Planet Zoo 2 developed and published by Frontier is available now on PC, Xbox and PlayStation.
Where to begin with Planet Zoo 2? A series that holds a special place; it’s easily in my top 10 games of all time. This review is based on the PC version.
Planet Zoo 2, like its predecessor, lets you run your own zoo, this time it returns with an expanded animal roster, a new engine, and many more challenges. That’s right: the biggest selling point is the addition of aviaries and aquariums. All I wanted from Planet Zoo was birds and fish, like Zoo Tycoon 2 and its expansions. The new campaign fits around these additions and introduces you to each feature. This makes the game accessible to new players and old players alike. The tutorial teaches you about the new accreditation system, where you complete challenges to unlock more animals, research and more. While in campaign and challenge mode, this makes sense; the accreditation raises your zoo rating. However, in franchise mode, I feel like it can be a hindrance because it slows progress too much, making conservation credits harder to earn. I wanted to add birds to my zoo, and I was just locked to toucans, which was a shame. Birds like the parakeet and owls were locked behind the levelling. The second biggest feature is the wildlife reserve system. This system receives mixed reviews, but I love it myself. You can now modify wildlife reserves to release your animals in and see them in their natural habitat. This is included in all modes and offers a ton of new systems. I like this change; however, it being necessary for accreditation in things like franchise mode becomes a bit of a slog.
I enjoyed the campaign; it shows you the creative freedom you can have later on once you learn everything. It gives you a taste, then challenges you to build and thrive. Other modes like franchise and sandbox are also back. Franchise is my favourite mode… when it works. It is so rewarding to create your own zoo and make a profit. The animals live their lives, and guests appreciate your hard work. The conservation credits system is back, where you make the points by releasing or selling animals on the trading menu. I felt it was a lot slower this time because so many animals are locked behind the accreditation system. I have no points left and have to hope there are animals I can buy with money in the store. Sandbox mode is for those who want to relax, create and just take it at their own pace. Luckily for the avid creators out there, there are so many options that have made building easier, more accessible, and it rewards you for your imagination. The best new tool for me is the nature brush taken from Jurassic Park Evolution 3. It is so much easier to paint your habitats with that than individually trying to place everything in certain ways. The terrain tools are also a lot easier this time round, and I was able to create quite a fun Zebra habitat while messing with it. I had turned the map’s river system into a habitat for them and put cliff faces around the habitat walls, and it just looked great. I love that Frontier has added so much more here to get creative. In Planet Zoo 2, there is something for everyone: if you want to create with no limits, go sandbox; if you want a challenge, go franchise.
Planet Zoo 2 boasts a roster of 136 animals in its base game. That is a lot considering Planet Zoo 1 had a generous 74 on release. Each animal has been reanimated, and new behaviours have been added to copy their real-life counterparts. Not only that, but new management systems like an animal thrive system where the more research and the happier they are the better they do, new educational options, and a ton more have been added. I have to praise the team for how much more realistic it all feels this time round and the tiny details that bring it to life, from each animal and how it behaves, to how the maps look. I have tons of praise for all the attention to detail here. Sadly, though, here comes a long list of why I do not think Planet Zoo 2 should have been released yet and why I don’t understand how they didn’t learn from Planet Zoo 1 release.
Where do I begin here!? Don’t mistake this rant for me hating Planet Zoo, I don’t – it’s in my top games of all time but this release is disappointing and I cannot play it anymore until fixed. Issues I ran into such as animals getting boxed up a lot, franchise mode disconnecting all the time, saves being deleted, animals full of buggy animations, build errors leading to broken habitats, pathing issues, staff leaving the park with boxed animals, franchise disconnects meaning you can’t sell or release animals, crashing, unoptimized and none stop game breaking issues.
The list goes on, but that’s just the bugs and crashes; I haven’t even talked about the odd design choices here. While there is now 136 animals this time around most of them feel like padding, butterflies overtake most of the birds so you’re only left with 12. Having just one owl species is such a shame. The fish species are mostly exhibit ones. It seriously feels like we are missing so much, which brings me to the biggest issue. Where are the DLC animals from Planet Zoo 1? Key animals have been taken away. I understand; it’s a new engine, a new game, but it feels like Frontier is going to charge us down the line for animals we’ve already paid for. I hate this because it feels like so much is missing, and we are going to have to fork out for it all again. Themes and scenery parts are also missing, which again will be resold as DLC. I haven’t even listed the issues that other players are having; the list is massive, it’s sad.
Verdict
Oh Frontier… I was so hyped for the release. I am a huge fan of the Planet series, but this needed time to cook, with an open beta or early access release or even a delay. There is so much to love when it works in Planet Zoo 2; it has the potential of being one of the best management games of all time, but so many issues hold it back. I cannot recommend it to anyone at this time. I feel burnt by it, I pre-ordered the deluxe edition, silly me, when will I learn? I truly hope this is fixed soon because I want to play, but after losing all my franchise progress because of a crash, despite me saving the game, I cannot play it, and that frustrates me. The future of Planet Zoo and the good faith here depends on fixes and whether we have to pay again for all the animals we already bought. I’m not saying don’t charge for DLC, obviously; in today’s standards, games need longevity, and some sell content – sometimes good, sometimes horrendous; it’s a practice I hate, but I get it. We shouldn’t have to keep paying lots of money for content that should be included in a base game. I’d rather see more birds, more fish, scenery, and bring back scenarios for those who love it. However, if I see we have to buy alpacas or capybaras again, and those packs don’t add anything new, I am done. I can’t support that.
Overall, there’s a good time there, somewhere, and when fixed, we will see its true potential, just like with all the other Planet Zoo titles; each game was fixed, but we shouldn’t be here; it needed delaying. I understand games do release with bugs, we have come to accept it’s the norm, I can deal with silly glitches and bugs but there have been game breaking issues throughout my playthrough that disrupted the experience. That isn’t acceptable for a £40/£55 game from a well known studio. They are fixing it as we speak but this review reflects my time with it so far.
