World of Zoo (Nintendo DS) - Review by Chris

Introduction

Wildlife park management games have become a common feature on the PC, and have even begun to show up on the consoles now due to the ever expanding demands of a new generation of younger gamers. And while they've been enjoyable, they miss the important opportunity to include some virtual hands on experiences with the numerous types of animals which you can fill your park with. This is where developer Blue Fang and publisher THQ have stepped in, bringing World of Zoo to the Nintendo DS and offering up those missed opportunities that the other games have not given immediately setting itself apart from the competition. But is the end experience a good trade off for the real thing?

Gameplay

World of Zoo plays out like of a combination of pet simulation titles, such as Nintendogs, and park management sims, but allowing you to do much more than you would normally get to do in similar titles. Whereas other titles will present you with the animals for you to see, they remain largely hands off affairs but and keep not only the in game characters but the gamers at a distance from interacting with the animals. Luckily, World of Zoo remedies this by allowing you to step into the enclosures with the animals and interact with them to gain their trust.

Starting off, you'll be owner of a zoo which has no enclosures yet. You're first job is to pick a starting enclosure and then make the animals, from a variety of species types and other body types, before jumping into the enclosure and interacting with you creations. Once in the enclosures, you'll need to watch out for thought bubbles appearing above you animals' heads that indicate what it is they want, be it a specific type of food to eat or a specific toy to play with, and give it to them so that they become more friendly. Gaining the trust of the animals is the name of the game and as you interact with your animals more and more, a bar of hearts in the upper right hand corner of the top screen will fill up and eventually award you stars for increasing the animals trust in you. These stars are needed to create further enclosures for different animals in you zoo and with these costing upwards of 30 stars each, you'll have to spend lots of time with your animals to get all of the animals you want. This would seem like a tedious task but with each animal, they react and play differently to the things you do and so there's always something to learn to help ease your way through the game.

Going hands on with the animals is incredibly simple and very easy to jump into. While the game transitions to the enclosure for the first time, the game will give you a brief tutorial about what it is you can do in the enclosures but even as brief as it is, it's very easy to pick up the gameplay and get on with it. In each case, you'll have an inventory of items available for use in the enclosures, with some of the items varying between animal groups, and these inventories are initially limited to a couple of items but as you play more and gain more stars or complete animal specific awards, of which there are over 600, you'll gain access to bigger and often better items to use.

For the most part, the gameplay remains largely reminiscent of the Wii version. Yet one inclusion here which was sorely missed in that version is multiplayer. Here, the game allows two players to come together through single cart download play and interact with a group of animals in a nursery setting or if the other player has the game themselves, they can share animal creations or visit each other's zoos. It's a great setup and one which is a really good inclusion as the interaction with the animals moves on to another level when another player is involved.

Controls

Just as the Wii version made good use of the unique control setup there, the DS version follows the same suit. The entire game is controlled by way of the touch screen with everything from menus to interacting with the animals done through touch inputs and it works extremely well, being very responsive and allowing you to move the camera or place items where you want them. The camera's position is a slight issue and does make it slightly more difficult to get the interaction you want, due to only being able to adjust it left or right, but adjusting your inputs quickly remedies any small problems that the camera does throw up. The foregoing of the face buttons or d-pad also works in the game's favour as using some of these aspects for accessing inventory or items was rather difficult in the Wii version but here, because you simply have to touch the inventory icons on the touch screen, everything is easily accessible making it better for younger gamers to get to grips with.

Graphics

The same visual style as used in the Wii version is replicated here and while it didn't come off as well as it could have done on the Wii due to a lack of shaders, the DS version looks fantastic. The cel-shaded visuals play to the consoles strengths and everything, from the animal enclosures to the items to animals themselves, looks fantastic on the DS' screens and the whole thing maintains a steady frame rate throughout the entirety even when the enclosure have multiple animals and items in them. Enclosures are large and varied, suiting each of the animals perfectly, and provide a variety of terrain and features to keep them entertained all the while maintaining a high level of quality in the visuals with everything looking clean and crisp and very little in the way of blockiness outside of some of the 2D work.

The animals continue the high standard for the visuals looking like their real life counterparts and being animated in such as way as to replicate them as well. The cel-shaded visuals really allow the animals to express character and it is a joy to behold them running around the enclosures playing with toys and items you give them.

Sound

The audio plays a low-key part in the game but the use of some upbeat and cheery tracks does just enough to help set the atmosphere. The sound effects for the animals are all as they should be, being representative of the real things, but you'll be subjected to limited clips of these being replayed throughout your time in the enclosures. It's a slight dampener but they never manage to fall flat and compliment the visuals well to keep them in the gamer's good books.

Dual screen

Spreading the action across both screens, the developers have made really good use of what is available. While you'll only be able to interact with the animals and enclosures on the touch screen, everything continues over into the top screen as well, giving a sense of size and depth to the enclosures. The touch screen controls for interacting with the game are well implements and as such, the overall game makes great use of the two screens.

Final comments

Although aimed at younger gamers, World of Zoo is a great little game which will hook anyone who is interested in animals. It plays out like a more exotic version of Nintendogs and anyone who loved those games will instantly fall in love with what is on offer here. Being able to go hands on with the animals and care for them and play with them is handled extremely well and makes for an enjoyable experience. And with there being plenty animals types to interact with, all of which you can create yourself, there's plenty here to keep you entertained. The inclusion of a multiplayer mode is what sets this apart from the Wii version and makes the DS version the one to get if interested.

Pro: Visuals look great on the DS, plenty of animals and awards to keep you going, multiplayer is a great inclusion which works well
Con: Little variation in the gameplay between animals, falls into a routine quickly
Final score: 7.3

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