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Lots of Improvement

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 372 / 379
Date: November 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was going to resist getting Zoo Tycoon 2, having recently being disappointed by the update of Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 (which is NOT an improvement). I am, however, a simulation/strategy game addict--and I am happy to report that I don't regret giving in to the impulse to buy Zoo Tycoon 2.

The original version of this game was not one of my favorites. I found changing little squares of landscape and mending fences rather tedious for long term game play, not to mention only having income from entrance fees and food/drinks keeping my bank account in a permanent decline, and visitors loosing interest in the exhibits too quickly.

WHY THIS VERSION IS BETTER:
* 3D Animation - I tend not to care much about graphics in general, however these graphics are quite well done, and you can zoom in quite close to observe the animals. You can also click on any animal and find out what it's doing at any given moment.

* Photo Safari - In certain scenarios and challenge games, you can earn awards by taking pictures of specific events. Switching to a digital camera style view, you may have to take a snapshot of two animals, or an animal running, etc.

* Interactive Mode - You can switch to guest view, and walk around your park, getting a close-up view. Further, you can play caretaker and clean up after animals (and guests), clean animals and fill food dishes yourself.

* Donations/Income - Guests continue to visit all exhibits as the game progresses, and contribute donations at each exhibit. The more interesting the exhibit, the more they donate (they like biomes: exhibits in which the terrain, plants, rocks and animals are all appropriate to one another).

* Guest/Animal Detail - Similar to Roller Coaster Tycoon, you can view each guest or animal's specific needs, discovering which are fulfilled and which are not. You can also view lists of this information that can be organized by any category (which animals are pregnant, which guests most need a bathroom, etc.)

* Responsive Guests - In the previous versions, guests nearly dying of thirst would walk right by a soda stand complaining. Now they form lines (though they'll whine if the line is too long) or give an opinion ("I want something other than soda.")

* Atmosphere - Part of your score depends on the appearance of your zoo. Guests will get unhappy without fountains, arches and bouncy kangaroo rides to keep them entertained (and you'll get a message if too many of them are dissatisfied).

* Zoo Rating/Progress - As your zoo improves, so does your rating, unlocking more objects and animals.

* Exhibit Design - As with the previous version, you paint exhibits with appropriate terrain and fill them with the right vegetation for the animal. However, you paint in broad strokes, rather than micromanaging every square. Also, you don't pay for the change of terrain, which keeps the costs of building an exhibit much more manageable.

* Gifts to Wear - There's a different gift for each animal, and guests will buy those relating to animals they've seen in your zoo. You might see them walking around with moose antlers on their heads or peacock backpacks.

* No Broken Fences: The fences no longer deteriorate, so animals only escape if you use the wrong kind of fence, and predators will not kill other animals. Guests will still flee from escaped animals, however.

*Animal Adoption: No longer can you purchase unlimited flamingoes or tigers. A limited number and variety of animals are available at a time, the higher your zoo rating, the more species available and the more options you have. You can choose to pass on adopting a species, and it will be replaced by a random other species after some time that isn't already an option (but each level only makes certain species available, you need to earn 5 stars to get the rarest animals).

* Specified Research: Rather than having to research several things you don't want to get the one you do, you can choose the specific object you want to research next for a set fee. Objects available for research expand with your zoo rating.

WHAT IT LACKS:
* Number of Scenarios: I've had the game less than a week, and have already beaten most of the campaign scenarios. However, there are many challenge games still to be played. No doubt an expansion pack is already in the works to fix this.

* Number of Animals: There are only 30 different animals, mostly the same as those found in the previous version. However, there is a wide variety: for instance you have one species of tiger, one of elephant, etc. I imagine there will be an expansion pack to supplement this, too.

* Limited Initial Animal Choice: You always start out with the same three (Moose, Peacock and Camel) and need to establish them before more are made available, which gets a bit tiresome when you play a number of scenarios.

BOTTOM LINE: A family-friendly game, I'd say this is one of the best simulation games of 2004 (and I've played a lot of them). Easy enough for kids to play, but entertaining enough for adults. If you're a fan of Rollercoaster Tycoon or SimCity, this is an excellent choice.

