Zoo Tycoon 2 is a business simulation video game developed by Blue Fang Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios and MacSoft. Originally released in 2004 for Microsoft Windows, Zoo Tycoon 2 is also available for Windows Mobile, PDA, and Mac OS X, although expansions are not included in the Mac version. A Nintendo DS version, titled Zoo Tycoon 2 DS, was released in 2008.
Similar to its predecessor, 2001's Zoo Tycoon, the objective is to build and operate a zoo by creating exhibits and aquariums, keeping guests and animals happy, and maintaining employees, finances, terrain, foliage, and scenery.
Gameplay
The gameplay revolves around creating suitable exhibits for animals through habitat modifications (ground cover, water, elevation, foliage, and rocks, plus a variety of other items including food, shelters, and toys/enrichment items) which fulfill the animal's needs (habitat, hunger, thirst, stimulation, privacy, sleep, social, and exercise). Guests will visit the zoo to see the animals, and they also have needs that need to be fulfilled through scenery and buildings (hunger, thirst, bathroom, seating, and entertainment). They might stay several months in the zoo if they are satisfied, but quickly leave if they are unhappy.
Zoo Tycoon 2 features three gameplay modes: Campaign, Challenge, and Freeform. In Campaign mode, the player plays through scenarios in existing zoos and is assigned different objectives to complete, such as achieving a certain fame level, caring for rescued animals, or breeding endangered species. In Challenge mode, the player starts a zoo from scratch and is given random challenges which can be accepted or rejected. In both of these modes, players have limited money and start with limited access to animals and items, with more becoming available as zoo fame level increases. The last mode, Freeform, allows the player to create a zoo from scratch with unlimited money and access to all animals and items from the start.
Development
After the success of the original Zoo Tycoon, a sequel was planned. Marketing materials showed an emphasis on 3D visuals as well as first-person perspective and photo modes. The game's first-person Guest Mode was added due to many fan requests to get "closer" to the animals. The Photo Mode and Zookeeper Mode were refined after developers decided that the player should be able to interact with the world while walking around. First-person movement and controls were based on first-person shooters, with developers citing Half-Life as an inspiration.
The game was also designed to be more freeform than Zoo Tycoon was, with developer Shawn Stone citing that habitat building in the first game was a formulaic process that was improved upon in the sequel. Terrain deformation and the Biome Brush were implemented to give the player more specific control over animal habitats by creating unique and individual exhibits, while still keeping them simple enough so as not to alienate players that were not as interested in the details of building an exhibit.
The development team noted the change in conservation messages portrayed by zoos after the release of Zoo Tycoon, and worked to make Zoo Tycoon 2 feel up to date with current information and messaging. Expansion packs were released for the game up to four years after its initial release, with designer Linda Currie citing the team working on three expansions simultaneously during development. Updated mechanics in each expansion required changes to be made to all animals, to ensure that each expansion pack would not break the game. The team worked to make changes without altering the core systems in place, in order to make updates and QA testing easier, and with lower risk.
Marketing and promotion
Publisher Microsoft Game Studios ran several promotions involving the game, including a competition allowing kids to "Become a Zoo Keeper for the day" in the UK, and a competition to find "America's Favorite Zoo" in the US, an online vote which would result in a $25,000 grant from Microsoft to be put towards upkeep and maintenance. The contest consisted of three rounds, with the first round consisting of zoos being picked by a team of judges based on submitted press materials, which resulted in 15 semifinalists. Rounds two and three were done by fans in an online vote. In November 2004, the Tulsa Zoo was declared the winner of the polls, and was awarded the grant.
Expansion packs
Endangered Species
On October 18, 2005, Microsoft released Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species, the first expansion pack for the game. The expansion adds many new rare and endangered animal species, including the koala, gray wolf, Komodo dragon, scimitar-horned oryx, American bison, and orangutan, as well as a number of new forms of transportation, including sky trams, jeep tours, and elevated paths. The expansion also has a feature called "variant skins", which means that when the player adopts an animal, it may look different from normal members of its species (such as a white tiger and King Cheetah).
