Wired World : Games

Creature comforts

Cash in on happy animals in �Zoo Empire�

By Shaun Conlin

GAME: Zoo Empire
GAME TYPE: Simulation
PUBLISHER: Enlight
GAME HARDWARE: PC
GAME RATING: All
REVIEWER�S OPINION: 3.5 out of 5

Another entry in the popular simulation genre, Zoo Empire lets you build and administer zoos in an effort to attract a crowd that loves seeing wild animals penned up.

The less the animals sulk (they actually smile when they�re happy) and the more bathrooms you provide for visitors, the more popular the attraction becomes and the more lucrative the business.

You manage everything, from the animals themselves to the type of fencing that holds them (concrete or glass?), from the plants they prefer to the employees that tend them (bright or dumb?). And that�s just �free� mode.

FIXER-UPPER

Zoo Empire also offers �campaign� gameplay in which you aspire to be the zoo industry�s saviour, going from zoo to zoo and fixing them up.

Zoo Empire is built in 3-D and is quite pretty, with cartoonish charm. Its gameplay is robust in the real time way of the Sims games.

Zoo Empire is absorbing with many menus, which, as a downside, can detract from the aforementioned prettiness. But what do you expect? This is  a zoo you�re running, not a shophouse. � Cox News Service.

Vocabulary

administer (v): to manage and organise the affairs of a company, an organisation, a country, etc.
pen up (phrasal v): to shut an animal or a person in a small space
sulk (v): to look angry and refuse to speak or smile because you want people to know that you are upset about something
lucrative (adj): producing a large amount of money
saviour (n): a person who rescues somebody/something from a dangerous or difficult situation
charm (n): the power of pleasing or attracting people
robust (adj): (of a system or an organisation) strong and not likely to fail or become weak