Zoo Tycoon review

After filling your zoo with animals, you can take a walk through it, camera in hand, and snap them as they explore their new enclosures. The photo album ticks off each new animal as you snap it, and with certain rare species like albino rhinos only arriving once you build a breeding centre, it will take a lot of play the before you’ve seen the entire bestiary. You can’t wander into the enclosures, despite being head keeper, so you’re stuck snapping photos from the fences rather than getting truly up close.

Zoo Tycoon isn’t exactly stretching the Xbox One’s limits, but fur looks reasonably convincing in motion

The furrier animals might look convincing up close, but overall Zoo Tycoon does little to truly push the Xbox One’s new hardware. The game runs at a native 1080p and has a distinctive art style, with each animal having detailed facial expressions and convincing behaviour. If you stick to the top-down view you won’t appreciate the more subtle animations or the accurately captures roars, trumpets and neighs of your collection.

There’s not much in the way of wider commentary on keeping animals in captivity, although it is at least refreshing to see Microsoft use Zoo Tycoon to raise awareness of global conservation efforts. Once the animals in your zoo reach a certain level, they can be released into the wild; beyond the material in-game awards and Xbox achievements, the company has pledged to donate $10,000 to charity every time players release 1,000 animals of a certain species. Arguably this is little more than a marketing stunt, but it’s still a welcome move on Microsoft’s part.

interacting with your animals is the best way to keep guests entertained

On the surface, Zoo Tycoon has the cuteness factor that will appeal to children and animal-loving adults alike. It’s easy to get in to and a joy to play thanks to a simple menu system and beautifully realised and accurately animated animals. Dig a little deeper and you’ll soon discover the simulation is fairly basic, the challenge is minimal and the time required to breed every possible animal is significant, so there may not be enough of a draw to return once the Xbox One gets an expanded set of games.