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Kids are STILL playing this

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 120 / 129
Date: November 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

We bought Zoo Tycoon and the expansion packs Christmas 2002 and our two sons (ages 9 and 7) are still spending lots of time with it. Without adult help they figured the game out and can win every scenario, although sometimes they like to let the dinosaurs out "just for fun" or create a "realistic environment" by putting bluefin tuna in the shark tank or lions in with the wildebeest.
The starter game isn't as much fun without the marina mania pack. The dinosaur digs pack is sort of bare bones, pardon the pun. All together it's given us a good year of entertainment.

Prepare to lose your social life

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 34 / 36
Date: April 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I don't write many reviews, but I just want to let everyone know that I think this is the best computer game ever made. You will not be able to tear yourself away from this game. If you've got kids, great--they can learn all kinds of things about animals. But, you can forget about your kids playing this anyway because you'll be the one sitting in front of the computer at 2AM every night building your dream zoo. I have never played a game where I found myself thinking about what my next steps are in the game after I turned it off.

Unfortunately, I'm a grad student who works, so I must STRONGLY recommend thinking before you buy this game--I've lost so much sleep because of it and I think I'm beginning to creep out my girlfriend.

But, if you've got time to play a cool game, then I highly recommend this one. I don't even play any of the scenerios--its too much fun just playing the freeform. Also, you can get a boatload of downloads to further your demise as a zoo dork.

Like me.

Parents Get Ready To Kick The Kids Off The Computer For This

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 31 / 31
Date: August 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection goes by its name, as it is zoo tycoon and all of its expansion put into 2 discs. You get the original Zoo Tycoon with the addition of the endangered species,dino digs, and marine mania expansion themes as well.

What makes this game so good is the simple fact that it has interactive simulations of animals, people, and marketing, meaning it'll try to go close to what real life is like. It also gives great information on the animals that are avail. which makes it educational as well. People nowadays live in a stressful and crowded life and sitting down and being your own boss for a change and doing whatever you want to do helps make life flow a little swifter.

With over 100 creatures ranging from komodo dragons, giant squids, and even the mighty T-Rex and with a HUGE asortments of items, the limits is bounded by only your imagination. With new updates, you can now train all your staff to work more efficiently and keep the animals alive and happy even longer.

However...the way I am is that I look on both sides of the picture...so here it goes.

Not So Great:

-Unless you have a family thats playing this and having a turn, by the time you finish playing several of the scenarios, you'll probably not want to play anymore or lose alot of your interest. Why? All the scenarios are sort of similar in objective: keep the animals happy, keep your ratings up, keep your guests happy, not going bankrupt, and adopt a large variety of creatures. The animals, by the way, all act pretty similar, just a very few differences. So its like playing it over and over again. This is especially so if you look at how the "pros" make their zoos and learn from it, because afterwards, its all just not that much of a challenge.

-This is indeed an educational game, but the fact still comes that little kids aren't too ready to sit and read and learn, its a game, people play games in order to get away from reading in a way. So if you have a little kid, sit with them, play along, and learn together is the best strategy here. Sometimes you also have to set them straight as this is also a game and whats known in here may be different in real life.

-The guests and staff are still dumb sometimes. Sometimes you just get the urge to smack them around a few times. Example: One of the guests are hungry so you think you'll do them a favor by picking them up and setting them next to a resturant. You do that, but they just walk right pass it and continue bringing your ratings down. Staff on the other hand, have improved greatly with updates, but is farrrrr from perfect. They will sometimes go right pass something you want them to do. OH well...its good enough I guess. I've seen real life people work and maybe the computer simulation is even better than real life...

TIPS ON THE GAME:
-Build resturants instead of other food items, resturants give the guests all the needs they want without the need to build multiple buildings and eliminates trash, so your zoo will stay cleaner.
-Use red bricks and cobblestone paths, they make guests happier. Also use flowers and decorate your zoo A LOT.
-Paths should be anywhere from 2-4 square blocks in width so that people can move around in congested areas and not feel too crowded. All paths at LEAST 2 squares.
-Too many people/animals make this game very laggy sometimes.
-Using the pause button can be very useful to help fixing problems.
-Clue: Animals sometimes don't know what they really want and so even though they might not want it or disagree upon something, doesn't mean it'll have a negative effect.
-Putting animals together make it neater and better. Example: White/Normal Bengal, Zebra/Wildebeast/Giraffe/Elephant/gazelle/etc, Chimps/mandrill. Just remember however to not put too many animals in one place as its harder to keepor make perfect.
-Put 2 animals, male and female of the same type if you are mixing animals.
-Build exhibit openings close together so a zoo keeper can handle as much as 4 of them.
-Put a lot of chairs around for people to relax.

If you have many kids, this is one fantastic game. Definately worth the buy, $20 is a great deal for something like this. Nice day everyone.

I have lost hours of sleep

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 28
Date: October 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

outstanding game! I also own Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, but when you're looking for an all-around fun game this does the job nicely.

(I like to see the thompsons gazelles frolic...they're cute!)

Great game, lots of fun, and highly addictive! Plus (if you look closely) the Orca Whales fart. Amusing!

Absolutely wonderful!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: January 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The appeal of this game is so broad that anyone from 5 years to 90 years can enjoy it. It crosses gender and generation! Whether you want to make a beautiful garden park with gentle gazzelles in it or create a fiery volcanic island where dinosaurs run free, this game has it all! A great bonus is that the game creators, Blue Fang, have regularly released free downloads to increase the appeal of the game such as new theme items, restaurants, and animals! The bonus items are easy to obtain and install and they add a lot to the game. But in my opinion the single greatest free download they offer for Zoo Tycoon is a program called APE, or Animal Project Editor, which allows you, the user, to create your own content for the game! If you want something that isn't included, you can make it yourself- or, if you haven't the ambition or skills, you can ask someone else to do it at one of the many thriving fan sites such as Zoo-Tek.com and chances are you'll get it before long, if it isn't already available somewhere. This game's popularity just keeps growing because it has such unlimited potential. Well done, Blue Fang, this has definitely become my favorite game.

