That’s why students must possess essential knowledge before they start writing their essays. It needs impeccable research and editing skills, plus adherence to the predetermined formatting guidelines. The latter would have felt especially tough if the game didn't keep me updated on their status: often happy, having kids with a new mate in some far off country.Writing an essay is not easy. I minimized costs and maximized profits because I wanted to, not because I had to.Īnd yet, the game found ways to manipulate me into doing good: improving local living conditions, reducing visitor costs, releasing animals to the wild. If not, the game is just as enjoyable and cute. Complex management options, from setting advertising campaigns and ticket prices to upgrading a skill tree, are tucked away, waiting to be found, if you seek that sort of depth. I didn't expect to find depth, and so I didn't notice the game gradually training me to flip between perspectives, building, cleaning and repairing with the speed of a major league competitive gamer.įor a family game, Zoo Tycoon is commendable for not treating its players like children. The real work comes from late-game tasks like freeing large numbers of endangered animals or breeding rare types of animals, things I wouldn't have considered without the game's motivation. For every minute spent building something new, I'd lose two minutes to repairing displays and cleaning poop. The beginning is fun, but it's also work, like you've been tricked into whitewashing Frontier's fence. In the early hours of Zoo Tycoon, every action, no matter how small, is cause for confetti, a level increase and a slew of unlocked animals to adopt. The tasks exist more as a tutorial, a guide and a failsafe to stop you from leaving the game on all day and accumulating massive amounts of money without punishment.Įventually, you'll want to ignore most of the tasks, because they can be quite repetitive: I'm looking at you, repeated request to drive a buggy from one end of the park to the other in order to deliver coffee to my cruddy cafe. There are minor punishments for not completing these tasks within a relatively forgiving time limit, but not enough to distract you from creating the park you want to create or taking time to make kissy faces at tigers. The throughline for the game is an endless stream of tasks with roughly three available at any time. But cute critters does not a video game make. They yawn, stretch and scratch themselves like it's their job - which I suppose it is. Love and a little obsession clearly went into the animals, which look and behave like they could be transplanted into an adorable YouTube video. Zoo Tycoon is an attractive game despite the occasional frame rate issues and some jaggy character models. The art design carefully walks the line between cartoonish and life-like. The game calls to mind Kinectimals, another Frontier Developments game in which you play with impossibly cute baby animals. The game can be played in its entirety with a controller, but I supplemented the controller with the occasional Kinect-based animal interaction because I'm a sucker for hand-feeding giraffes - even if I know deep down they're just artwork and lines of code.Ĭo-workers cooed at the many soul-smotheringly sweet moments that happened with newborn rhinos and bear cubs. With Kinect, you can feed the animals, wash the animals and make faces at the animals and oh my gosh they make faces back it's so cute I'm just going to die. The tycoon character exists to help you better engage with the park and its dozens of creatures. Zoo Tycoon's best trick, and the reason I enjoyed playing it in a big room with lots of people, is the ability to switch at any time into a third-person character - a zoo tycoon, if you will - and roam the park you've constructed. While squinting on the couch, it was easy to imagine the game would be more enjoyable at a desk. The design calls to mind simulation games on PC. The screen is often overtaken by tiny pop-up updates written in tinier text not ideal for a television screen. Using the simple menu system and a circular cursor, you select a new display or restroom or concession stand and plant it wherever you'd like on a flat grassy map, gradually creating a sprawl of restrained wildlife. Much of the work can be done from an omniscient, birds-eye-view.
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