World of Zoo Hands-On

From the maker of Zoo Tycoon comes World of Zoo, a game for the Nintendo Wii, DS, and PC that lets you get up close and personal with the exotic animals that we usually see cooped up in cages. At a THQ press event in Los Angeles, we were given the opportunity to wander into the virtual zoo grounds and play with penguins in their very own snow-covered habitat. World of Zoo veers away from the management side of things and lets you spend quality time bonding with the animals instead of trying to turn a profit.

The purpose of World of Zoo is to get in and interact with the animals, like you would never be able to do at a real zoo that didn't want to be sued. You'll find typical zoo animals, like giraffes, zebras, pandas, and tigers. There will be 95 species within 11 broad animal families, so there's plenty of cuddly wildlife to choose from. Not only that, but you can customize and create your own animals, so if you want a hot-pink penguin or a dinosaur, it's yours. In an earlier demo, we watched a Bengal tiger get a makeover--its mane, body size, nose, and whiskers could all be manipulated, as well as its voice. The physical appearance of the animals is only part of it; you can also give your custom creations their own personalities, which will affect how they interact with you at the zoo. Given that this is meant to be family-friendly fun, no matter the temperament you choose and how much you harass the animals, hostility doesn't seem to be a part of their DNA.

Before entering the exhibit, we had to first populate it with penguins. After choosing a few different species and giving them an entire makeover, we entered the zoo to begin the bonding process. At times, World of Zoo is similar to Nintendogs, in that the animals run up to the screen in an attempt to get friendly. Using the Wii Remote, you can pet them and bring up a menu to give them treats and toys to play with--or you can ignore them entirely. There's the ability to create a playground for them, so we built a giant waterslide for our penguin friends so they had something else to do rather than slide around on their bellies all day. We watched as the penguins immediately reacted to their new toy, and we guided them along by pointing the remote and tapping the A button. If you prefer a more confined space, there's a nursery specifically decked out for baby animals, so you can get some quiet one-on-one time. To document all your precious moments, there's a camera feature that lets you capture all the magic onto a photo album.

As you spend time with your animals, you'll build up a trust meter that determines your rank. Once you've made it to the highest rank--six in all--you gain the ability to hypnotize animals. To unlock more species, there's a list of achievements in the menu that you can try to obtain. There are challenges as well, which are in the form of minigames. One of them is a healing challenge, which is a stripped-down version of Trauma Center. You must determine what's wrong with your animal and then try to fix it. We didn't get to check out the grooming challenge or scavenger hunt, but the scavenger hunt sounded interesting because we were told that you'd be able to wander around the zoo trying to find presents. You don't have to go through the game alone, either; there's the ability to play with up to four players, with the first player controlling the camera, so your friends can join you on the couch and spend time with your exotic friends.

World of Zoo has an interesting art style. Its solid colors and sharp lines create animals that look somewhat realistic but cartoony at the same time. The build we played with was still in pre-alpha, so the controls weren't as responsive as we'd like them to be, but there seems to be a good variety of animals to interact with, and the personalities clearly come through in their loving expressions. You can play with an entire zoo full of wild animals when World of Zoo is released this Christmas.