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"Create the zoo of your dreams," reads the back of the Zoo Tycoon box. This is an exciting prospect. In the zoo of my dreams, visitors ride around on kangaroos. The gift shop is run by talking bears. Over at the colosseum, monkey butlers serve cocktails while Olympic sprinters race giraffes. There are no animals in the cages, just a thousand Jeremy Kyles, dolefully picking at rotten banana skins while scratching themselves new sores. Alas, these visions remain consigned to my imagination. (Apart from the Olympic sprinters thing, as per video below. Keep watching to see a zebra get accused of a false start.) Like the other games in the series, Zoo Tycoon for Xbox One is a pretty straightforward simulator that is rooted in realism. And for the most part, it's good fun.
The tutorial is a bit tedious so unless you're completely new to sims or six years old, it's best to get stuck in with Challenge Mode. This involves building a zoo from the ground up, caring for the animals, keeping the visitors happy and making sure the money keeps rolling in. There are optional side missions - you might be tasked with taking a photo for a magazine, for example, or nursing a sick animal adopted from another zoo.
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