Zoo Tycoon

Overview

Zoo Tycoon is a business simulation video game developed by Frontier Developments and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on November 22, 2013 for Xbox One and Xbox 360.

It was revealed at E3 2013. The gameplay shown had elements similar to Zoo Tycoon 2, such as a first-person view and feeding animals in first person. As in earlier games, you look after your animals by watching their mood, hunger and thirst, and Tycoon Mode, introduced in the first Zoo Tycoon, returns.

The Xbox One version has a 15-hour story campaign, a freeform mode with infinite money and short challenge modes of about 15 minutes. It adds Kinect minigames, photo sharing, online play for one to four players and more than 100 animals.

The Xbox 360 version is almost identical to the Xbox One version, but it has only 65 of the 101 animals, its graphics are lower, and it is single-player only.

Microsoft announced a remaster, Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection, for Windows 10 and Xbox One on August 20, 2017. It added 4K and HDR support, 60 frames per second on Xbox One X and new animals such as kangaroos, koalas and cougars, and was released on October 31, 2017.

The game received mixed reviews on release. IGN gave it 5.5 out of 10, Official Xbox Magazine UK gave it 7, Polygon 8, Eurogamer 8, Metro 6 and VideoGamer.com 5. GameZone's review of the Xbox One version said that where the game cuts corners to appeal to a wider audience, it also puts people off with overly cumbersome menus.

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Business simulation

Developer

Frontier Developments

Publisher

Microsoft Studios

Series

Zoo Tycoon

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Release dates

Editions

Check out the store

Achievements

Achievements44 (1,000G)

Total

44

Gamerscore

1000

• Animal Lover Made an animal completely happy. 5G 40.12% of players
• Happy Animal Friends Average animal happiness kept in the Green for 20 minutes. 25G 73.03% of players
• Have You Seen This Guy?! Bred a color variant of an animal. 25G 34.56% of players
• One of Each Bred every animal type. 40G 7.4% of players
• One of Everything Bred every animal and their color variants. 100G 7.18% of players
• No Free Refills Refilled the animal cleaning stations 250 times. 25G 7.81% of players
• Feeder Restocked the feeding stations 100 times. 15G 9.46% of players
• Conservationalist Released one of every animal type into the wild. 75G 7.49% of players
• Go Viral! Had a successful Viral Advertising campaign. 20G 36.4% of players
• Poop Master Cleared up 1,000 pieces of poop. 35G 8.3% of players
• Close to the Animals Completed all 3 interactions with the animals. 15G 25.1% of players
• Treat Time Completed 25 treat interactions. 20G 9.96% of players
• Shower Time Completed 25 hose interactions. 20G 11.08% of players
• Play Time Played with 25 animals. 20G 8.4% of players
• Award Winner Received an award. 5G 47.71% of players
• Multiple Award Winner Received 5 award in the same zoo. 20G 32.59% of players
• The Zoo Tycoon Received all 20 awards in the same zoo. 50G 7.43% of players
• Challenger Completed a challenge. 5G 43.9% of players
• Number 1 Contender Completed 25 Challenges. 25G 27.6% of players
• World Heavyweight Champ Completed 100 challenges. 30G 10.86% of players
• If You Build Them Built 1st exhibit. 10G 95% of players
• The Concessioner Built every type of concession in the same zoo. 5G 13.39% of players
• We Can Make it Better Upgraded an attraction. 5G 82.83% of players
• Upgrading is for Winners Upgraded an attraction to level 3. 10G 65.03% of players
• Smooth Over the Cracks Repaired an attraction or enrichment. 5G 79.83% of players
• Top of the Charts Increased your Fame level 100 times across all your zoos. 50G 19.01% of players
• Snap Happy Filled a photo album. 10G 28.07% of players
• Photographer Extraordinaire Filled all the photo albums. 35G 7.06% of players
• Phase One Complete Completed a scenario. 5G 44.43% of players
• You've Got the Skills Completed 5 scenarios. 25G 17.73% of players
• Correction, the Mad SkillZ Completed all the scenarios. 50G 8.43% of players
• Staffing Up Hired a member of staff. 5G 80.55% of players
• You're Gonna Eat Lightnin' Trained a member of staff up to level 3. 10G 71.59% of players
• You've Got to Start Somewhere Started your first zoo. 10G 100% of players
• Are your Legs Tired? Ran 10km. 35G 18.3% of players
• Time for a Tire Change Drove 25km. 35G 11.55% of players
• Guestalicious Had a guest rating of 10,000 in your zoo. 15G 27.6% of players
• Customizer Customized 50 different attractions. 5G 23.95% of players
• Earning a Living Earned $100,000. 5G 45.52% of players
• I'm a Millionaire! Earned $1,000,000. 15G 22.29% of players
• A Multimillionaire who's a Ninja Earned $10,000,000. 30G 7.34% of players
• Research Warrant Researched an item. 5G 72.49% of players
• Research Party Researched 10 items. 15G 53.45% of players
• Red Hot Research Researched everything. 30G 9.83% of players

DLC

No add-on content is recorded for the Xbox 360 version.

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

Single-player only, with no online features.

Online

Plays offlineYes

The Xbox 360 version is single-player only and does not use online services. The Xbox 360 Store closed on July 29, 2024.

Reception

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	5.5	10
Official Xbox Magazine UK	7	10
Polygon	8	10
Eurogamer	8	10
Metro	6	10
VideoGamer.com	5	10

Notes for collectors

• The Xbox 360 version has 65 animals, against 101 on Xbox One.
• The Xbox 360 version is single-player only, while the Xbox One version has online co-op for up to four players.
• The Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions share the 2013 Zoo Tycoon name, and the 2017 remaster is a separate release.
• The achievement list has 44 entries worth 1,000 gamerscore, and none need online play.

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 12.5 hours