14 DAY TRIAL // The group of fossa I just brought in is pretty unhappy. I might have created a decent enough habitat for them but I failed to take into account the amount of attention they would draw. Apparently, an all-glass enclosure is bad for their well-being, which is something I should have guessed. Everyone loves an exotic species and wants to watch them constantly.
So I am re-designing their space, giving them more places to hide out from the crowd and limiting visibility in some areas. I also make the barriers higher, seeing how they have a tendency to escape at the worst possible moment and I really don’t want to spend more money on emergency re-capture.
I also need to deal with some bad building placement and hire extra staff to maintain the zoo. And then I need to build the infrastructure to bring in Asian water monitors for the kids to marvel at.
Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack is developed and published by Frontier Developments, just like the original. This is the most recent in a long line of downloadable content packs that add more animals for players to manage as well as new ways to create their ideal zoo. As the name explains, the focus is on five species that do best in this climate and on the challenges of providing the care they need in an artificial environment.
Those who get the DLC will be able to play with the fossa, lar gibbon, red river hog, Asian water monitor, and brown-throated sloth. It’s a good selection of relatively obscure animals that place different requirements when it comes to habitat creation. All of them ae front and center in the new Bali campaign scenario.
To accompany the new wildlife, the pack also adds more than 200 items inspired by real-world South Asian cultures. The scenario quickly shows how the temples, plants, and statues can be used to create an entirely new look for a zoo.
Planet Zoo gives players the tools to deal with all aspects of running such an institution. Players will sculpt environments to accommodate exotic species before they pick them up on the animal market. Once they arrive, it’s equally challenging to keep them comfortable while getting enough people in to make money. Gameplay is both varied and engaging.
Alongside the Tropical Pack, the game is also getting a big free update. It promises to tweak the way animals socialize, giving players more information about groups and about how they will treat newcomers. Null paths and more options for builders will make it easier to handle the development of a complex zoo.
Tropical Pack is not designed to make major tweaks to the presentation. The game has been out for a while but it still looks good, especially once the player uses its full range of cosmetic options. There’s a lot of care evident in the way the five new animals are presented, especially when the camera focuses on them. The game also does a good job of portraying visitor curiosity.
The sound experience is also good, with a soundtrack that suits the kind of zoo the player is trying to create, but I really wanted the animal sounds to be more prominent, even without a focused camera.
Conclusion
The DLC is a clear Yay for anyone who has seen most of what the base game has to offer and wishes for more. Planet Zoo continues to be a little more fiddly than I would like but it offers a good management experience for animal lovers.
A review key was provided by the publisher
