Zoo Tycoon Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection

Yeah, I think there could be enough gameplay content to make it work.

 

To people like us absolutely, but the general public see cockroaches as just one thing, not the vast diversity that actually exists. Only if you put a hissing cockroach in front of someone and explain to them directly that they are a harmless species that only lives in tropical forest and can't survive in people's homes will they ever accept that they are not a nasty pest that they will see on holiday. Zoo signage is only for interested people who bother to read it.

Lots of really good points there, I don't think people react in a positive way to too much diversity being thrown at them when it all looks the same. I'm quite happy to put my hands up that I sometimes write off groups as not being of interest to me when they consist of too many species which all look the same (I think we all to do one extent or another), I'm not enough of a completionist to want to get all 9 lions which are the same skins with the contrast or colour temperature sliders tweaked slightly.

A fair point about the graphical limitations. I did one add some mods to ZT2 which included dart frogs and some inverts (hissing cockroaches for instance) and you could barely see the damn things.

Expansions and DLC would be awesome for a Zoo Tycoon where there was also mod support. So many of the mods are limited by the individual models which were coded by the devs, I'm specifically thinking of the bird models modded in ZT2 using the scant handful of birds originally developed (none of which can fly properly), so it would be great to have dev support actually putting out supported models which can do novel things within the game. Trouble is I think the franchise has shot itself in the foot having lost some of the interest from the fan base which wants to actually, you know, build something unique.

I think there'd be plenty enough do to in the game, how it would actually play would be quite interesting as well. The scale of ZT2 would have to be toned down a fair bit to allow you to place things properly in an enclosure 45cm long, it could perhaps utilise differences in equipment to produce results. Say you wanted to make a mini water fall, you could choose a pump with different speeds to get different effects, or different fog machines. Managing temperatures throughout the exhibits could be interesting as well, though there may have to be a manageable difficulty slider for that one so people who want ultra-realism can have it on a realistic setting, and people who just want to create can have it turned off. Lots of ways it could go if they wanted to make it a true animal management sim!

 

Yeah, they're just superficial changes, players aren't actually gonna be happy about more species if there aren't any gameplay differences. They look more like random color variants like ZT2 had.

I think that whenever we get another big zoo game, it's not gonna be from Zoo Tycoon. Doesn't seem like they're interested in making another. Simulator games seem to be making a bit of a comeback, (but it seems to be mostly smaller game studios and indie projects) and there are some scientifically accurate animal video games that raised a lot of money through crowdfunding. Will probably be a long time before we get another one, though.

Going off of that, though, I'm surprised that big studios haven't been pushing harder on simulator games considering the potential for paid DLC. Even if the players aren't hardcore animal fans, if they like the game they're still gonna want more content. And there's all sorts of stuff you can make to appeal to different people. Using my Sims 3 example, they sell fantasy themed items, creepy items, pretty items, surfer items, country western items, and so on. If you play the game, you're definitely gonna find some DLC that tempts you. A zoo game would be the same way, some players would want more rainforest stuff, others would want more marine stuff, and so on.

Side note, if we're gonna talk about alternate types of zoo simulators, I always thought it would be cool to have a fantasy animal one. It could even still be educational, the game could talk about which cultures in different parts of the world the creatures come from. A basilisk would have to be kept behind special glass so guests wouldn't turn to stone, and you can offer unicorn rides, and merfolk could be hired to take care of marine life. Species would include well known stuff like dragons and Bigfoot, but you would get a lot of obscure stuff too.

 

Well, Hissers are dark in color, so people might mistake them for pests at first. If we present with a colorful cockroach, then we might be interesting immediately. Plus, its not just roaches. We can show people so much crazy stuff like basket stars, mole crickets, giant millipedes, ant lions, sea angels, etc.

On a side note, there should be a zoom in option not only for invertebrates, but small vertebrates as well.

