Zoo Tycoon 2 Impressions - E3 2004

Microsoft is on hand at E3 2004 with the sequel to Blue Fang's best-selling 2001 strategy game Zoo Tycoon. Unlike the original game, Zoo Tycoon 2 will be a fully 3D game with a host of improvements that are intended to make the game both more engaging for strategy game veterans and easier to use for beginners. Like in the original game, in Zoo Tycoon 2 you must build a zoo full of animal exhibits to draw in visitors who will provide you with revenue. However, the new game's 3D graphics engine lets you "terraform" your exhibits (creating hills and valleys that can be filled with bushes or streams of water), and it also lets you quickly and easily modify your exhibits by using a paintbrush tool to "paint over" terrain in your exhibits. So if you wish to turn your desert rhino exhibit into a frozen polar cave, you only need to click your paintbrush icon on the ice terrain, then "paint over" the desert.

Zoo Tycoon 2 will also feature a more streamlined feedback system that won't force you to build an exhibit that is exactly the right size with exactly the right number of trees and bushes in order to keep your animals happy (as the original game sometimes did). In fact, exhibits won't even require any kind of fencing or cages. Instead, you'll be able to fulfill your animals' needs by either micromanaging them (manually feeding and grooming them) or by hiring attendants to care for them. Animals that are housed in appropriate environments and that are treated well tend to be happy, at least until noisy human visitors arrive at your zoo (which may make your animals nervous and unhappy). However, visitors will be your primary source of revenue--you'll earn about 25 percent of your cash through concession stands you can build throughout the park, but the other 75 percent will come from donations made by happy guests. As you might expect, happier guests will donate more money, though the best way to make them happy is to make sure they have enough happy animals to see. Essentially, you'll need to balance your guests' happiness against your animals' happiness, though you'll do so in a way that directly rewards you for having a great animal exhibit, rather than by choosing the perfect price for your cotton candy.

In addition to a single-player campaign game that will allow you to manage your zoo for a certain number of years while accomplishing various objectives, Zoo Tycoon 2 will also have a free-form scenario mode that will allow you to play through various scenarios, as well as a sandbox mode that will allow you to build whatever zoo you like without worrying about money. Zoo Tycoon 2 is scheduled for release later this year.