World of Zoo Preview
World of Zoo Preview
By Gaetano Prestia
There are plenty of virtual animal games out there on the market, none of which really stand out as must-have titles. While some offer small levels of enjoyment through basic animal management such as caring and playing with the virtual pet, others allow you to manage their lifestyle and surroundings while failing to offer the level of accessibility needed to make for an enjoying experience. Thankfully, the upcoming World of Zoo takes the best of both zoo management and caring and playing with virtual pets to offer an experience that seems both enjoyable and thoroughly rewarding.
Developer Blue Fang are well known for their Zoo Tycoon games, and its dedication to animals and offering a genuine animal simulation experience is bar none the strongest in the industry. Where their Zoo Tycoon games offered a more mature experience aimed at fans of business management games, Blue Fang has gone in a different direction with World of Zoo, incorporating National Geographic to help with random wildlife facts, and aiming the experience at both children and adults with a seemingly broad gameplay experience.
World of Zoo begins by allowing you to choose one of several different animals: Big Cats, Bears, Small Monkeys, Antelopes, Zebras/Horses, Koalas, Crocodiles, Pandas, Giraffes, Penguins and Elephants. Once you choose the initial animal, you pick one species within that animal family. Keeping it happy by playing with it, feeding it and making sure its exhibit is fun and active, you earn hearts and tokens, which can then be used to purchase new toys and items for the animal. You’ll eventually be able to open up new animal exhibits and grow a new family of species, allowing you to grow your zoo world and move between different animals. Each animal also has an in-house ranking system, having you move up the ranks from an amateur to experienced handler with that particular animal. This in turn influences how the animals respond to you, so there is definitely incentive to focus on each animal evenly.
You can also create your own animal, although there isn’t all that much to play with in the creation tool. Beyond the wild colours and outrageous ways you can make your animal look, the characteristics of each animal always seem to successfully represent the actual species, rather than the behavior type you actually choose (you can choose between playful, sleepy and hungry). For example, we made a playful koala that looked like a cross between a gremlin and a bear that had been shot with a paint gun, however he always seemed to be sleeping (which is common for koala’s due to their diet of eucalyptus leaves).
The incorporation of National Geographic isn’t overly obvious, although there are some pretty fascinating facts that accompany each animal. Whenever you’re waiting for the game to load up, a random fact appears up on the screen. Of the ones we saw, they were so outrageous that we just didn’t believe they could be true. Upon further research we discovered they were. This is great, as you’re bound to come across facts for each animal that you would have had no idea even existed.
World of Zoo looks adorable, with some fantastic animal animations and an overall impressive presentation. The cel-shading look really gives the title a distinctive look, and the animals themselves have a great level of detail. There are the occasional “Magic Moments”, where the animal will approach the screen as if it’s jumping out at you, and the aspect ration switches to letterbox as the animal hangs out of the main picture and leans towards you for a nice pat. They’ll also do this if they’ve been neglected and in instances like this, you’ll have to counter the animals small attacks by moving the Wii-mote as instructed on the screen.
There’s a great experience to be had with World of Zoo. The world looks adorable and the level of detail with the animals is quite impressive. Then there is the actual management associated with each animal, as well as the mini-games and items you can purchase for each exhibit. There’s a wide array of animals to choose from, as well as the ability to create your own specie for each animal. The gameplay is accessible enough while also offering a decent level of challenge to appeal to both a young and older audience. If you’re after a fun, accessible and fairly deep virtual zoo management title on Wii, put World of Zoo on your radar.
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geographic
national
of
THQ
World
zoo