Zoo Tycoon 2 is a business simulation video game developed by Blue Fang Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios and MacSoft. Originally released in 2004 for Microsoft Windows, Zoo Tycoon 2 is also available for Windows Mobile, PDA, and Mac OS X, although expansions are not included in the Mac version. A Nintendo DS version, titled Zoo Tycoon 2 DS, was released in 2008.
Similar to its predecessor, 2001's Zoo Tycoon, the objective is to build and operate a zoo by creating exhibits and aquariums, keeping guests and animals happy, and maintaining employees, finances, terrain, foliage, and scenery.
Gameplay The gameplay revolves around creating suitable exhibits for animals through habitat modifications (ground cover, water, elevation, foliage, and rocks, plus a variety of other items including food, shelters, and toys/enrichment items) which fulfill the animal's needs (habitat, hunger, thirst, stimulation, privacy, sleep, social, and exercise). Guests will visit the zoo to see the animals, and they also have needs that need to be fulfilled through scenery and buildings (hunger, thirst, bathroom, seating, and entertainment). They might stay several months in the zoo if they are satisfied, but quickly leave if they are unhappy.
Zoo Tycoon 2 features three gameplay modes: Campaign, Challenge, and Freeform. In Campaign mode, the player plays through scenarios in existing zoos and is assigned different objectives to complete, such as achieving a certain fame level, caring for rescued animals, or breeding endangered species. In Challenge mode, the player starts a zoo from scratch and is given random challenges which can be accepted or rejected. In both of these modes, players have limited money and start with limited access to animals and items, with more becoming available as zoo fame level increases. The last mode, Freeform, allows the player to create a zoo from scratch with unlimited money and access to all animals and items from the start.
Development After the success of the original Zoo Tycoon, a sequel was planned. Marketing materials showed an emphasis on 3D visuals as well as first-person perspective and photo modes. The game's first-person Guest Mode was added due to many fan requests to get "closer" to the animals. The Photo Mode and Zookeeper Mode were refined after developers decided that the player should be able to interact with the world while walking around. First-person movement and controls were based on first-person shooters, with developers citing Half-Life as an inspiration.
The game was also designed to be more freeform than Zoo Tycoon was, with developer Shawn Stone citing that habitat building in the first game was a formulaic process that was improved upon in the sequel. Terrain deformation and the Biome Brush were implemented to give the player more specific control over animal habitats by creating unique and individual exhibits, while still keeping them simple enough so as not to alienate players that were not as interested in the details of building an exhibit.
The development team noted the change in conservation messages portrayed by zoos after the release of Zoo Tycoon, and worked to make Zoo Tycoon 2 feel up to date with current information and messaging. Expansion packs were released for the game up to four years after its initial release, with designer Linda Currie citing the team working on three expansions simultaneously during development. Updated mechanics in each expansion required changes to be made to all animals, to ensure that each expansion pack would not break the game. The team worked to make changes without altering the core systems in place, in order to make updates and QA testing easier, and with lower risk.
Marketing and promotion Publisher Microsoft Game Studios ran several promotions involving the game, including a competition allowing kids to "Become a Zoo Keeper for the day" in the UK, and a competition to find "America's Favorite Zoo" in the US, an online vote which would result in a $25,000 grant from Microsoft to be put towards upkeep and maintenance. The contest consisted of three rounds, with the first round consisting of zoos being picked by a team of judges based on submitted press materials, which resulted in 15 semifinalists. Rounds two and three were done by fans in an online vote. In November 2004, the Tulsa Zoo was declared the winner of the polls, and was awarded the grant.
Expansion packs
Endangered Species On October 18, 2005, Microsoft released Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species, the first expansion pack for the game. The expansion adds many new rare and endangered animal species, including the koala, gray wolf, Komodo dragon, scimitar-horned oryx, American bison, and orangutan, as well as a number of new forms of transportation, including sky trams, jeep tours, and elevated paths. The expansion also has a feature called "variant skins", which means that when the player adopts an animal, it may look different from normal members of its species (such as a white tiger and King Cheetah).
African Adventure The second expansion pack, Zoo Tycoon 2: African Adventure, was released on May 16, 2006. It adds various new African animals such as the bongo, secretarybird, ratel, and meerkat, and allows the player to drive through exhibits with African-themed Jeep tours to get closer to them. The expansion pack also includes new maps based on well-known African locations, as well as new desert-themed buildings, lizard live food, and a new set of challenges and campaigns. The Jeep vehicle tours originally included in Endangered Species are featured prominently in this expansion, with the addition of the new Jeep Liberty.
Dino Danger Pack The Dino Danger Pack was released as a premium download at the end of July 2006, meaning it could only be downloaded from the Zoo Tycoon website via credit card. It added four new extinct dinosaurs to the game: Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Carnotaurus, and Styracosaurus, as well as new objects to be used for them and a new campaign scenario. Following the release of Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals, which includes more updated versions of all of the animals included in the pack as well as additional content, Dino Danger was removed from the Zoo Tycoon website and can no longer be downloaded there. However, other sites still offer this pack.