African Adventure
The second expansion pack, Zoo Tycoon 2: African Adventure, was released on May 16, 2006. It adds various new African animals such as the bongo, secretarybird, ratel, and meerkat, and allows the player to drive through exhibits with African-themed Jeep tours to get closer to them. The expansion pack also includes new maps based on well-known African locations, as well as new desert-themed buildings, lizard live food, and a new set of challenges and campaigns. The Jeep vehicle tours originally included in Endangered Species are featured prominently in this expansion, with the addition of the new Jeep Liberty.
Dino Danger Pack
The Dino Danger Pack was released as a premium download at the end of July 2006, meaning it could only be downloaded from the Zoo Tycoon website via credit card. It added four new extinct dinosaurs to the game: Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Carnotaurus, and Styracosaurus, as well as new objects to be used for them and a new campaign scenario. Following the release of Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals, which includes more updated versions of all of the animals included in the pack as well as additional content, Dino Danger was removed from the Zoo Tycoon website and can no longer be downloaded there. However, other sites still offer this pack.
Zookeeper Collection
The Zookeeper Collection was released on October 17, 2006. It includes the Endangered Species and African Adventure expansions as well as all animals and content from the base game.
Marine Mania
Released on October 17, 2006, Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania features 20 new aquatic animals, new marine options, marine shows, and several other new gaming features. The expansion also includes marine plants, the ability to build tanks, animal shows, mini-games to teach behaviors to some of the marine animals, and four new aquatic biomes (reef, coastal, pelagic, and benthic), and new scenarios and challenges. Changes were made to the original method of biome layout, allowing the ability to toggle the visibility of rocks, flowers, and/or trees, as well as enhancing water effects and improving the way animals move through water in a 3D space, affecting the new animals included in the pack as well as various semi-aquatic animals from the base game such as Nile crocodiles and polar bears. New animals range from the giant whale sharks to the tiny rockhopper penguins.
Extinct Animals
Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals was released on October 17, 2007. It was the final expansion in the Zoo Tycoon series, with 34 adoptable animal species and one bonus species. The player can find fossils or get staff to find them. The player can then assemble the fossils, and can also create normal and "Super" extinct animals in an extinct research lab. The player can also stop rampaging dinosaurs by using the tranquilizer gun.
Ultimate Collection
Ultimate Collection contains the original game plus all four official expansions and a new menu theme exclusive to it, similar to Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection. This title was released on September 30, 2008. Some users reported disk problems, whereby the third disk was the same as the second one. Microsoft sent free disk replacements at their support site.
Microsoft subsequently licensed the game to Ubisoft, who re-released the Ultimate Collection in a variety of formats across multiple territories including a single disk DVD-ROM for Windows PCs.
Animal roster
Zoo Tycoon 2
Downloadable Content
The addon for the Black Leopard comes bundled with a Stuffed Prey Dummy enrichment item for predators, it resembles an Ungulate of some kind, possibly a deer.
Endangered Species
African Adventure
Marine Mania
Marine Mania includes Seal Prey Dummy enrichment item for aquatic predators, it resembles an earless seal. There is also an attraction in the game, the Blue Whale Hall, a to-scale building designed like a whale for guests to walk through, the hallway plays peaceful music with whale songs, featuring info graphics for the virtual guests.
Dino Danger & Extinct Animals
Dino Danger includes a Dinosaur Prey Dummy enrichment item for large predatory dinosaurs, which resembles a sauropod dinosaur, along with several new enrichment items designed to make animals feel more comfortable in their enclosures, such as tar pits and glaciers. There are also multiple references to cavemen throughout the Extinct Animals expansion, with cavemen taking the place of staff members in the extinct-themed buildings. Additionally, there is a large cave-like tunnel for guests to walk through, and the walls of the cave feature cave art of the various species added in the expansion, accompanied by drum music. There is also an in game statue of various silhouettes' of Holocene species from the expansion lined up for size comparison, also featuring the Caveman.
