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This game is Awesome...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 17
Date: November 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I love Zoo Tycoon 2. I played the original & the expansions & loved them as well but Zoo Tycoon 2 is so much better. I really like the ability to build diagonically. The zoo looks much better with this ability. I also find it really neat that you can go into Zoo Guest Mode which allows you to walk throug the zoo & see what everything looks like from the guest's point of view. The Photo Safari Mode is neat also. It allows you to go into the exhibits & take really good pictures of the animals. Did I mention that the animals are a lot more realistic & easier to please? This game is really awesome. By the way, the pen that you get with this game is very cute. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Incompatible

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 13
Date: November 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

We have tried to get this software to work on 3 of our computers, and have had no luck. The game installs, starts to play and then bleeps out. My hubby even tried it on his new IBM lap top and the same thing happened. My 6 year old son is heartbroken.

What is the different ?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 18
Date: November 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

What is the different between Zoo Tycoon 2 with Bonus Animal Pen (Monkey or Tiger) and Zoo Tyoon 2 only ?

Zoo Tycoon 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 18
Date: November 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

To start I'd just like to say I think this is going to be a great game. I can't wait until I can get it. It hasn't come to where I live yet (I live in Canada) but it should be here anytime now I'm sure! The graphics look certainly better than the first, but the best looking thing about this game is the fact you can get up close and personal with all your animals, (especially if you go into the new Zookeeper mode I'm hearing about). I think the photo mode is going to be cool too, because since you own the "zoo", you can actually go inside exhibits and take pics of the animals. The biome brush tool I read about on the website looks like it's going to make it a lot easier to make exhibits too. You can also mix animals in the same exhibit, without the lions chasing after those gazelles and eating them in one big cloud of dust like the original Zoo Tycoon. Overall this is going to be an excellent game. (I totally can't wait till Christmas now, so I can get my copy.)

Love the Sequel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: November 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have tested it on 3 machines and it installs and plays without a hitch.

Here are the requirements as posted on the official website:
Zoo Tycoon 2 requires a personal computer with the following minimum requirements:
A Pentium 733 or higher processor.
Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, Windows 2000, or Windows XP.
256 Megabytes (MB) of RAM.
900 MB of available hard disk space (requires the CD in the CD-ROM drive to play the game).
A 4× CD-ROM drive.
A Direct3D-compatible super VGA display adapter with 16 MB of VRAM.
A keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.
A sound card and speakers or headphones for audio.
DirectX 9.0b or later (included on CD; see below for installation instructions if not installed automatically).
Internet access for optional downloadable content.

If your computer meets or beats the above, you should have no problems

The difference is...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 16
Date: November 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The difference between this version and Zoo Tycoon 2 is that this version includes a ballpoint pen, either one with a monkey on top or one with a tiger on top. Mine came with the tiger, it's a nice pen, don't know if I would have gone out of my way for it.

Otherwise the games are the same.

and so far it plays fine on my computer.

not better just different

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: November 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

We have Zoo Tycoon 1 and all the expansion packs. They run fine. This game is veeery sloooow at times. In some aspects they have made the game easier. The animals are far easier to please and you don't have to know much about them or their enviroment. Just hire a zoo keeper and you're set. The graphics that allow you to walk through the zoo as a guest are interesting but it is also frustrating to get where you want to go. Overall until the price comes down, the earlier version is a much better game for the money.

Lots of Improvement

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 71 / 74
Date: November 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was going to resist getting Zoo Tycoon 2, having recently being disappointed by the update of Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 (which is NOT an improvement). I am, however, a simulation/strategy game addict--and I am happy to report that I don't regret giving in to the impulse to buy Zoo Tycoon 2.

The original version of this game was not one of my favorites. I found changing little squares of landscape and mending fences rather tedious for long term game play, not to mention only having income from entrance fees and food/drinks keeping my bank account in a permanent decline, and visitors loosing interest in the exhibits too quickly.

