World of Zoo (Wii) - Review by Chris

Introduction

Wildlife park management games have become a common feature on the PC, and have even begun to show up on the consoles now due to the ever expanding demands of a new generation of younger gamers. And while they've been enjoyable, they miss the important opportunity to include some virtual hands on experiences with the numerous types of animals which you can fill your park with. This is where developer Blue Fang and publisher THQ have stepped in, bringing World of Zoo to the Nintendo Wii and offering up those missed opportunities that the other games have not given immediately setting itself apart from the competition. But is the end experience a good trade off for the real thing?

Gameplay

World of Zoo brings together elements of park management simulators, such as Zoo Tycoon, and pairs them with elements of the pet simulation genre. The problem with the park management games was that while you could make a wildlife park as you wanted, you couldn't get into the enclosures and go hands on with the various animals you housed. This game, however, allows you to do just that and it is the hands on care of the animals that makes up the crux of the gameplay. From the start, you'll choose a park to fill with animals and you'll be able to choose from a small selection of categorical enclosures to start off your park, from the likes of the big cat enclosure to the panda enclosure to the penguin enclosure and for each of these, you'll be able to create your own animals from parts and patterns unlocked as you play opening up the opportunity for endless numbers of animal creations. Once you've picked your starting enclosure, you'll need to spend much of your time looking after the young and the older animals in the nursery and main enclosures respectively, gaining their trust by playing and caring for them to unlock awards which will give you access to new toys and items for enclosures and, ultimately once enough have been collected, new animal enclosures. There are creature specific awards to unlock as well as just standard ones which carry over to any of the enclosures you can have, with there being over 600 of them to unlock so for gamers looking for some longevity out of the game, it's certainly there even if some of the awards are carbon copies of each other.

Going hands on with the animals in the nursery or enclosure is incredibly simple and well done. To start, you'll only have one animal in the enclosures and so keeping it happy is easy enough. The animals will display a thought bubble whenever they want something specific, such as a specific toy or a specific type of food, and so maintaining their happiness and gaining their trust is incredibly simple. And while you have to keep an eye on the animal, you'll also have to complete typical maintenance on the enclosure, such as cleaning up after the animals and watering the plants as these are things which ultimately affect the animals mood and whether they will open up to you as the keeper. A messy enclosure will make things much harder so it's best to keep on top of everything to get the best results. But as you progress, you'll have to spread your time across up to three animals in each of the enclosures and so what starts off simple enough can soon become rather complicated. It's not something that'll dampen the spirit of the game but younger gamers, whom the game is aimed at, may find it difficult trying to keep up with the demands of the animals. What's more, the game only allows for single player play and so there's a missed opportunity here for getting more people involved to help take care of the animals, something which would have made the game a much more enjoyable experience and alleviated the difficulties that younger gamers could potentially find when having to care for multiple animals. As it is though, the gameplay is intuitive and getting hands on with the animals is a joy, with there being plenty to do. It does feel slightly shallow though as the game quickly establishes a routine with this being shared across the 90 different types of animals.

Controls

The developers have aimed to keep the controls as simple and accessible as possible, and luckily they've managed to reach that wanted mark. You'll only have to use the Wii-mote, with menus and the in game gameplay controlled all thanks to the IR pointer capabilities and bar a slight lag in the following of your movements, it's an incredibly simple set up to use but where it can become slightly confusing and complicated is the button use. Selecting items and returning to previous menus is simple enough, using the A and B buttons respectively, but some of the other choices made for the game seem either out of place or just completely unnecessary. For example, if you want to keep track of a certain animal in your enclosures, you may want to use the tracking option but it's placed on the d-pad meaning it will be a bit of a stretch for the younger gamers whom the title is aimed at. It's not a necessary inclusion and really, you can get by without ever using it. But of course, these problems are minimal and the game is very easy to control.

Graphics

The game and all its contents have been created in their entirety in a cel-shaded look. At first, it may seem a little underwhelming but when you've put some time into the game, it'll start to show its charm. Everything is well designed with the animals all looking as they should do and being animated extremely well, both those given as standard and those that you can create yourself. Even the most ferocious of creatures available to have in your enclosures have had their ferocity stripped away by the graphics but the game more than makes up for this by making everything very approachable and ultimately charming to behold. The enclosures themselves are deceptive in scale, providing ample area to house multiple animals and various types of terrain, and they're done to the same high standard as the graphics for the animals, offering up a similar amount of variation. Everything runs smoothly, with no frame rate drops regardless of how many animals are in the enclosures or how many items and tools you have out, and the interface, for the most part, is uncluttered makes for easy access.

Sound

Music plays a low-key part in the game but does just enough to help set the atmosphere, although this perhaps comes through more thanks to the hands on nature of the gameplay. The sound effects for the animals are all as they should be and as you'll be hearing them repeatedly in the enclosures, it's good to note that they never wear and come across just as the graphics do: charming.

Final comments

World of Zoo is a game that is clearly aimed at younger gamers but if you can put that mentality aside, there is some good, clean fun, presented in a beautifully charming style, to be had here. Going hands on with the animals and caring and playing with them is intuitively done and makes for an enjoyable experience. There are plenty animals on offer and the ability to create your own and the hundreds of awards that are waiting to be unlocked mean that the game has substantial legs to stand on. It does get itself into a routine rather quickly though and with the lack of multiplayer, there's a clearly missed opportunity here to expand the gameplay. It's good but these misgivings hold it back from being the title it really could have been.

Pro: Charming visual style, plenty of awards expand the gameplay, going hands on with the animals is great
Con: Lack of multiplayer is a greatly missed opportunity, settles into a routine rather quickly
Final score: 7.2

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