 

While I don't have the game I've seen lots of videos and from what I've seen the game looks pretty good. The addition of lots of new animals makes it wayyyyy more appealing. That said a few animals should not be in mini exhibits, like Tapirs and Komodo Dragons, also the level of customizing is pretty bad as the game forces to put enrichment items in certain spots.

On a side note, imagine how good the game would if they had Zoo Tycoon 3's graphics and Zoo Tycoon's level of customization!

 

Yeah, the graphics on the XBox games are very nice and the animals have more realistic, less stylized designs. If it had the old style customization and gameplay I'm sure it would have been better received. Shoot, video games have advanced a lot since ZT2 was made, a modern zoo game can offer much MORE customization and it's pretty baffling that the XBox game offered so much less than a game that was released 9 years earlier.

 

You're right it's pretty baffling how a game made almost 10 years ago is so much superior to a game released less than a month ago.

 

It's to the point where it's really more of an in-name-only adaptation. It almost makes me think that the game was either rushed (unlikely, since the graphics look good and as far I've heard, the game functions well enough) or that it was originally made as an unrelated zoo game and they decided to stick the Zoo Tycoon title on it.

 

I'm leaning more towards the latter one as the only thing the games have in common is that they're both zoo games. Also, why would Microsoft name the game Zoo Tycoon? They should have known that they were going to get backlash from people who expected Zoo Tycoon 2 with better graphics and instead got a game completely different.

 

Maybe they didn't understand why people liked the original games. Or, more likely, having a familiar name is better advertising. Free Willy 4 had nothing to do with the first three films, (even the animated series was more relevant, and that had a cyborg villain) but a new film called Free Willy is gonna get more attention than a film called Whale Rescue or whatever. When I saw a display for the XBox Zoo Tycoon in a store, it was the first time I knew about it and I got really excited. Finally, a new ZT game! If I owned an XBox, I may have bought a copy of the game on the spot.

The bright spot here is that this could show that Microsoft still has an interest in the franchise. ZT2 Ultimate Collection has recently been made available for digital download on Amazon (FINALLY) and I consider that a good sign. (though it's odd that they didn't do the same for the original game)

 

I have a funny feeling that the Xbox Zoo Tycoon was designed in reverse. They looked at the 'fun' things that the Xbox can do with the Kinect and thought "Hey, wouldn't it be fun if we could use the camera for people to play with animals?", then they designed a very stylised, pretty game as a shell around a core idea of using the Kinect and motion controls, then attacking the ZT name to it.

A console (using a typical controller) just doesn't offer the fidelity that a mouse and keyboard does, which prevents you from designing things properly. I think this is why the whole thing was so poorly implemented with design choices limited to pre-set placements. We saw this in Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis which was far simpler than the original ZT, though with nicer graphics, because of the limitations of the consoles it was designed for (like only being able to place 3 sections of fence at a time). It's also why I'm very concerned about Jurassic World: Evolution being designed for consoles and PC, I can already see the various limitations on things being created.

 

Yeah, it sounds like they were just trying to make another version of Kinectimals.

Agreed on the limitations of console games. It's why simulator/design games never got that big on consoles. Although, maybe such games could work well with the Wii U or the Nintendo Switch, since you'd be able to do stuff on the touchscreen controller.

 

I personally think its irritating that we have black cougars (Which aren't even confirmed to exist) but no black jaguars in this game. Also the two-toed sloths are made with the same model as the three toed.

 

No melanistic jagaurs!!! I'm definately not getting this game. Jaguars would be my favourite species in this game and I'm astounded their isn't a melanistic variant (like how in Xbox Zoo Tycoon you can get leucistic and melanistic variations of every animal).

 

They have albino ones instead.

 

I'm speechless.

 

Still, although there's a few annoying things, I'd still recommend getting it. There's no zoo limit, for example.

 

Well the red pandas and binturongs are the same model. You can't expect anything good from the xbox zt.

 

You sure about that? I can't say I noticed.

 

I know this has been stated over and over already, but I see no excuse why there are not basic zoo animals like zebras, cheetahs, pandas, and wolves in the xbox version.