WHY THIS VERSION IS BETTER:
* 3D Animation - I tend not to care much about graphics in general, however these graphics are quite well done, and you can zoom in quite close to observe the animals. You can also click on any animal and find out what it's doing at any given moment.

* Photo Safari - In certain scenarios and challenge games, you can earn awards by taking pictures of specific events. Switching to a digital camera style view, you may have to take a snapshot of two animals, or an animal running, etc.

* Interactive Mode - You can switch to guest view, and walk around your park, getting a close-up view. Further, you can play caretaker and clean up after animals (and guests), clean animals and fill food dishes yourself.

* Donations/Income - Guests continue to visit all exhibits as the game progresses, and contribute donations at each exhibit. The more interesting the exhibit, the more they donate (they like biomes: exhibits in which the terrain, plants, rocks and animals are all appropriate to one another).

* Guest/Animal Detail - Similar to Roller Coaster Tycoon, you can view each guest or animal's specific needs, discovering which are fulfilled and which are not. You can also view lists of this information that can be organized by any category (which animals are pregnant, which guests most need a bathroom, etc.)

* Responsive Guests - In the previous versions, guests nearly dying of thirst would walk right by a soda stand complaining. Now they form lines (though they'll whine if the line is too long) or give an opinion ("I want something other than soda.")

* Atmosphere - Part of your score depends on the appearance of your zoo. Guests will get unhappy without fountains, arches and bouncy kangaroo rides to keep them entertained (and you'll get a message if too many of them are dissatisfied).

* Zoo Rating/Progress - As your zoo improves, so does your rating, unlocking more objects and animals.

* Exhibit Design - As with the previous version, you paint exhibits with appropriate terrain and fill them with the right vegetation for the animal. However, you paint in broad strokes, rather than micromanaging every square. Also, you don't pay for the change of terrain, which keeps the costs of building an exhibit much more manageable.

* Gifts to Wear - There's a different gift for each animal, and guests will buy those relating to animals they've seen in your zoo. You might see them walking around with moose antlers on their heads or peacock backpacks.

* No Broken Fences: The fences no longer deteriorate, so animals only escape if you use the wrong kind of fence, and most predators will not kill other animals (i.e. crocodiles won't go after flamingoes, but lions will hunt gazelle given the opportunity). Guests will still flee from escaped animals, however.

*Animal Adoption: No longer can you purchase unlimited flamingoes or tigers. A limited number and variety of animals are available at a time, the higher your zoo rating, the more species available and the more options you have. You can choose to pass on adopting a species, and it will be replaced by a random other species after some time that isn't already an option (but each level only makes certain species available, you need to earn 5 stars to get the rarest animals).

* Specified Research: Rather than having to research several things you don't want to get the one you do, you can choose the specific object you want to research next for a set fee. Objects available for research expand with your zoo rating.

WHAT IT LACKS:
* Number of Scenarios: I've had the game less than a week, and have already beaten most of the campaign scenarios. However, there are many challenge games still to be played. No doubt an expansion pack is already in the works to fix this.

* Number of Animals: There are only 30 different animals, mostly the same as those found in the previous version. However, there is a wide variety: for instance you have one species of tiger, one of elephant, etc. I imagine there will be an expansion pack to supplement this, too.

* Limited Initial Animal Choice: You always start out with the same three (Moose, Peacock and Camel) and need to establish them before more are made available, which gets a bit tiresome when you play a number of scenarios.

BOTTOM LINE: A family-friendly game, I'd say this is one of the best simulation games of 2004 (and I've played a lot of them). Easy enough for kids to play, but entertaining enough for adults. If you're a fan of Rollercoaster Tycoon or SimCity, this is an excellent choice.

TOO MANY BUGS

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: November 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

We highly anticipated the release of this new version of Zoo Tycoon. All I can say is SAVE YOUR MONEY. This game has so many bugs you should call the exterminator. We printed off TWELVE PAGES of fixes and I finally gave up and took it back to the store. I was running it on a brand new computer with all the bells and whistles too. Unless you want to spend needless time tweeking every little setting on your computer and then still possibly not getting it to work .... I'd stick with the original version. THIS GAME SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN RELEASED. I feel they rushed it for the holiday shopping season. Too bad.... left a sour taste in my mouth for "NEW AND IMPROVED" .