This game is Awesome...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 79 / 91
Date: November 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I love Zoo Tycoon 2. I played the original & the expansions & loved them as well but Zoo Tycoon 2 is so much better. I really like the ability to build diagonically. The zoo looks much better with this ability. I also find it really neat that you can go into Zoo Guest Mode which allows you to walk throug the zoo & see what everything looks like from the guest's point of view. The Photo Safari Mode is neat also. It allows you to go into the exhibits & take really good pictures of the animals. Did I mention that the animals are a lot more realistic & easier to please? This game is really awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Its even better than the first

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 20
Date: November 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just bought this game today...and played it for a few hours. My initial impression is just "WOW look at all the new features". The world is MUCH more detailed. You can go into "zoo guest mode" and see everyting up close, as well as personally clean and tend to the animals yourslef. The animals are not nearly as picky as in the first game, and they reproduce easily. This game in some ways reminds me of the sims, but in a good way. The freeform has unlimited cash. The animals and people have little icons saying whether they are happy or not. My favorite part is all the cool animations they put into the game. The animals interact, the people have various actions. I see it as a great improvement of an already fun game.

Excellent Game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: June 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is just as addictive as many other Sim and tycoon-style games. It has excellent graphic detail and gameplay. All-in-all a `fun' game, but it does not support competitive multiplayer tycoon play, and has very few campaigns. The game includes several good features:

In-game downloading: downloading updates and add-ons is made very simple. If you are connected to the Internet, simply run the game, go to the download section, select the add-ons you'd like and install them.

First-person perspective: you can walk around your zoo and perform the duties of maintenance and animal care personnel, take pictures of the animals, or just enjoy the zoo and observe the animals close-up.

Playability: as mentioned above, the game in not multiplayer, but it does include three genres of play. Campaigns allow you to meet overall goals of a particular scenario, such as housing several species of endangered animals, or renovating a run-down zoo. The apparent lack of playable campaigns is an open door for future expansions. Challenges allow you to build a zoo from the ground up, taking pictures and promoting your zoo for extra cash. Freeform play enables you create your dream zoo metropolis with unlimited cash and a configurable map.

Technical note: reporting issues is not very easy using the software or the Zoo Tycoon 2 website. I found a bug specific to my configuration where if the installation is canceled while installing to a directory that is a mounted NTFS drive, the drive mount is removed. None of the data is disturbed, but as I said, reporting the bug was not very simple.

New and Improved

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: April 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Compared to the original Zoo Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon 2 offers new and better scenarios and tutorials, more realistic animals and exhibits, and provides you with a greater interaction with your patrons and animals. In the first Zoo Tycoon, you were only allowed to make very boring square exhibits. However in Zoo Tycoon 2 you are allowed to build realistic exhibits, using the biome brush you can create one that greatly resemble the animals' natural habitat.

This game allows you to take a "hands on" approach in your zoo. You can be a worker or zookeeper and clean up after animals and guests, clean animals, and fill food and water dishes. You can take pictures of significant event in your park or everyday things and in some scenarios you can earn awards for some of these pictures.

In the first Zoo Tycoon when you researched to get object that would better your park you would have to go through several things you don't want to get the one you do. In this Zoo Tycoon you can choose the specific object you want to research next for a price You also get better choices as the rating in your zoo increases.

While in the first Zoo Tycoon you were able to see your guests and animals needs it was very hard to make everyone happy. You would have a thirsty or tired guest and they would walk right by the bench or soda stand. In 2 you can view each guest or animal's specific needs do what needs to be done to fulfill those needs. While the patrons cooperate and interact with you by making logical choices.

Your fences no longer rust and break allowing your animals to escape and create chaos in your park although guests will still flee from an improperly enclosed animal. I highly recommend Zoo Tycoon 2 and I hope this has been of some help to you in making your decision on buying the game.

Zoo Tycoon 2 rocks!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: September 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is exellent. I loved the first Zoo Tycoon, but I love this one better. It's even better than Zoo Empire. You can pretend to be a guest and walk around your zoo in Guest Mode. I loved that but my favourite feature is being able to release animals back into the wild! It's worth every penny!

Zoo Tycoon 2...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 20
Date: September 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Zoo tycoon 2 is Great! so worth Buying Even if you have Zoo Tycoon 1! So much more Realistic! My favorite thing to do is Make a Eco System... Like Fence in the Main Front Gate and Make the Whole Land one Big HUGE Animal Cage Then Fix up the Land Scape for like African Animals (or whatever kind of animals I want to put in it)... Then Make Herds of Zebra.. Eliphants.. And anything else that Lives in Africa Then Also Set some Lions and Cheetas Free in there and Watch and see what they do.. I love the Cycle of Life.. Its great to see the lil babys :-).. Zoo Tycoon 2 is Much more Real then 1.. The Lions Actualy get to Eat there Prey and they get to Drink out of the Rivers Instead of there water Dishes.. and The Zebra Get to eat the grass Insted of Bales of hay (and they also drink from the rivers) The one thing I wish they would have done is Make the Prey animals Smarter and Stay More in herds then go off and Spred out also it would have been great if they Made them More Aware of the Lions.. Insted of just running if they r attacked (The rest of the time there like sleeping next to eachother) I found that the smartest Prey animal in the game is The ring Tailed Lemor (Rain forest animal) They stay in groups and Give alarm calls!

