• Start out with the original Zoo Tycoon -- you'll have total control over a zoo, and create the animal displays that will impress and amaze people
• Create concession stands, take care of the animals and handle problems like escaped lions -- all while balancing the book & trying to turn a profit. It's fun AND challenging!
• Take it a step further with the Marine Mania expansion pack -- all-new exhibit materials, building and attractions for creating a beautiful aquarium display and dolphin show
• Dinosar Digs gives you the chance to create your own dinosaur park -- bring T-Rexes and brontosaurs to life and keep them from eating the customers
• Also comes with the Endangered Species Theme Pack, featuring a dozen unique animals, 40 objects, and 3 new scenarios -- plus bonus animals available for download

An insidiously addictive simulation game, Zoo Tycoon allows players to create their own zoo, but not just any zoo. It's completely free-form: Start with fences for your exhibits, then pick animals and give them toys, foliage, and anything else you want. For your customers, you can lay down paths to lead them around, then add food stands, amusement rides, even maps and trash cans. Not sure what you need? The zoo advisors will tell you how to make the animals happy, and the customers themselves will tell you what they're looking for, be it snacks, more animals, or anything else. There's also a vast amount of background information on each critter--its diet, its habitat, etc.--which can be useful when you're adding a macrauchenia or a Loch Ness Monster. In all, you can choose over 100 animals, plus countless habitat and park embellishments.

What makes Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection especially compelling is its inclusion of the expansion packs Marine Mania and Dinosaur Digs, so you can add dolphin shows to your zoo, or even a T-Rex or wooly mammoth. Be sure to maintain those worn-out fences, though, or you could have big trouble on your hands.

Zoo Tycoon is a great game for kids because while they'll have terrific fun crafting the zoo of their dreams, they'll also get a reality lesson about what customers want, and how their choice of expenditures ultimately affect the bottom line (that nacho stand sounds tasty, but is it making money?). If you've made a good zoo, customers will be happy, and the money will roll in. And it's also the kind of game grown-ups can enjoy, because there are so many possibilities. Be wary, however, of trying to sneak in 20 minutes of play before bedtime because you'll probably stay up a lot longer than you planned. (Ages 7 and older) --David Horiuchi

Pros:

• Great game for kids and parents to play together.
• Endless replay possibilities
• Educational value in its animal information and "real world" economics

Cons

• Sometimes tiresome trying to get an animal's exhibit just right
• How much free time do you have to spare?

Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection triples your strategy fun, as you discover new worlds and build the most beautiful zoo in history!

This game is really fun, from building the zoo to unlocking new animals and expanding. The only problem is the AI. Maintenance workers will form a troop and all change the same trash can or fix the same fence. Zookeepers will tend to the same animals unless they are assigned or 'locked' in a cage. Sometimes a customer will be walking right through the food court all upset because they're hungry or tired, but won't sit down or buy a drink. Haha But regardless of all of this, the game is definitely worth playing. Hours of entertainment for me anyway.

I LOST THE ONE I HAD ALREADY SO WHEN I SAW THIS GAME ON HERE I ORDERED IT. THIS GAME IS SOO MUCH FUN.

Excellent. The kids just love this game. All the neighborhood kids come to play the game.

This is the complete collection of games for the original Zoo Tycoon game, including the Marine Mania and Dinosaur Digs expansions. Basically, the game is exactly what you'd expect... it's a sim/strategy type game where you take the role of a zoo keeper, and build your ideal zoo. With dozens of animals, from African hunting dogs to saltwater crocodiles to Asian black bears, this game should appeal to any wildlife enthusiast. The whole goal of the game is to make sure your animals, and guests, are happy. The former is achieved by placing them in a suitable environment, the later by building animal house (like 'reptile houses,' 'primate houses,' etc), resturants, gift stores and other attractions. You can choose several scenarios, from free form games to pre-made games that require you to achieve certain, increasingly challenging, goals.

The two expansion packs add on animals, attractions and new features appropriate to them. The Marine Mania pack includes all manner of sea creatures - sharks, whales, dolphins, octopi, seals, and so forth, while Dino Digs includes dinosaurs and prehistoric beasts like Allosaurus, Megatherium, Smilodon and Ankylosaurus, amongst others. They also include new attractions, like the pterodactyl house and crustacean house, marina themed buildings, and the like, to get your guests attention. New features include animal shows where dolphins, orcas and sea lions can perform tricks, mixed exhibits that include land and water (for animals like hippos, walruses and sea otters), and electric fences to keep dinosaurs contained. Over all, with all these features and new scenarios any would-be Zoo Keeper will have literally hours, if not days, weeks and months, of game play. Definitely worth it for the money you'd spend on these great games. Love 'em all!

I love Zoo Tycoon I play it all the time!!I really like the Kids Zoo in this game because everything's availible and you won't run out of money. When I play this game I always pick out my favorite animals. They are in Zoo Tycoon: the Gray Wolf, the Grizzly and Polar Bears, the Spotted Hyena, the Saltwater Crocodile, The Red Kangaroo, the Giant Anteater, and the Siberian Tiger. In Marine Mania: the Bottlenosed Dolphin, the Orca, the Great White Shark, the Green Sea Turtle, the Califorina Sea Lion (even though they're on Zoo Tycoon they can also be on Marine Mania), the Southern Sea Otter, the Pacfic Walrus, and the Humpback Whale (can you imagine a Humpback Whale in a REAL aquarium!?). And for Dinosaur Digs: the Velociraptor and the Tyrannosaurs Rex. All in all one of the best games i've ever come across. Just don't let your animals escape unless you love to see your guests flee in fear and get eaten!