Zoo Park is a basic and simple zoo tycoon game. You'll manage your zoo, making animal pens, placing food and beverage stands, along with researching new animals and researching other things like their welfare, mating and rehabilitation. The game has an easy and quick tutorial all within the game along with challenges that will give you things to do in order to drive the game forward. You won't have control over things like ticket prices, food prices or anything like that. Your goal is just to keep adding to the zoo. The menus are very easy to use and the game's controls are almost exclusively mouse driven.

This is an easy game, its grid based in an isometric fashion. You can't rotate your perspective. You'll select to build a type of fence, click and drag a square pen to put the animals in. Then you'll buy plants, place water pools and food before you add the animals.

To unlock animals, you need to build a region research center (there are a few regions), and research the animal. After a specific amount of time on a progress bar, they unlock. Then you have the option to keep researching the specific species welfare, breeding and rehabilitation. Each takes time and each can be done three times per species. The breeding means they'll breed faster when in perfect conditions. Animals will have a progress bar. The rehabilitate lets you send them back into the wild. I don't really see a purpose for it. The welfare means the animal will get sick less and wow do these animals get sick. The game has a ticker at the bottom that feeds you all activity in the park, who has a baby, what you just bought, and when an animal gets sick. It then tells you to keep your habitat clean. Even if the habitat has the perfect amount of foliage, water, is 100% clean and your animals are well fed, they still get sick. Then you need to click on the animal and click on the cure icon. Poof they're cured for a price. The whole research center system feels hollow since you don't have to have a path attached or even staff it, but you don't have to staff any buildings.

You have zoo keepers that will feed animals and clean pens. The amount of zoo keepers is capped by how many employee buildings you have built. When you click on an empty space in an animal pen, you can assign what percentage the food levels need to fall before they feed your animals and the same for cleaning the pens. Personally, I keep my levels high to prevent animal illness. The animals being rehabilitated need their own personal zoo keeper. There are only keepers and not vets, gardeners, and janitors. Gardeners would have been nice, since the plants in your game die after 20 or so days, forcing you to remove the dead plant, then add a new one to replace it. That just seems like an extra step, an extra chore in the game. That's not the only chore, your animals will age and die quite rapidly, forcing you to replace them. You can see an animal go from a newborn to an animal that dies of old age in the span of two weeks.

The game consists of days, there's a start of the day before the gate opens, then the actual time when the zoo is opened and an after hours period. While this is an interesting twist to things, nothing really happens when your zoo is closed. It is more of a prep time to add things and assign a marketing campaign, which is sadly a daily task you need to click open the advertising section and select the campaign. It should just be set without forcing you to do it every day and if you forget to do it, that's just lost income for your zoo.

I say income, well the game's currency is 'popularity points' and not cash or money. You accumulate popularity points each day, but you won't actually get them to spend until the day ends. I guess that it makes sense, no one would have money until the registers are cleaned out. That causes a problem that you can run out of funds quickly and your animals will starve all day when there's no money to buy their food. That won't kill them, but that will make them sick eventually. If enough animals die, that's a game over. There are four difficulties, but it was very difficult to fail on normal difficulty (there is an easy difficulty).

Not only do the animals have needs, but the people do too. For food, drink and toilet. So you need to place all of those things. Not just that, but they want to see beautiful decorations. You'll need to buy them and tactically place them. Each decoration has a radius and a beauty percentage. Exhibits will also need walkways around them, so they can be better seen. It adds some strategy to the game, but there's no sort of bonus for having all African animals in a section of the zoo instead of African in one pen, American in another and Asian right next to it. At the end of each day, you'll get a recap of what's needed, whether its more food or more decorations. You'll also see a summary of your animal health and their needs.

There is only one zoo. There are no scenarios to play, no different zoos. Just an empty plot of land that you start with and quickly build your own zoo. You can easily expand your sanctuary, just by buying more land. Its as easy as that.

The controls feel very click heavy. There are no hot keys, not even a menu, you'll need to push a menu button to get it. At least the menus get broken up into regions that act like filters. You'll click animal, African animal, then click the animal. You won't scroll up or down like normal games, you'll need to click a 'next' sort of button. To pan the screen, you'll need to right click and drag the screen. Its not awful, but it does make the game feel awkward, like a mobile game.

