Exclusive: A Day At The Zoo

The relationship between Zoo Games and DS-x2.com goes back several years. Now, our in-house reviewer Andrew Blanchard visited Andy Gray at the heart of Zoo to see what they've got in store for us.

Visiting publishing houses generally involves making my way down to London but this time on a late August morning I find myself on a train to Sheffield. I'm on my way to Zoo Digital Publishing who, after separating from their parent company (the other concentrated on Interactive DVDs), now deal exclusively in games. Zoo are partnered with Destination Software in the States and now both are part of the GreenScreen Interactive Group which bought them out at the beginning of the year. We've had a close relationship with Zoo for some years now and they've been a huge supporter of the site and its readers, providing a significant amount of competition prizes. Like 505 Games and Oxygen, they don't actually develop original titles but rather publish them on behalf of developers but like all publishers they are still searching for that special franchise that will make the company a force to be reckoned with.

Their base is only a short walk from the station and the open plan office is populated with staff hidden behind huge monitors tapping away at their keyboards. The walls are plain except for colour posters featuring their past releases on a variety of formats, although they have always favoured handheld systems, with the GBA and DS receiving the lion's share of the support. On arrival I'm taken into the board room where I'm greeted by all manner of consoles and an enthusiastic Andy Gray. I've actually spoken to Andy on the phone for some years but this is our first meeting and he's eager to show off their impending releases.

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Order Up!

This Wii game has received a fair amount of press already and it would be easy to dismiss it as an over inflated Cooking Mama clone. Happily the comparisons end with the cooking theme. Order Up! is both accessible and engaging and it manages to bypass the rigid gender bias which tends to hamper sales. In fact Andy informs me that since it's been in the office the game has been enjoyed by both male and females of all ages.

The game begins with you in the cargo hold of an aeroplane where your first challenge is to select which one of the two rookie chefs you wish to play as: one male, one female. On selection you fall through a trap door in the floor only to land safely by a burger restaurant that just happens to be looking for a chef. This is basically a tutorial level and, while there's nothing too taxing, you will be taken through all the basics such as preparing and cooking food. The learning curve is perfectly pitched and as you only ever cook one dish at any time you can put all your efforts to making it perfect. Moving on means gaining five stars which are given for a variety of criteria including customer satisfaction, cleanliness (the environmental health can call in at any time) and, all important, impressing the food critic.

The customers are very interesting; the developers have obviously spent some time building up their personalities and food palate and you will quickly discover that, as in real life, everyone wants their food cooked in a very different ways. Vampires for example (yes, there's a vampire who lives in the town), like their food undercooked whilst cowboys like theirs well cooked. Others may prefer more salt or spice but getting things just right means big tips that will enable you to purchase items later in the game.

Things step up a gear once you own your own place and the game features Mexicans, Italians and even more up-market establishments and to make sure things run smoothly you'll want to hire some extra staff. You can have two assistant chefs at any one time and, while the more experienced ones cost more, some do have very specific skills. You can also hire a monkey who's cheap, great fun but does tend to fool around a little too much. You now have to cook multiple items at any one time and customer satisfaction is based on speed and just how well you cook their desired dish. You'll know exactly how they feel too, as they'll not only tip you (or not) but they also fill out comment cards on each of their visits. The cooking itself is all done with the Wii controls and most of it is very intuitive with dishes requiring turning on the hot plate, for instance, or removing from the deep fat fryer. Not paying enough attention will result in a fire however this is worth doing, at least once, as it leads onto a mini game where you must again use the Wii controller to extinguish the flames. Spoiling too much food and throwing it away can cause a rat infestation, which again takes you to a mini game.

In order to expand you'll need to purchase supplies and recipes, including the elusive Chef's Specials which you'll have to get from the Black Market Trader. This increases your turnover, because by offering more options your establishment will grow in popularity. Once you have everything under control you can request a visit from the food critic although he will generally appear displeased with anything you place in front of him. Every single part of the dish must be perfect to pass this challenge. If it's not, you won't be awarded the final star and you'll have to try again later. Success though means that you can acquire another restaurant and start all over again. It's hard to explain just how engaging this is - Order Up! really needs to be played to get the full experience. Zoo do plan a high profile release though, so you are unlikely to miss it. The game has been developed by US based Super Villain, who previously brought Flow to the PSP, and they are apparently very pleased with the results. We're sure you'll feel the same way too. This is a game that really does deserve to succeed in what is becoming a crowded Wii scene.

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Twin Strike: Operation Thunder

Twin Strike neatly fills a gap in the boy's pre-teen market, which is desperate for an all action shooter. Best described as a 3D Desert Strike, the game features twenty missions (in Campaign Mode) ranging from shooting planes and other targets down to rescuing stranded operatives. There's also a quicker Arcade Mode where you can indulge in a less complex mission when time is limited. The whole thing has been built specifically for the Wii so the controls are very intuitive and the whole thing is very enjoyable. It is topped off with anime-style cut scenes which tell the story of the UNAF (United Nations Air force) and its fight to maintain world peace. There's even an interactive tutorial which takes you through all the skills you'll need such as landing, targeting and precision flying so no one feels out of their depth.

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Skate City Heroes

This was at a very early stage in development and aspects such as the visuals need to be optimised but that didn't hide what appears to be a nice little futuristic Skateboarding title. The area that we saw was huge and the developers have clearly been influenced by the second Back to the Future film with hovering cars and buildings adorned with neon signs. Of course, as with the time travelling saga, everything else is at it is in the present day so you'll still encounter railings and guard rails to grind down and unrealistic number of ramps to gain 'air'. Once you do manage to get above the city streets though you can also navigate telephone lines and building ledges. In fact, everything that you'd expect really is here, including stunts and challenges and Wii Motion Board support is also promised on its release.

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Conclusion

That's it then for our exclusive preview of Zoo's Wii titles. Both Twin Strike and Order Up should be available before the year's end or (if absolutely everything goes wrong) certainly by early next year. Skate City Heroes is set for a Q1 2009 release, which isn't too far away from now either. It's just left for us to thank Andy Gray for being such a wonderful host and allowing us a preview of what will hopefully be one of the best Wii titles of this year. We look forward to previewing more titles in the near future.

Share on Twitter or FacebookPosted on 06-09-2008 by Dennis

Comments

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  Order Up! is a really great title, I imported mine with Play-Asia and got loads of fun out of the game.

  jofra01, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  Great article! Very spiffy looking! Must have taken a lot of work!

  NPC, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  It took Andrew some work, I merely got to format and publish it for him while he's on a holiday :)

  Dennis, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  A game that teach kids how to flip burgers... kinda disencouraging kids isn't it?

  LeSomeGuy, 30-11--0001 at 00:00