Zoo Empire

I have always had a love for tycoon style games and Zoo Empire was one that I paid full price for back in the day. Clearly games like Zoo Tycoon were a massive inspiration for this game. While it may lack the finer details that other tycoon style games have, I do feel that there is some fun to be had here and its simplicity is one of the things that makes it stand out from the rest of the pack.

Welcome To My Zoo

If you have played any tycoon style game before then you will know what to expect here. In Zoo Empire, you are tasked with building your dream zoo. While you, of course, need to have a solid selection of animals for people to check out. You also need other attractions, facilities, places to eat, stuff to sell and you also need staff on hand to keep the part ticking. The game is a little bit rough in the visual department. Even when the game was released back in 2004, this was not exactly what you would call a looker.

Animal Care

A major aspect of the game is looking after your animals. This starts from you building an enclosure and home for them that is going to meet their needs. For a game from 2004, there is quite a bit of freedom that it gives you to do this. However, you also need to have zookeepers, vets and so on to care for the animals, not to mention making sure you feed and look after them properly.

The Life Of A Zoo Keeper!

The main gameplay mode on offer in Zoo Empire is the career mode. Here you have to create your own zoo, get new animals, and make sure you are turning a profit so that you can keep the doors open and the animals cared for. It is much easier said than done and in the early part of the game, you will be struggling to break even. Eventually, things click. You have “missions” to do and when you do these you are usually rewarded with a new animal that you can add to your zoo.

There is also a sandbox mode. This mode is a lot of fun as it does exactly what it says. Here you have free reign to make your own zoo without the financial constraints of what you have to deal with in the career mode. I like messing around with this mode as it lets you create your dream zoo which is very addicting.

I would have to say that when it comes to tycoon games, Zoo Empire is quite a basic one. There are other zoo games that are much more in-depth than this one. Yet, I found myself having a great time and spending a lot of time with it. I found fun in its simplicity and the career mode had a great sense of progression where I always felt like I was on my way to getting a new animal or something else to add to your park.

Pros:

• It is a fun tycoon style game
• Making your own zoo is fun
• You have lots of animals that you can add to your zoo
• It is a game that is very easy to get into
• The career mode has a great sense of progression

Cons:

• It is a tad on the basic side
• It is not a very nice-looking game

I Bet That after looking at that title, you're expecting yet another management sim in the same vein as the Tycoon and Theme series. Predictably, you'd be right. Zoo Empire is the follow-up to last year's Restaurant Empire (what do you mean you've never heard of it?), and draws several close parallels with the bafflingly successful Zoo Tycoon. The game offers a freeform sandbox mode for you to design and build your own zoo in from scratch, with nothing but a wad of cash and a plot of land. There's also a career mode containing around 21 zoos for you to manage, the first few of which act as a rather drawn-out tutorial.

Although it seems like there's a fair bit to get to grips with, it's actually nowhere near as deep as it first appears. Once you've marked out some pens, stuck some beasts in, hired some staff to look after them and erected some money-grabbing food outlets, there's not actually that much left to do.

The look is reminiscent of Theme Park World - colourful, but not particularly detailed - although the animals have been put together with some charm. This, coupled with the lack of any real challenge, makes the game a reasonable option for animal-loving kids, but not a lot more. And no, you don't get to watch elephants having it off...