Planet Zoo, like Planet Coaster before, is an incredible construction kit. Still, I’m having a great time sidestepping the issue by building a massive zoo with everything in it. The current implementation is bizarre, and undercuts what should be one of Planet Zoo’s best ideas. That sort of Haussmann-like renovation is par for the course in builders, but Franchise Mode seems designed precisely to avoid such situations. That, and “Conservation Points,” a secondary currency that’s used to attain rare or endangered animals like pandas, elephants, and giraffes. Only your “Trade Center” is shared though, a 30-slot storage bank that houses animals you haven’t put into a park yet. Planet Zoo positions it like you’re a zoo tycoon, a global enterprise that manages parks on every continent. So I started over, and I’ll say this: I’m disappointed, insofar as the “Franchise” name is a bit misleading. Laying out a gondola was proving needlessly difficult and I was having a hard time keeping my staff’s assigned work areas organized. After spending 12 to 15 hours on my first, I realized I’d backed myself into a corner in terms of some late-game options. Of course, that also means you’re going to screw up the first time. It’s manageable though, with most of the nonfunctional items hidden until after you’ve laid down a foundation and done some research. Starting a new zoo is still intimidating, presented with acres upon acres of empty land to fill. You can research new themes to decorate your zoo, new staff facilities to accommodate your growing employee pool, new barriers to better protect your guests from your animals (and vice versa), and so on. You start with a limited construction kit and limited funds, then gradually expand both your zoo and your options. Positioned between Career and Creative, Franchise Mode is a slightly structured sandbox. Twice-or three times now, if you count the beta. You could play with a restricted toolbox in someone else’s zoo…or you could just go make your own.Īnd make your own, I did. The prefab zoos Frontier includes for each mission are inspiring, sure, but unlocking all 14 will take a lot of patience.
I did dabble in the Career early on, but quickly tired of going through the motions of what felt like an extended tutorial. It’s a lot of hours, most of them spent in Franchise Mode. And they’ve been those scary “Playing a Builder” hours, where you blink and realize six hours disappeared while you were futzing about placing baobab trees and turning a jumble of rocks into a proper bear cave.
Having put 10 or so hours into the game during its beta period, I’ve now put an additional 30 into the release build. Planet Zoo has devoured my life, just as I knew it would.
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