‘Zoo Park Story’ Review – Monkey Business, Kairosoft Style – TouchArcade

It’s been some time since I reviewed a Kairosoft sport. I believe, maybe, the final one was Legends of Heropolis, which was seven years in the past. At the moment, I felt just like the prolific sim writer’s video games have been simply too much like each other, and it appeared as if it was headed down the treacherous path of free-to-play monetization. So I ended. However Kairosoft positive didn’t, and as luck would have it the video games roughly stored on going with the tried-and-true paid mannequin. I made a decision to test again in with its newest launch, Zoo Park Story ($5.99) to see what has, or hasn’t, modified.

Let’s begin with the premise. You’re the proud proprietor of a brand-new zoo. It’s not a lot of a zoo, thoughts you. You’ve obtained a hamster and a capybara. There’s additionally a bench, some merchandising machines, and a tree or two. It seems like maybe you must have been a bit extra ready earlier than opening your doorways, however right here we’re. Hamster. Capybara. Merchandising machines. Bench. Let’s go. You wouldn’t suppose anybody would come to such a zoo, however individuals do. Your aim is to develop your zoo into one thing worthy of the identify, filling your pockets with money alongside the way in which. As you construct, your zoo will earn stars in the direction of a rating. Your purpose is attain 5 (and past), a job that can require you to test off a bunch of missions. Add extra animals. Roll these campaigns. Earn these social media likes. Get. Paid.

I’ll be direct right here: not a lot appears to have modified in Kairosoft’s world. And I suppose if it isn’t damaged, why threat attempting to repair it? Zoo Park Story might have come out seven years in the past and it wouldn’t have appeared misplaced of their line-up on the time. The visuals and sounds are comparable, the UI is comparable, and that acquainted issue curve is right here. A little bit sluggish, simple, and barely difficult at first, you then attain a sure level and the scales tip, supplying you with a cushty cruise to the top of the sport. You possibly can really mess issues up on this one, which I suppose is new. However most probably, you received’t.

There’s really slightly bit extra occurring on this one that originally meets the attention. Clearly the principle factor you need to do is add extra animals to your park. A couple of of them will simply roll in of their very own volition, however most of them might be acquired the opposite two methods. First, you’ll be able to simply purchase them from the Animal Hub. It will require you to both change gadgets or Animal Factors. The opposite approach is by discovering them and befriending them on expeditions. You’ll have to barter with them to befriend them, which includes tossing cash, Animal Factors, or increased common meals bills. The latter is a method you’ll be able to mess issues up, by the way in which. Don’t throw your complete price range at a duck, is all I’m saying. Usually talking, the extra spectacular the animal is, the extra it’s going to price you to maintain.

Gadgets! You should buy them with cash, yow will discover them on expeditions, and folks visiting the park gives you some every now and then. Along with utilizing them to select up animals within the Animal Hub, you should use them immediately on the animals to enhance their stats. The extra friendliness they’ve, the extra likes they’ll get on social media and the extra clients they’ll appeal to. Upping their stats and enhancing their atmosphere with decorations may also earn you extra Animal Factors every now and then. Each animal has their likes and dislikes, and the boosts they’ll get fluctuate primarily based on that. When you get a couple of of every animal sort you’ll be able to merge their pens, and if they’re of various genders there’s a probability they may reproduce. As their friendliness will increase, they’ll have the ability to work together with clients in new methods.

Except for all of this, it’s also possible to run campaigns to draw guests, add the occasional facility, and attempt to enhance your zoo’s rank. You try this by finishing particular missions, they usually’re roughly issues that can occur naturally as you play. On the finish of every yr, you’ll get a abstract from a bizarre chimpanzee king and he’ll offer you another factors you’ll be able to change with him for varied rewards. In comparison with earlier video games, Zoo Park Story seems like makes easy issues unnecessarily sophisticated. There isn’t a lot depth right here, and the tempo might be actually sluggish. All these further currencies and mechanics do is make these fundamental duties extra convoluted.

I’m undecided if I simply picked a nasty one to leap in on or not, however Zoo Park Story simply doesn’t click on for me the way in which a number of the older Kairosoft video games did. Filling out the park simply didn’t really feel satisfying. My zoo didn’t really feel like a correct zoo, and I felt prefer it was too penalizing to have the cool animals filling out the park. The street to success appeared to simply contain jamming as many gadgets as potential down the throats of the most affordable animals I might discover. The sport simply didn’t increase out in as pleasing a approach as I hoped. The Kairosoft attraction retains issues from being disagreeable, however this was most likely as near tedious because it will get for this type of template.

No experiment ought to finish after a single trial. I’ll most likely look into the following couple of releases from Kairosoft earlier than wandering off once more, however I can at the least say with some confidence that Zoo Park Story hasn’t made me rethink why I ended reviewing this writer’s video games. It’s okay. If it was your first Kairosoft sport, you’d most likely have a blast. However I really feel like this idea might have made for a much better sport than what we obtained right here.