The Next Generation

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 105 / 110
Date: November 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've waited with baited breath for Zoo Tycoon 2 to come out for quite awhile now, followed the previews and developer interviews, and purchased it as soon as I could. New campaigns, better graphics, fun objects, 30 animals! I couldn't wait to get it installed. Started playing and this review is a result of that. Conclusion: Zoo Tycoon 2 is a great game. But is it as good as the original Zoo Tycoon?

This time round you have 3 modes of play: Freeform, Scenario and Campaign. Freeform is pretty self explanatory, whilst scenario mode allows you to play different zoos with no main objective, just little in game challenges you can accept or decline. If you complete enough of these in game challenges you gain access to new themed objects (jungle and safari). In Campaign mode you get a zoo and have to complete specific pre determined goals. They are locked so you have to go through from beginning to end. Some were quite fun, a pity I went through them in a day and a half though. Sigh. Not long enough in my opinion, but hopefully expansion packs will provide us campaign hungry players with more.

An important aspect to pay attention to in Zoo Tycoon 2 is the fame rating (represented by stars in the top left of your screen). Various factors such as number of animals and guest happiness are combined to give you a star rating from 1-5. Each new rating opens up new objects (both zoo and animal types), animals, and plants/rocks. Adoption of animals (unless you have an objective that limits your usage of adoption) is a bit like a slot machine. You can place the animals or decline the offer, in which case another animal (which takes awhile to get) pops up depending on your star rating. Varied animal types with detailed graphics, objects, and actions can be accessed eventually.

Zoo Tycoon 2 is much less animal oriented than its predecessor. Biomes can be combined in slip slop ways, most of the advanced objects are not really needed unless you want the guests to be entertained, and often times the animal is available long before plants/rocks from its biome are. The layout of the animal objects and biomes menus is much improved and lots of neat new objects are available though.

The guests are your standard tycoon fare, having wants and levels of that want. Fun, Food, Drinks, Benches all of these and more are necessary to make your guests truly content. There are loads of decorative objects and path laying and deleting of objects is a snap with some new systems. And user created content, let's not forgot the infinite possibilities of that. When laying out fences you can choose to do so in freeform, square, or line manner. So the game is more manageable than before in zoo layout manner.

One thing I didn't like was the default resolution and zoom power. I had to up mine to 1280X1024 to be able to view the zoo from a far away enough distance to make it all manageable. The zoom (when using the mouse button) is a bit awkward to use, and does not go very far out. And be prepared if you're graphics card, cpu and processor aren't at least average at this point you most likely will not be able to play this game.

I really like that a lot of the campaigns have you rescuing abused animals or taking over zoos with unhappy animals. And you no longer "sell animals" you can release it into the wild (yay) or give it up for adoption. Most people who play games like this tend to like animals, and I found this added a happy nice feeling to the game if you know what I mean.

The graphics are bold and beautiful, detailed and colourful. No complaints in that department. There is a wander mode where you can become a mechanic/zoo keeper/pedestrian and the graphics move smoothly and look good even at this close a range. And it is quite amusing (and handy if you're low on cash) to empty trashcans, fill food dishes, and clean animals (amongst other things).

Zoo Tycoon 2 is a great game - fun for all ages. But does it surpass its predecessor? In my opinion as a control obsessed tycoon/simulation lover ALMOST but not quite. Of course the graphics are better and the numerous improvements are remarkable, but the game play isn't any deeper. Quite the contrary. The game has become much more "kid friendly" i.e. easier and while this is great for kids, for serious tycoon players who want full control and a bit of a challenge Zoo tycoon 2 falls short. But in its own right, when not compared to the wonderful Zoo Tycoon and with recognition of the fact that this one has no expansion packs or patches as of yet and can become a whole lot more, its a FABULOUS game. So if you liked the first, or want a game the whole family can enjoy rush out and get it.

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