Zookeeper Collection The Zookeeper Collection was released on October 17, 2006. It includes the Endangered Species and African Adventure expansions as well as all animals and content from the base game.
Marine Mania Released on October 17, 2006, Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania features 20 new aquatic animals, new marine options, marine shows, and several other new gaming features. The expansion also includes marine plants, the ability to build tanks, animal shows, mini-games to teach behaviors to some of the marine animals, and four new aquatic biomes (reef, coastal, pelagic, and benthic), and new scenarios and challenges. Changes were made to the original method of biome layout, allowing the ability to toggle the visibility of rocks, flowers, and/or trees, as well as enhancing water effects and improving the way animals move through water in a 3D space, affecting the new animals included in the pack as well as various semi-aquatic animals from the base game such as Nile crocodiles and polar bears. New animals range from the giant whale sharks to the tiny rockhopper penguins.
Extinct Animals
Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals was released on October 17, 2007. It was the final expansion in the Zoo Tycoon series, with 34 adoptable animal species and one bonus species. The player can find fossils or get staff to find them. The player can then assemble the fossils, and can also create normal and "Super" extinct animals in an extinct research lab. The player can also stop rampaging dinosaurs by using the tranquilizer gun.
Ultimate Collection Ultimate Collection contains the original game plus all four official expansions and a new menu theme exclusive to it, similar to Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection.Zoo Tycoon - ZOO NEWS - JUNE 19, 2008 This title was released on September 30, 2008. Some users reported disk problems, whereby the third disk was the same as the second one. Microsoft sent free disk replacements at their support site.
Microsoft subsequently licensed the game to Ubisoft, who re-released the Ultimate Collection in a variety of formats across multiple territories including a single disk DVD-ROM for Windows PCs.
Animal roster
Zoo Tycoon 2
Common Name Scientific Name Biome Notes African Elephant Loxodonta africana Savannah American Beaver Castor canadensis Wetlands Bengal Tiger Panthera tigris tigris Tropical Rainforest A leucistic skin variant is included in the Endangered Species expansion. Black Rhinoceros Diceros bicornis Savannah Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus Savannah Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes Tropical Rainforest Common Peafowl Pavo cristatus Temperate Forest Common Ostrich Struthio camelus australus Savannah Common Zebra Equus burchelli boehmi (now recognized as 'Equus quagga boehmi') Savannah Dromedary Camel Camelus dromedarius Desert Emperor Penguin Aptenodytes forsteri Tundra Gemsbok Oryx gazella Scrub Giant Panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca Temperate Forest Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber ruber (now recognized as 'Phoenicopterus roseus') Wetlands Grizzly Bear Ursus arctos horribilis Boreal Forest Hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius Wetlands Ibex Capra ibex Alpine Jaguar Panthera onca Tropical Rainforest Lion Panthera leo Savannah Moose Alces alces americana Boreal Forest Mountain Gorilla Gorilla gorilla beringei (now recognized as 'Gorilla beringei beringei') Tropical Rainforest Nile Crocodile Crocodylus niloticus niloticus (now recognized as just 'Crocodylus niloticus') Wetlands Okapi Okapia johnstoni Tropical Rainforest Polar Bear Ursus maritimus Tundra Red Kangaroo Macropus rufus (now recognized as 'Osphranter rufus') Scrub Red Panda Ailurus fulgens fulgens Temperate Forest Reticulated Giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis (now recognized as 'Giraffa reticulata') Savannah Ring-Tailed Lemur Lemur catta Tropical Rainforest Snow Leopard Uncia uncia (now recognized as 'Panthera uncia') Alpine Thomson's Gazelle Gazella thomsonii thomsonii (now recognized as 'Eudorcas thomsonii') Savannah
Downloadable Content
Common Name Scientific Name Biome Notes Addax Addax nasomaculatus Desert In-game the Addax does not drink water out of bowls or troughs, instead being hydrated by the grass or hay the Addax eats. It is the only animal in the game with this feature. Asian Elephant Elephas maximus Scrub Asiatic Black Bear Ursus thibetanus Temperate Forest The Asiatic Black Bear was only obtainable by completing Photo objectives in the game Zoo Tycoon 2: Mobile, and was not included in the Ultimate Collection. This species has numerous bugs, having not being compatible with changes brought to later versions of the game; The Asiatic Black Bear cannot be hunted by large predators (Dinosaurs exclusively) and are unable to hunt smaller animals themselves, has no log for Family Trees, has no listed conservation status, among other things. Black Leopard Panthera pardus Tropical Rainforest This species is exclusively Melanistic in-game. In real life Black Leopards are just rare genetic variants of normal Leopards. Musk Ox Ovibos moschatus Tundra
The addon for the Black Leopard comes bundled with a Stuffed Prey Dummy enrichment item for predators, it resembles an Ungulate of some kind, possibly a deer.
Endangered Species