Extinct Animals also includes a playground feature, the Play Dig Pit, where young zoo guests can dig up various fossils and place them in an Extinct Education Center, where they are displayed as oversized fossil mounts. Guests can build skeletons of the Imperial Mammoth, Irish Elk, Pteranodon and Tyrannosaurus rex.
Animal Houses & Exhibits
Ambient Species
Campaign scenarios
This is a list of campaigns and their scenarios. All campaigns in Zoo Tycoon 2, including all four expansion packs, contain a total of 45 scenarios. If you include the tutorials, which are also found in the game's campaign menu, there are a total of 60 scenarios.
Base game
These tutorials are to help beginners adapt to the mechanics of the game.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Flowerpost scenery object.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Flower Arch scenery object.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Sundial Statue object.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Globe Statue object.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks The Mysterious Panda campaign.
Completing this scenario unlocks the Gilded Panda Statue.
African Adventure
The tutorial introduce the player to a new feature included in the expansion pack that has already existed in Endangered Species: Jeep® Vehicles.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Desert Themed buildings and objects.
Endangered Species
These tutorials introduce the players to the new features added in the expansion pack: elevated paths, sky trams and jeep vehicles.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Decorated Tour Gate.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Cat Climber enrichment object.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Conservation Breeding Center.
Marine Mania
These tutorials introduce players to two new elements implemented in Marine Mania: Tank and Marine Shows. Players will learn how to construct a full tank and a hybrid tank, training show animals, hosting a marine show, as well as the improvements of the game made according to the players' feedback prior to the release of the expansion pack.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Blue Whale Hall.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Upgraded Show Platform.
Extinct Animals
These tutorials will teach players on how to: find fossils, clone extinct species, research cure for diseases, as well as dealing with dinosaurs that are going on a rampage.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Extinct Themed buildings and objects.
Completing all scenarios in this campaign unlocks the Brachiosaurus Slide playground object.
Originally included in Dino Danger Pack, this single scenario comes with Extinct Animals as well.
Challenge mode unlockables
In addition to Campaign rewards, players can unlock themed content for use in future zoos by completing tasks in Challenge mode:
- Completing five game challenges unlocks the Safari Themed buildings and objects.
- Completing five photo challenges unlocks the Jungle Themed buildings and objects.
Biomes
There are 10 biomes, with 4 additional ones being introduced in Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania:
- Alpine
- Boreal forest
- Desert
- Grassland
- Savannah
- Scrub
- Temperate forest
- Tropical rainforest
- Tundra
- Wetlands
Marine Mania Biomes
- Benthic
- Coastal
- Pelagic
- Reef
Reception
According to The NPD Group, Zoo Tycoon 2 was the 19th best-selling computer game of 2004. It rose to 13th place on NPD's annual computer game sales chart for 2005, a position it maintained for 2006.
The game received generally positive reviews. IGN gave the game a score of 7.5/10, praising the game's lasting appeal while criticizing it for being too easy, while GameSpy noted the improved 3D graphics.
Zoo Tycoon 2 received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.
During the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Zoo Tycoon 2 with "Computer Family Game of the Year". The game also received a nomination for "Outstanding Character Performance - Female" for Linda Currie's work on the game. At the following year's awards ceremony, the expansion Endangered Species received a nomination for "Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering.
Reboot
A reboot of the franchise, simply titled Zoo Tycoon and developed by Frontier Developments, was released in 2013 for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles. An enhanced edition titled Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection was released in 2017 for the Xbox One and Windows 10. Zoo Tycoon 2 was cited as a major influence, and Frontier Developments hoped the game would be a homage to the previous game, while enhancing the core experience. The entry was met with mixed reviews, with many citing the loss of customizability compared to the previous games.
Cancelled sequel
After the success of Zoo Tycoon 2, preliminary design work was started on a third game. The game was canceled as the company shifted direction away from PC development and towards mobile and social games. Former Blue Fang Games designer Shawn Stone stated that he sees the influence of and many ideas from the scrapped Zoo Tycoon 3 in the franchise's spiritual successor Planet Zoo.
Notes
References
External links
- Official website (archived)
