This is a polished, full-fledged, very fun game. You’ll buy it for your kids so they don’t feel left out of the next-gen joy, but once they go to bed you may well end up spending as much time designing your dream zoo as they do...Maybe more.
The Xbox One episode of Zoo Tycoon has both the strategic elements of the PC games and the cool direct interaction granted by the new Kinect hardware. If you're looking for a deep single player and multiplayer experience with gorgeous looking animal 3D models, this is the game for you.
There's huge satisfaction to be had from building your zoo, observing the animals and watching all the graphs go up. It's just a shame that over time, as the novelties wear off, the lack of depth makes it hard to keep coming back.
For all its shallowness, I couldn't help but fall for Zoo Tycoon. While its charms may indeed be too quickly exhausted, they're potent while they last, and there's an overpowering wholesomeness that's difficult to resist. There are a lot of great ideas, wonderful moments and potential memories to be made here that make it more than worth a look, but much like my experiences with real-life animal parks, Zoo Tycoon becomes less likely to delight upon each subsequent visit.
For all Zoo Tycoon’s charms, it’s ultimately too shallow; there’s only so much cooing at identikit baby animals you can do before the inevitable fatigue sets in.
Be ashamed, Frontier! Where is the depth and the fun of Rollercoaster Tycoon? Even on the DS Zoo Tycoon was more entertaining than here. Yes: The animals all look great and you can interact with them – but this ain’t Kinectimals 2!