“Let’s Build a Zoo” is, as the name suggests, a management simulation game that manages a zoo. Your main goal is to create a fun environment for your customers while keeping things safe for animals. It can be a little tricky while being guided what to do. The game gets even more fun, especially as your zoo grows. The cute pixel art style with lots of different looking customers and animals also adds to the fun.
First, you’ll be given a small piece of land and a short tutorial on how to build animal buildings and farms, add decorations, hire people, and more. This is the majority of gameplay. Check your zoo to make sure it looks good and runs smoothly. It’s important to do this so your customers are happy and you can keep making money to keep expanding.
Adding different animals to your zoo is another way to upgrade and improve customer acceptance. You start the game with small animals such as bunnies and geese, but as you progress through the game you can acquire more by trading with other zoos or creating new animals of your own. Let’s Build a Zoo has 60 base animals, with about 10 different colored animals depending on breeding.
Unlock machines in-game that can be used to combine certain animals with others to create over 300,000 hybrid creatures. This also includes dinosaurs from DLC.
There are also tasks that customers ask you to do, and your choices affect your morale. For example, let’s say someone lost a dog at some point and posted an ad to help you find one at your zoo. You can find a dog and return it, or dress it up as a lion and put it on display for more money and charm. There are even more ridiculous scenarios that add an element of ugliness. It might end up making morally questionable choices, but it’s all fun.
The controls in Let’s Build a Zoo are very simple, with tutorials on which buttons bring up which menus. I found myself liking playing the game in handheld mode because the controls reminded me a bit of DS games, but the visuals look great on the big screen. I thought it worked very smoothly.
Let’s Build a Zoo’s pixel art visual style is also very cute and suitable for games. Just like music, it fits well. The game features a variety of animals and people, showing how hard the creators and artists have worked to provide an engaging experience.
Let’s Build a Zoo combines management-style simulation with creative concepts that go beyond just running a zoo. With a funny and cute atmosphere, this game is not only fun but also very engaging.
