's Better Than I Imagined!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 21
Date: October 23, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a huge fan of zoos, but Zoo Tycoon (ZT) is better than I imagined! To sum it up, this is an AWESOME game!!!

I'm a newly married graduate student working on my Ph.D. I have been waiting patiently for a sim that comes close to the near perfection of the Rollercoaster Tycoon (RCT) series. Now the wait is over! I tried the ZT demo and was so hooked that I purchased the full version the very next day. The game play is amazingly similar to that of the RCT series, so fans of these games should have no problem.

For those of you who don't like to spend tens of dollars on sequels, you'll be happy with ZT since you'll find that they won't be necessary. ZT comes loaded with tons of animals, scenery, guest attractions, and other features that will ensure that no two zoos will ever be the same. [Picnic tables are even included...a pet peeve of mine about the RCT series.] There are 13 scenarios provided, but for those who prefer freeform zoo construction, there are dozens of options for you as well. You can even alter the amount of money you begin with so money will not be a problem if you truly want to rid yourself of constraints.

There is quite a bit of precision that is involved in playing ZT, from providing just the right balance of terrain types and foliage for each animal exhibit, to replacing worn out terrain and fencing. Most of the buildings can also be customized by painting their roofs. In addition, you have to be mindful of the number and gender of the animals you place in each exhibit. If conditions are right, the animals will have babies. If not, your animal population will start to decline due to illness, old age, or (sniff) an untimely death.

I'm sure that as players explore the challenges of ZT, there will be some talk about what is not currently available and should be in future sequels. I for one will spend countless hours enjoying ZT as is. ZT is a wonderful addition to the world of sims!

Fun, fun, fun...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 22
Date: November 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game brings a new challenge to the typical "Tycoon" games. Not only do you have to please your visitors, but you have to keep your animals happy. Each animal requires a specific habitat, and it's a challenge to keep your animals happy, while still maintaining an enjoyable visit for your Zoo guests. There are many different animals, and it's fun to add money to research to see what animals, and other stuff becomes available.

There is also a freeform version to the game, so you can have as much money as you'd like, and just go crazy building an amazing zoo.

If you enjoy "Sim" or "Tycoon" games, you will definitely get hooked on this one as well!

Enjoy!

WOW

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If your not carefull you will loose track of time playing this wonderful game! its fun, to build and also kinda fun to stick diffrent animals with others and see what happens, no blood and gust, just a cloud of smoke and stars, (like an old looney tune cartoon)

Fun Fun Fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: September 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Zoo Tycoon is simply in one word FUN! I am a huge fan of sim building types of games but Zoo Tycoon is different. It is a wonderful concept of a game. I mean who doesn't love a good Zoo? I have personally recreated the Audobon Zoo in New Orleans among other custom zoos. This game runs smoothly even on my dad's slow Compaq system and runs absolutely amazing on my machine. I know that it might not be a crazy First Person Shooter game with a ton of gore, but watch out when your tigers escape and munch on your visitors. Quite simply put, this game is fun and will entertain for hour after hour for people of all ages. Trust me, I got my dad and my girlfriends mother to attempt the game and they were both hooked on the game for a couple of months. I readdicted my father with the Dinosaur Digs expansion pack and we still play. I have created one particular zoo that I am extremely proud of that is very glamorous and have possibly sold the idea to a major city in our fine USA. I have to keep that top secret as far as where it is...sorry. Anyway go out and buy the game, give it a shot, you will not be disappointed.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions