As someone who spent a lot of time with Zoo Tycoon, Planet Zoo is a game I have been looking forward to for quite some time. Brought to us by the same studio that did the fun, Planet Coaster. I was excited to see if I had what it takes to make the world’s most awesome zoo!
How to Download Planet Zoo
You can download the game from Steam. Click on the Download button below the review. And if you like the game, check out also other reviews of the titles by Frontier Developments: Jurassic World Evolution, and Elite Dangerous.
The Game Review
You may think a game about making a zoo is for kids. However, Planet Zoo is a very in-depth management sim style game. You build a zoo from the ground up. From working out the right terrain, doing your research on the right species, looking into breeding and making sure everything is up to code. There is always something that needs your attention in this game!
One of the most surprising things about the game is the career mode. I was not expecting to get sucked into a deep story, but with 12 career missions and some great voice acting it is awesome. The career/story mode that is on offer here is far better than it has any right to be and probably better than any other park sim style game I have experienced to date.
The missions are quite varied and range from being more animal-centric. For example, making sure a certain animal is well looked after and happy. To missions that are all about your bottom line and keeping the lights on. There is a great balance here of caring for the animals, but at the end of the day still needing to bring in the money to keep the zoo going.
You can get different rankings for how you complete missions. This does add some replay value to the career mode as I know that I will want to go back and clear all the gold goals! It is not too overbearing or even unfairly hard, it is just a fun and interesting mode and one I had a great deal of fun with.
You also have a sandbox mode. This is great for having some real fun and creating your dream zoo! There are all kinds of different things you can mess around with here, but not having to worry about your bottom line lets you be really creative with how your zoo is. I found that many things I learned from messing around here helped me in the career mode.
Planet Zoo also has an online mode. Here you run a zoo, but it is a “franchise” and as a result, you can work with and trade animals with other players. Granted I have not spent a ton of time with this mode, but if you have friends who are into games like this then I think this could be really fun.
The presentation of Planet Zoo is great. I was very happy with how crisp and clear everything looked. The animal designs, in particular, are very well done. As I said earlier, the career mode really does come to life with some great voice acting and this and the general sound design are very well done.
I was very impressed with what Planet Zoo offered. It is very, very deep and while I loved focusing on the animals, the day to day running of the zoo and the people you hire is just as important. It is a very addictive game and it really does have one of the best single-player modes I have ever experienced in a game like this.
