Zoo Tycoon 2 [PC]

Three years ago, Microsoft released Zoo Tycoon, a smart, engaging, kid-friendly game that built on the template established by the venerable Railroad Tycoon. Now the company is prepping a sequel for fall release. Zoo Tycoon 2 has migrated to a fully 3D engine and is full of options to take advantage of its new look. There's still a background emphasis on the strategy of management, but Zoo Tycoon 2 looks like a far more immersive game than its predecessor.

Games cut from the Tycoon standard typically have a 2D, sprite-based aesthetic, so the polygons in Zoo Tycoon 2 are a welcome change. Zoom in, and there's actually a lot going on with the new look. We see more complexity in the animals and buildings, which support greater configurability. More important is the ability to focus in on the action, fixing one of the biggest complaints about the first game. No more looking at the zoo from a mile in the air, trying to tell a wallaby from a chimpanzee.

The most dynamic visual addition to the series is the first-person camera. No longer will players be limited to overhead views of their creation. When a more immediate view of the park is required, keepers can drop into their zoo and wander the paths and exhibits, seeing things from a visitor's perspective. There's no option to actually inhabit a particular guest, but it's still easy to figure out why certain views are blocked or exhibits are inaccessible. There's also a camera for taking photos of anything in the zoo; photos can be saved to a scrapbook or discarded.

Additionally, first-person can be used for daily maintenance of the park. While wandering on foot, the space bar opens enclosure gates, allowing direct access to the animals. If no hired zookeeper has visited the pen recently, there will be chances to, er, clean up after the various animal guests in the zoo. This is also where the new graphics engine has a chance to show off, since everything looks a lot more impressive in close-up 3D.

To supplement the visual education,Zoo Tycoon 2 links each of the 30 included animal to data from its Encarta Encyclopedia entry. Through easily navigable tabs, the game packs a lot of detail on habitat and food requirements, as well as game-specific information like immediate hunger, cleanliness, and need for socialization. Players will find a lot of info about each species' preferred environment, which leads into the game's focus on biomes.

In the first game, habitats could be customized to some extent, but the effect was limited. In Zoo Tycoon 2, the biome brush allows players to quickly tailor an enclosure to any species, whether it prefers lush grass or an arid savannah. For each of the ten biome brushes, several forms of terrain are available, from water areas to several types of land and foliage. This gives the game much more detail, and also keeps animals happy.

Additionally, players will find several hundred types of building materials to create their zoo, including a wide range of fences and animal shelters, as well as food stands, ATMs, and donation boxes to keep the money flowing.

There will also be a few extra tools for creating animal enclosures. Fences are no longer the only way to define the boundary of a pen -- now impassable terrain features can be created as well. So moats, steep slopes, and pits can be used both to contain animals and give each zoo a much more unique appearance. There will also be more freedom to create curved paths and pens, and the variable terrain can extend within each pen as well, giving the animals more variety in their environment.

After all, keeping your guests happy, be they human or animal, is still the name of the game. This sequel is as approachable and kid-friendly as the first game, but the more detailed and powerful new tools should make for more interesting play sessions. And with the focus shifted from economics to the animals and their environment, there's reason to dive into a custom-built wild kingdom. Watch for our full review when the game releases this fall.