FABULOUS

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: November 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

My daughter has played this for the past two years since she was 6. It was a little difficult at first for her until one day learning with an adult and she's been on her own ever since. Besides taking care of animals and literally setting up a zoo from the ground up, you are in charge of everthing from customer satisfaction at the zoo to money allocated. My daughter absolutely loves it and has really developed some amazing zoos for her age. It is addictive for adults as well.

The Best Computer Game Ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: November 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I got this game last year and I'm still playing it! Besides the Roller Coaster Tycoon series, this game is a lot better than some of the other Tycoon games, like SeaWorld Tycoon and Atlantis Underwater Tycoon.

Zoo Tycoon isn't really that hard to play. 'Play' in this sense meaning actually building a zoo. Making animal exhibits, hiring staff, making money, and keeping the guests happy is actually very simple if you're building a small zoo. However, once your zoo has grown to about a dozen exhibits, that's when the juggling act starts. Since staff wages (I think) are too high (On Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, the maintennance/handyman wage is only $5, as compared to the Zoo Tycoon wage of $300. $300 is more reasonable, but hey, it's a computer game!), monthly staff wages are the main cost. Also, since building exhibits cost so much (around $10,000 sometimes; I spent $21,000 creating a mermaid exhibit once), your zoo often looses a lot of money. Even though keeping a large zoo running can be hard, I think it's lots of fun at the same time.

I really like the expansion pack Marine Mania. I think that Marine Mania really added a lot to the game because of the added aquatic animals and show options. Dinosaur Digs wasn't as good, I think, because guests would only come see a T-Rex chew up a Stegosaurus egg, and then the fun was over.

Because of the big website Zoo Tycoon has, and the number of fan sites, it was really easy to download extra animals, objects, scenery, etc. Zoo Tycoon also has a lot of cheats as well, so I reccomend you go to the Zoo Tycoon website, (zootycoon.com), click on "Hints & Tips," and then click on "Secret Stuff" which can be hard to find sometimes.

Overall, I highly reccomend anyone who likes the Roller Coaster Tycoon series or SeaWorld Tycoon to immediately purchase Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection!

It Just Never Gets Boring

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: December 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Zoo Tycoon is a very fun game. At first I tried a demo with my friend and we were amazed at how much fun it was. We couldn't stop playing it. When I bought the Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection it was even more fun because you have a bigger varity to choose from like more animals, fences, paths, and alot of other things. You have a whole bunch of zoos to choose from. What's also cool about the software is the marine workers train the marine animals to do shows for the people that are visiting your zoo. The Complete Collection also includes Dinosaur Digs which means you get dinosaurs to put in your zoo. You can spend hours adding and making your zoo much better. With all the outstanding features it comes with you'll never get board. If you get so many people that don't think you are taking care of your animals, you will not be able to buy anymore until they are better. If you do not like your animal, you just sell it and get money for it. If you want to let you animals out of there cage you can, by just breaking the gate. They will come out and atack the people. With Marine Mania, you can make shows for the custmers. But in the mean time you must watch your budget. I think Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection is a exclent game! Thats why I gave it 5 stars.

3 in 1!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 15
Date: December 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I got the original Zoo Tycoon awhile back and played that game SO much for weeks! I also played both expansion packs - and got myself hooked all over again! Then I got a new computer, quit playing it for awhile to play some other games... and when I wanted to go play it again, I realized I had lost the disks! Argh! So, you can imagine, I was very pleased when the Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection came out - now I can buy all three together - YAY!!

The game is a lot of fun - one of my favorite tycoon games ever made. I am an animal lover though, so I am a tad bit biased. Basic idea of the game is that you build a zoo from the ground up! You build the cages, put water and plant and caves and houses in the cages for the animals - though each animal is different so its somewhat tricky! You have to get stuff for each cage that the particular animal likes.

Also, some animals are unhappy unless you give them a mate... but this has consequences! The animals in my zoos were always EXTREMELY prolific! Every few seconds some animal was having a baby (sometimes 2-3 babies!). This was fun, except when you get too many animals in one cage, it makes them all unhappy and crowded. You can sell the babies though, which can make you some cash for your zoo.

When building your zoo, you also get tons of pre-made exhibits to purchase - like an insect house, a snake house, a monkey house and tons more. You can't really do a heck of a lot with them, but the guests at your zoo like them!

The graphics on the game are decent, it ran well on my old computer and on my new computer - I never had a single problem with installing it and it never crashed. Beware though - it is EXTREMELY addicting! I would load it up sometimes and play for what seemed like a short while, look at the clock and realized 4 hours had passed!

the coolest game.ever.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: January 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

i love this game!!! it is so much fun!info for people who wanna buy it:

objective: build a fun, thriving zoo, and make guests & animals happy!

age: any age, really, but kids under 6 will need a little help, but older then that they should be able to do it on their own.

pros: fun, exiting, cute graphics.........ect.ect.ect!

cons: i cant think of any but that if you have the new version of xp it wont work unless you download a patch from zootycoon.com

perks: i like cheats, because it makes the game easier. if you want more money(make sur you do this BEFORE building exibits, because fences break) hold down shift+4 as long as you want, no limits, i think that 11,000,000 is about right for my zoo.

bye!

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