Hey and if anyone knows of any other games that are Just wild life and/or Eco (...) -Thanks!

Fun Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: July 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I love "tycoon" games of all sorts. Zoo tycoon 2 and its expansion packs are great and most of the scenerios are fun (if not a little time consuming). You can zoom in and walk around the zoo like a guest as well as save yourself some money (in the game of course) by doing the zookeeper and maintenance tasks yourself.

This is a great, educational game for kids. They'll learn about many different animals and conservation efforts. It's also the sort of game that you could sit down and play with your kids.. help them out with planning and ideas and read about the different animals with them.

I'm also happy to see that Microsoft is donating money from the sales of this game to the World Wildlife Fund.. all the more reason to buy it :)

I wasn't expecting to be bored...but I am.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: February 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

While the updated 3D graphics are very cool, I'm actually quite bored after playing for 3 days. The selection of animals, buildings, etc. is very small, even in freeform where everything is available and money is unlimited. I am ready to go back to playing ZT complete collection.

First, The paintbrush tool that just paints a swath of appropriate land type, vegetation, rocks, etc. is cool, and takes all the guesswork out of making the habitat correct for the animals...but it also takes the challenge as well. I'm basically just sitting watching my zoo animals wander around their perfect habitat while my zookeepers make a beeline for the nearest bench every chance they get. What fun is that?

Second, there is no way to tell if what you are doing is having a progressively positive/negative impact on the animals or guests; they are either happy or not. If they're unhappy, there's no clear way to figure out what's bothering them and how to fix it. E.g., the animal has a low social rating... Huh? Does he need more animals or fewer animals? A mate? A keeper? All the other animals in the exhibit are deliriously happy. Who knows? That's not fun.

Also, both keepers and animals regularly fail to figure out how to reach feeding bowls, etc. that are right in front of their noses. The keepers are even bigger idiots in this game than in the first. I'm so tired of all the "can't reach" error messages I want to scream.

I think the thing that bugs me the most is that the animals often kill their mates, for no discernable reason. Then, you can actually sell the dead carcass for money! Why was that necessary? Eeeewww!

On the other hand, this would be a great game for a 7-year old.

Whoever they consulted on making this game should be shot...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: March 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

What in the heck?? The 3D effects are good. But where's the challenge? Where's the strategy? Making the "perfect" exhibit is no longer a challenge. I remember in the original having to have hills, mountains and the like to make certain animals happy. Now all it takes is a click of the mouse and the biome is "spray painted" into place.

If the animals are unhappy, you have no idea what exactly the reason is (unless it's overcrowding, then they do tell you). I don't mind the limited selection as much as I mind the fact that you don't get any rewards (other than a certificate) for breeding endangered species.

One feature I found disturbing was that if the animals are unhappy (usually the big cats), they can kill each other! I had my black leopards and snow leopards doing that all the time. And what is really nasty is that when they die, the dead one becomes one of those carcass containers for the meat!! The others eat it! And the zoo keepers can refill it. That is just too much of a gross factor for me.

And the zookeepers! They are so brainless. They are unable to manage to walk to a food trough or a water dish even if these things are unblocked and not even near anything that could be in the way. They never seem able to get to the poo either. So you get about a million (no exaggeration) messages "Zookeeper cannot reach the big cat poop" and "Zookeeper cannot reach the hay" etc, etc. It is SO annoying. And so they just sit there on the benches unable to "reach" anything.

The photo safari feature is okay, and I can see where people might like it. Though, I got tired of "Take a picture of a red panda resting in a tree" and the like.

I disliked the "guest/third person" mode. I only have used it to clean up the poop and refill the food and water dishes that the zoo keepers are unable to do.

If you loved the first Zoo Tycoon and its expansions for its scenarios and challenges - do not get this game. This game is very informative and might be fun for younger kids but it gets boring really fast and is not challenging at all like the first one. If I had known what it was like before buying it, I would have saved my money.

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