What I really enjoy about the game is its challenges and rewards. Not only is there a list of ongoing challenges that will unlock things or give you random animals or a random baby, but there are day long challenges. These day long challenges amount to, we have an animal for you and if you want the animal, you need to get your zoo ready by doing 4 things, preparing for the animal, building the pen, putting out food, adding plants and so on. If you complete the goal, you get the animal and that animal species becomes unlocked without being researched. This is a nice touch that gives a free play sort of game a goal to achieve. That's the problem without scenarios. There's no end game. You'll just keep going. That might be awesome to some, but I really get bored of looking at my one zoo for 5+ hours with nothing changing.

In all, it just feels like a really dull game. Being broke for an entire day and waiting to get a heap of a money at the end of the day didn't help. The ticker at the bottom is a big help to let you know what's going on. There are super easy menus and easy to set up a functioning zoo in no time, but there are elements that feel like chores. Replacing animals, clicking to cure animals, removing and replacing trees. Small zoos are fine, but large zoos, it becomes an issue.

I was feeling nostalgic for Zoo Tycoon, so I thought this might fill the void. It didn't. It's far too simple and feels rather pointless. You wait ages for stuff to research, and the "scenario" is basically a bunch of pretty basic achievs with rewards, all within the one zoo. Foliage (required by all the animals) are extremely simple and limited to a few choice trees and shrubs per continent, so everything looks the same. There's no landscaping. And visitors want "features" also limited to a very few hedges, statues and fountains to clutter up the place. You can't really micro manage at all, only cure the animals (who tend to get sick all the time) and direct your keepers to clean the exhibits or feed the animals. It's so shallow and boring. Off to play Roller Coaster Tycoon again, at least that one is fun. I hope Zoo Tycoon or an acceptable replacement will one day be available on Steam, but this... is not it.

It is an unique way to play a zoo tycoon like game but isn't for everyone. Instead of money, you earn popularity points to spend on upgrading the park. All of the animals besides the beginning one must be earned through research. Barebones, it is a zoo park--no multiple scenarios and limited amount of challenges to achieve.

If you are looking for wonderful graphics, look else where. But it does have its own bit of charm, if you ignore the slightly annoying two-thirds angle. It feels more like it was designed to be a mobile game that was changed half-way through the production process.

The big problems I have with it is my animals get sick soo easily, even if their habitats are clean. And the breeding program is annoying at best, with the first animals you buy will most likely never actually have any children before they become too old to do so.

It has enough interest to keep me going for awhile, creating multiple parks. And for its price, it works. However, it wouldn't have been worth it if it was more expensive.

Zoo Park is a great simple minded, simply presented zoo management "simulator". Although it might not be as inclusive as Zoo Tycoon or Wildlife Park, it's down to earth and easy to use controls and ideas are so easily and readily grasped no matter your age. Sure it might not be an actual simulator, but I have found myself losing track of time when playing. Gameplay wise, it is very much similar to any other zoo simulator: start with nothing but money (or points in this case) and build your way up. There is no rating system or critics critiquing your zoo, but there are challenges to be done. This game is more of an arcade style of simulator. Focusing on fast point and click fun rather than the slow climb to prestige that is only achieved through thorough understanding of the game. You start with a couple animals and you must research others to unlock them for placement in your own zoo (referred to as a sanctuary in-game). Although not really "realistic", I have found myself always wanting to research one more animal and place him in the zoo before saving and quiting. Taking care of your animals is also quite simple. You can open up the animals menu and see the space, food, water, vegetation, and fence requirements of the animal. Simple satisfy all the needs to have the "perfect" habitat and your animals will start breeding. You can also research other things besides animal usage, such as research to lessen the amount of time your animal gets sick or quicken the breeding time. As for the visitors of the zoo, they also need several things satisfied to ensure you get the most points per day (12 hours of in-game time, using the fast forward option, it would probably be around 5-10 minutes of real time). They are how well they can see the animals, how many they see, attractions/features, drinks, food, and gifts. There aren't many concessions types so you end up with a zoo littered with the same hamburger or hotdog stands which is boring, but hopefully there will be updates with more.

