Hey all huge zoo tycoon fan here, loved the PC versions by Blue Fang and was very excited for frontier to be taking on Zoo Tycoon. Just got done with the tutorials and playing for a solid couple hours there was HUGE improvements yet HUGE steps backwards. Lets start with the good.
Interaction with the animals. I thought this was a great feature it gave the player a strong connection with the very realistic animals in the game. They were absolutely spectacular. Another great addition was the buggy. Made it much easier then having to walk around. Also making it 3rd person point of view was imo a great plus but had a let down as well(will discus later) But if I were to say what they did right it would be
1. Animal interaction 2. The realism (in the economy aspects, zoo guest, advertising, etc.) 3. Easy controls that work seamlessly.
Now the bad. It seemed only the animals got a leap forward with the realism but imho frontier steered to far away from the original zoo tycoon formula. The simplicity. I don't want to have a "breeder" just to breed my animals. I don't want to have premade exhibits. What was so great about the original zoo tycoon formula was it let me truly build the zoo I wanted to build! Remember the challenge with trying to keep lions with a herd of zebra in a giant enclosure you built? Putting down as many trees, rocks, food dishes where ever YOU wanted to. Now I'm limited to what animals I can put together and what I cannot. Also the lack of variety of animals bugged me. What happened to the polar bears, penguins, moose etc. I guess what I'm trying to say is give us more FREEDOM and CREATIVITY.
I really hope this isn't the last time we see Zoo Tycoon on the console. I really hope there is a sequel to this game but vastly improved on the original zoo tycoon formula. Oh and hey frontier if you actually read this I would love some hybrids I've been dying to make a Liger since since zoo tycoon 1.
Interaction with the animals. I thought this was a great feature it gave the player a strong connection with the very realistic animals in the game. They were absolutely spectacular. Another great addition was the buggy. Made it much easier then having to walk around. Also making it 3rd person point of view was imo a great plus but had a let down as well(will discus later) But if I were to say what they did right it would be
1. Animal interaction 2. The realism (in the economy aspects, zoo guest, advertising, etc.) 3. Easy controls that work seamlessly.
Now the bad. It seemed only the animals got a leap forward with the realism but imho frontier steered to far away from the original zoo tycoon formula. The simplicity. I don't want to have a "breeder" just to breed my animals. I don't want to have premade exhibits. What was so great about the original zoo tycoon formula was it let me truly build the zoo I wanted to build! Remember the challenge with trying to keep lions with a herd of zebra in a giant enclosure you built? Putting down as many trees, rocks, food dishes where ever YOU wanted to. Now I'm limited to what animals I can put together and what I cannot. Also the lack of variety of animals bugged me. What happened to the polar bears, penguins, moose etc. I guess what I'm trying to say is give us more FREEDOM and CREATIVITY.
I really hope this isn't the last time we see Zoo Tycoon on the console. I really hope there is a sequel to this game but vastly improved on the original zoo tycoon formula. Oh and hey frontier if you actually read this I would love some hybrids I've been dying to make a Liger since since zoo tycoon 1.