Zoo Tycoon 2 is lots of fun for those who like simulation games where you build your own worlds within the game's rules, as long as the gamer has lots of patience. Young children won't be able to operate this game on their own, not only because of the time it takes to build a zoo, even in the freestyle portion of the game, but also because it requires some dexterity to properly build moats, hills, and other construction activities necessary to contain some of the animals. Still, parents who play this with their children might find Zoo Tycoon fun and educational, both for the information available about the 30 included animals and for the lessons in money management and sales. Teens and adults will enjoy the game on a different level as they create intriguing exhibits that please both animals and zoo visitors and plot out a zoo that they can walk around as a guest.

For non-competitive people, the freestyle option allows you to build the zoo of your dreams, with unlimited funds and all 30 animals unlocked. For other who like a challenge, you must earn enough money and fame to expand your zoo. In all options, animals can escape and scare off guests, and overcrowded exhibits can result in lions killing each other or zebras starving. Zookeepers and maintenance workers can be lazy (and found lounging on park benches or in the staff center), requiring the gamer to assign them to neglected areas or, when that doesn't work, firing them. You can click on visitors, workers, and animals to find out their needs and thoughts, although an icon that floats above many displays their mood.

I run my game on a Windows XP virtual machine (VMware Fusion 2) installed on a Mac, and I encountered several glitches that I'm not sure would appear on PC: mysterious gray rectangles sometimes appear that obscure what's underneath, and the cursor sometimes disappears, wedging the view in one corner of the zoo. Less annoying is the way animal images break up when I get close to them; they reassemble themselves once I move away. Landscape construction is the most frustrating tool, as I find the terrain modifying tools too broad (I can't dig a narrow ditch, for example, and have to add dirt afterward) and not easily controlled by a mouse. The biome brush, with its different steps from deep water to trees for each kind of environment, is a great addition.

If you like Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, you'll probably have fun with this game as well. If I sit down to play this game, hours have passed before I know it. Yes, it's that addictive.

-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann

Zoo tycoon 2 is a fun game the fact that i liked about it was that you were able to actualy turn into one of the zoo kepers and walk around your zoo cleaning the anlimals area .I hate when the animals brake through thier fence.This game teaches you about animals and there spicies.but zoo tycoon 2/dinasor extinct is even better.But it is more work to take care off the dinasors.I would rather play the unlimited money challenge.But still you should get this game it is a fun game