Unfortunately the age of Zoo Tycoon does show, especially with the hindsight of its later successors. New pens and exhibits can be made with just a few clicks, meaning that you can quickly amass an impressive zoo compound to appeal to your virtual guests. Zoo Tycoon’s biggest appeal is seeing your zoo slowly come to life as your roster of animals grows more and more. The base Zoo Tycoon that was released in 2001 features 40 animals to play with, but thanks to the Complete Collection’s inclusion of the Dinosaur Digs, Marine Mania, and Bonus Endangered Species Theme Pack DLC.
Standard Sim world view enhanced by having dinosaurs eat people.Įntertaining music, good bellows from hungry dinosaurs.įun for all ages, and great for big kids who love dinosaurs.Here is where they can begin to place the first bricks of their up-and-coming zoo. Stephen, already a dinosaur fan, “learned heaps” about the kinds of environments dinosaurs are thought to have needed and enjoyed himself to boot, although he says “this is a game for people that like dinosaurs and the outdoors a lot.” With Dinosaur Digs you can switch off all the buildings to lay down the right amount of ground cover and switch them back on again once you’re done.Īs an added bonus, the education quotient of Dinosaur Digs is right up there. One of the problems with the original Zoo Tycoon was that to place foliage in an enclosure was often quite tricky and meant negotiating around buildings and trees. Unfortunately you don’t always get what you thought and Stephen learned the hard way that a small egg doesn’t always equal a small dinosaur.īuilding and maintaining enclosures is now easier with Dinosaur Digs as well. Unlike Zoo Tycoon, when you want a new dinosaur you have to pick up an egg and plonk that in the enclosure. I always enjoyed watching the keepers sweeping up the occasional elephant dump and now you need a vacuum cleaner-toting scientist to keep the enclosures neat and tidy. Scientists are also required to keep the zoo running smoothly. The DRT round up dinosaurs that are running amok and get them back into their enclosures.
New to the zoo are the dinosaur recovery team (DRT) members - who join with the zoo keepers - plus tour guides and maintenance men. The game doesn’t simply repeat the Zoo Tycoon exercise with different animals, it also expands on the original concept.
“It’s easy for it to get out of hand and you end up running out of money.” Stephen says he did that several times quite quickly and the only thing to do then is to let the dinosaurs eat the visitors and start over. Simple really, but as Stephen says, you need to stay focused. The rules are the same: build enclosures for dinosaurs and attract visitors to earn money to build more enclosures.
If you know how to play Zoo Tycoon, then Dinosaur Digs will be easy enough to pick up.
You need the electric fences or they get out.” While dinosaurs on the loose are a sight to behold, and are entertaining in the short term, it does tend to put the visitors off your zoo. “Make sure they know to make the enclosures really strong. The dinosaurs have a lot more groove to them,” says Steven, adding that the animals in the original game didn’t have a lot of personality - something that can’t be said for the dinosaurs. “It’s got more things that you can do and the dinosaurs are great. Stephen Webb, cousin and snow boarder, is 13 and a keen Zoo Tycoon player. Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs, I had to send it off to a serious dinosaur fan for appraisal.