Overall I really enjoyed the game. The pricing for me is probably a little over (maybe worth $10 max), so if you are on the fence, buy this on a discount like I did (only $3!). However, if you like the simplistic idea and just enjoy animals, zoo sims. and playing a casual, relaxing game, I would say this game does a pretty good job of satisfying some of those simplistic urges. Notice how I used simple/simplistic so many times. If you want a hardcore, ultra zoo simulator GOTY deluxe edition 2020, this is NOT for you.

I bought it thinking is was a graphically simple Wildlife Park/Zoo Tycoon etc
Its much simpler, it plays more like a Facebook game.

If you're a fan of simple, casual sim games, then grab it.
If you want something more, something vaguely challenging, leave it alone

A simple, but very addictive zoo sim. I used to play Zoo Tycoon a lot when I was little, this game has a feel very reminiscent to that game. Though the graphics are better than the original Zoo Tycoon game, it does have less animals to choose from. I wish there were more challenges, but the ones you have can be pretty challenging. I do love the selection of animals that are available, and the fact that the animals make real accurate sounds when you click on them. I also love the realistic artwork of the animals on their status pages and that there is a different picture for Male, Female, and baby animals of each species. I appreciate the ability to fast forward time in the game. I also appreciate that it is very easy to navigate and learn the mechanics of the game, and it is a very easy game to just play for a few minutes here or there. I wish there were a bit more variation in the decorations/features included in the game, but I do enjoy what there is already available. The game is very relaxing and stress relieving to play, and the music is cheerful and appropriate for the game. Overall, this game is well worth trying out, especially if you are a fan of casual sim games and animals.

1: If you want to play it like you're supposed to play it. It can be fun and worth it.

2: But if you are like me, Who desperatly want to block the exit and let the animals loose upon the visitors.. Thats something you can't do.

7/10 on point 1

0/10 on point 2

Zoo Park presents a unique way to play a tycoon game, however, it isn't for everyone. It feels like a port from a mobile game or a Facebook game. However don't let that keep you from playing this game because it has a lot to offer. It is very creative and allows you to experiment with different park designs. It doesn't grab your hand and lead you through the gameplay like many other games, truly giving you a sense of freedom for you to explore the many aspects and elements of the game.

That said if you are looking for graphical quality, you will not find it here. If you are looking for unlimited game play possibilities/replay-ability you will have to be very bored or with an empty wallet to find it here; because it is there, it's just not very fun.

I got this gamea few months ago, and although i have not spent that long on it, i felt i should write a review to try and counteract all the negative reviews this game has gotten.

The first thing i want to say is no, this is NOT zoo tycoon. if its a zoo tycoon type game you are looking for, go buy and/or play zoo tycoon. This game is more an animal sancturay game than a zoo game. This means that you have to work harder to get to a good point in the game. not all the animals are available from the start, many you have to research. if you want to breed them faster, you have to research that, along with improved health, and if you wish to rehabilitate animals, and release them to the wild, you can again do this faster via research.

There are not as many animal as in zoo tycoon, but there are still enough to keep you happy, and your sanctuary full. The exhibits you make for the animals are simpler than in zoo tycoon, which may make this game more youngster friendly, in that you simply choose the habitiat, how big you want the exhibit, and then place some trees, all of which are listed under the same habitats as the animals they are designed for. for example, if you want a lion, place an african exhibit, the some african trees. job done! you can also place pools of water and rocks for animals which require them.

It is much easier on this game to earn 'money' to buy new items, or spend on new animals or research, again making it a bit more friendly for younger players.

there are some cons, in that alot of the animals do not live long enough to breed unless you have fully researched their faster breeding to 3 stars, so when they die you will have to pay out to replace them, but with the ease of money making in this game its not a huge problem.

At the price its currently at, £4, i would highly recommend this game, its a fun, animal themed passtime, that is well worth the money!

I hope i have conviced at least one person to try this game, overlooking all the 'this is not zoo tycoon' reviews.

Zoo park is an easy to learn zoo tycoon game which doesn't have overly complicated instructions that overwhelm you at the start of the game.
The graphics aren't amazing but for a game like this, it's absolutely fine as it is.

My only gripe with the game was having to research the animals in order to buy them. I kind of wanted to lay out how I wanted my zoo right from the start, but was unable due to that, which is fine, just annoys me lol.