The female lay on a rock, sunning herself. She seemed content too, which was a far cry from a few months ago, when I inherited this zoo and her conditions were cramped and dirty. A few habitat improvements and the addition of a companion seemed to do the trick.

As I surveyed my handiwork, I noticed the crowd gathered on the other side of the fence. Children peered through, excitedly pointing to the animals and likely telling their parents all the fun Bengal tiger facts they’d learned at the nearby educator’s podium.

It’s good to be the king. A lion takes a break from amusing the guests.

The gate opened and one of my zookeepers entered. I decided to get out of her way and head next door to check out my emperor penguins, but she intercepted me and thrust a piece of paper in my hand. I peered at it, a smile spreading across my face.

“She’s pregnant!” she exclaimed.

Up close and personal

Most of us can’t spend our days among real animals, but we can find the next best thing in Zoo Tycoon 2. The game leaps ahead of its predecessor by unshackling you from an isometric 2D perspective and giving you a full 3D view of your zoo and its inhabitants, employees and guests.

“Certain animal and guest behaviors would be hard to fully appreciate when you’re zoomed out, so dropping into first-person is the perfect way to see the smaller nuances.”

- Linda Currie, producer

You can perform zookeeper tasks, such as refilling food and water bowls or grooming animals. A step into Guest mode lets you take in your creation from a first-person perspective. An additional Photo Safari mode lets you snap shots of all the action and organize them into albums for later perusal.

“There is a lot of detail in Zoo Tycoon 2 animals and objects that really only comes to light when you drop down into first-person view,” explains producer Linda Currie. “Certain animal and guest behaviors would be hard to fully appreciate when you’re zoomed out, so dropping into first-person is the perfect way to see the smaller nuances.”

Real intelligence

Those smaller nuances come through thanks to the advanced AI (artificial intelligence) implemented by the Blue Fang Games development team. Senior designer Shawn Stone notes: “So many of the behaviors in Zoo Tycoon 1 were very simple. Animals ate, slept and chased each other around.

I am a camera. Snap shots of anything you see while in Guest mode and organize them in photo albums.

“Now we are simulating a majority of the most interesting things about each animal species,” Stone adds. “There are now social interactions between the animals, courtship rituals and territoriality.” All of those behaviors were based on extensive research conducted by the team, who not only scoured the Internet, print materials, and other resources but also went on a behind-the-scenes field trip to Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo.

On the other side of the fence, the guests use an AI system similar to the one employed for the animals, according to senior designer Bart Simon. “They have needs,” he explains, “and objects in the world meet those needs. They figure out what they want to do next based on how pressing their needs are and what objects they can ‘see’ that will satisfy them.”

If you’re curious what guests think of your zoo, you can click on them individually and read their thoughts.

“Now we are simulating a majority of the most interesting things about each animal species. There are now social interactions between the animals, courtship rituals and territoriality.”

- Shawn Stone, senior designer

You can also use the Quick Stats screen to sort them according to various criteria, which helps if you’re wondering how many guests are frustrated by a lack of bathrooms or refreshment stands, or which animal exhibit they love the most.

Simon adds: “We don’t cheat. They all have their own brains — and they are all allowed to meet their needs as best they can. In my opinion, this sort of system facilitates realistic behavior. Guests have different favorite animals and different amounts of cash, and they get unhappy over different things.”

Squeaky clean. Make sure you wash and groom the animals, which increases their happiness. Guests like happy animals.

Broad strokes

One thing all guests need, however, is diversity in your animal exhibits. Thanks to the biome tool, you can, for example, place the emperor penguins’ display next to the Nile crocodiles’ home. The biome tool enables you to “paint” a specific environment within the fence border, right down to the density of its rocks and plant life.

“One tough decision we had to make was how much we would support animals interacting with things that aren’t really from their biome,” recalls Stone. “We decided to do the more intensive work — so, for example, if you keep a chimpanzee happy enough that he’d want to climb a tree and the only tree available is a savannah tree, he’ll use it.”

Digital offspring. A baby antelope magically appears.

With all these tools at your disposal, you’re limited only by your imagination as you build the zoo of your dreams. Currie notes that Zoo Tycoon 2 is unique among tycoon games because it “emphasizes the animals in the tycoon mix. This subject matter engages players, making them want to care for the animals and gives the game a broad appeal to many different types of players.”

If you liked this game, check out:

• Railroad Tycoon 3
• RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
• The Sims 2
• SimCity 4: Rush Hour
• Zoo Tycoon