Planet Zoo developed and published by Frontier is now available on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, but how does the behemoth animal management game fair on consoles?
After successfully porting Planet Coaster to the consoles a few years back, many who didn’t have a gaming PC that could handle Planet Zoo wished and hoped for it to make it to console, and luckily Frontier came through and did just that. It is amazing to see in the Planet Zoo communities how thrilled people are that they can join in the fun of opening their zoo whether it be in the career mode, offline challenge mode, franchise mode, sandbox and more. While there were a few who were understandably concerned at how much the latest consoles could handle, most likely due to Planet Zoo on the PC being quite demanding it seems to be a solid console port, for the most part. The original experience is there and as close to the PC as you can get it, the career is all intact, and the game modes are all just as fun but there are limitations, not unfair ones. On the PC version, if you had too many animals or too many guests, you’d notice slowdowns, but there were no limits to how big you could have your zoo. On the console version, there is a limit, though it isn’t an unfair one it allows for quite a big zoo. My first franchise zoo on console named after one of my sweet dogs has about 80 animals in total I have around 2000 guests and I’m not experiencing any lag or slowdowns. Sadly though the franchise mode which is what I exclusively play on both PC and PS5 is broken at the moment as of launch it crashes about every 5 minutes sometimes every 30 seconds, and the disconnects are getting to me. I understand it is a new launch but sadly, it is being hampered by this issue because otherwise, it is fun when you can play it, but it is pretty game-breaking having to constantly restart the connection this seems to be an issue many are having at the moment.
Planet Zoo does convert to the console well some may be wondering how the controls are fair on the console. After all the PC version is quite extensive when it comes to control over the zoo how do you control all that from a controller? I’m happy to say that it works well I enjoy just lying down on the sofa and chilling while building my zoo up and the controls are crafted perfectly for those who prefer the sofa/TV experience, they got the controls spot on and when there is so much to take into consideration. The building is fairly easy to learn on the console as well, I did worry that the building wouldn’t convert so well on the controller but if anything I am finding barriers and paths much easier. For those who can’t get used to the controller or would prefer the more original keyboard and mouse experience, you can plug them in to have a more PC-like experience. A tutorial is offered in career mode that introduces you to all of the systems including the new ways the game is controlled via the controller which is very useful for new players or players that are coming from the PC version. Planet Zoo is already a huge game with so much to offer and luckily as mentioned before it doesn’t feel like a watered-down version you never feel you’re missing out on anything except the animal amount that the PC version has due to all the DLC, but rest assured all the DLCs are coming to the console version, with two already released and two coming out at the end of May, soon the console version will have all those scenery parts, animals and more.
Planet Zoo gives players different game modes, each offering a different experience, career mode often has you completing different objectives from saving zoos, helping conservation and more, it also helps you learn Planet Zoo’s many systems which is great for new players. There are many different difficulty levels and you can achieve bronze, silver and gold medals depending on how well you do in the game. For those wanting to take the game online, Planet Zoo has a franchise mode. In franchise mode, players will create a franchise that can consist of multiple zoos in this mode you have to start from scratch and work your way up, this is by far my favourite mode. Players will be tasked with building the best and most profitable zoos they can while also releasing animals into the wild for conservation points or uploading them to the trading centre to sell to other players looking for specific species with different stats and classifications. The conservation points are used to buy animals for your zoo at the start it’s always best to start with a low-maintenance animal that breeds a lot, when you do this you’ll earn more points slowly and build up some savings for different and rarer species, eventually having tons of credits to spend on all the animals you desire. In franchise mode however it is advised to always keep an eye on cash, at first I always struggled but learned creating an exhibit or two with animals that breed a lot and then selling them for cash is a sure way to keep out of debt while also breeding more in the bigger habitats for conservation points, though do make sure not to take out to many loans to fast, the loans can completely tank the zoo I found at times. Challenge mode is a franchise but offline and animals circulate the trading store automatically for those that prefer an offline experience, I for some reason cannot step off franchise mode for long enough to establish a big challenge mode zoo. Finally, we have a sandbox mode, you’re in total control in this mode, from having unlimited money, more or fewer guests, whatever animal you desire or scenery is all available to you whenever. I find this mode people really create the most stunning zoos and luckily a lot of them upload their beautiful creations to the workshop so you can experiment and see if it fits your zoo. Planet Zoo covers a lot of ground for different players, from creative players to ones who want to create successful franchises, you’ll never run out of things to do.
When I launched Planet Zoo, I did expect graphical differences at the very least due to how demanding the game can be on PC after launching the game on PC and PlayStation 5 I can honestly say there is very little difference between the two when I look at them both, it truly is quite amazing at how good they’ve got it to look on the console. Nothing like getting the camera zoomed in on your cute animals and seeing what they are up to in their habitats you can also use the camera to act as a guest and walk around the zoo which is a fantastic feature, and even being in crowds as big as they get, didn’t lag me at all, the game ran at a solid 60fps despite how big my zoo was getting. A lot of attention to detail has gone into the game’s habitats, animals, nature and buildings it feels like the creativity is ultimately endless, and if you want other people’s designs in your zoo, there is an online workshop to download other creations or share your own. The audio is also fantastic while I’m not the biggest fan of the music, the animal audio is stunning the animals all sound so good I enjoy getting into the habitats and just listening and watching them perform their daily activities it is so realistic.
Verdict
Planet Zoo Console is a really great addition to PlayStation and Xbox for those unable to run it on PC it is fantastic and as close to the original as it can possibly get. The controls are great, it feels like it doesn’t hamper the original experience at all apart from the zoo complexity meter which while it sometimes feels like a worry, lets you have quite a lot of animals despite this I imagine some PC-size zoos I’ve seen may not fit on it which is a shame but understandable. However, my issues with franchise mode were truly frustrating, freezing every 30 seconds at some points and constantly having to reconnect was truly quite a negative experience. I’d also get random freezes when trying to trade the animals out into the franchise which is a real shame, I feel that people have noticed these issues and stayed away from the franchise which has made getting some of the animals really difficult, some would never even show up on the list which is a shame. Ultimately though, Planet Zoo on the console has been a joy, it’s great to see other folks get to play it as well for the first time and it really does hold up to the PC version quite well.
7/10
If you want to see our Planet Zoo PC review then you can do so HERE.
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