Since you can meticulously customize your zoo in Planet Zoo, you'll likely paint yourself into a corner more than once. Some of the problems I faced due to ignorance or a nasty case of "being a dummy" include losing power to half of my zoo and populating an exhibit with animals terrified of people. Speaking of mistakes, you're going to make them.
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And Planet Zoo features a reasonably robust series of tutorials that teach you pretty much everything about the game's systems, though, in true management sim fashion, you can jump right into Franchise mode and learn from your mistakes on the fly. Tigers will leap out of their exhibits and terrorize the guests if you don't build the walls high enough.Īll of this is stuff you learn about as you get further into the game. Some animals will benefit from having multiple species in the same exhibit I had a group of warthogs living in harmony with some antelope and a few giraffes, for example, and they were all the better for it. Two animals will fight for alpha status if a mate is in the exhibit with them. Previously, Frontier has touted how much research went into the design process for all the different critters, so that they behave as close to the real thing as possible, and it has paid off in game. You manage other aspects of your park as well, such as its shops, its walkway layout, and its staff, but the animals are the big attraction. Instead of plotting out rides for your customers, however, you'll design and build up an animal sanctuary. The controls are mostly the same, the avatars are similar, and the way you access the different build functions is similar to previous Frontier games. Eat the Night, Drink the Timeįor better or worse, Planet Zoo's interface is instantly familiar to anyone who has played Planet Coaster. The animals here are the stars of the show and, once your zoo starts humming along, you'll find yourself entering the game's cinematic mode and just sitting back to watch your critters live their best lives. Here's part of the game's Steam page description:Ĭonstruct detailed habitats, manage your zoo, and meet authentic living animals who think, feel and explore the world you create around them.ĭeveloper Frontier Developments has a relatively impressive track record with management sims, dating back to RollerCoaster Tycoon (and the more recent Jurassic World: Evolution and Planet Coaster), so you know you're getting a quality design in Planet Zoo.
What's so impressive about Planet Zoo is that you probably know from the description whether it's a game you'll like or not.
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And via Steam-Workshop it is also possible to share these creations with others or just import the most beautiful buildings of talented builders into your game.It's a well-crafted management sim that gives you a tremendous amount of freedom in designing precisely the type of zoo you want, albeit requiring plenty of trial and error to get there. The game offers hundreds of different construction elements and objects, from which we can assemble pretty parks and buildings.
The title’s greatest strength, similar to Planet Coaster, is the creative building. However, the economic part of the game is somewhat less demanding. You can learn a lot about the different species of animals and with research programs, reintroduction and some asynchronous multiplayer elements, it also offers a depth that is rather unusual for the genre. With Planet Zoo, they brought a completely new edition in 2019, which, in addition to the economic aspect, brings an enormously deep simulation of the animals’ needs and extremely detailed, sweet and cute presentations. In addition to Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, they have also developed the very popular Zoo Tycoon for Microsoft.
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In recent years, their greatest successes have been the space shooter elite Dangerous, as well as the very popular business simulation Planet Coaster and the Jurassic Park-based spin-off Jurassic World Evolution.įrontier has a lot of experience in the business simulator field. The game is developed by the British studio Frontier Development, who have been making games since the mid-90s. If you haven’t seen or heard anything about Planet Zoo yet, here’s a very short introduction.