This is a polished, full-fledged, very fun game. You’ll buy it for your kids so they don’t feel left out of the next-gen joy, but once they go to bed you may well end up spending as much time designing your dream zoo as they do...Maybe more.

Simulation gaming with a sense of fun we haven’t experienced in years. Think Viva Piñata meets Theme Park and you’re close. Plus it actually works really well with Kinect. A winning combo.

Zoo Tycoon has a distinct lack of depth, but if you're capable of sitting down with this simplistic simulator, you'll smile more times than you can count. The simulator fan in me was a bit disappointed by the ease of it all, but the child in me couldn't help but enjoy myself.

One of the few options for kids in the Xbox One initial lineup. They will especially appreciate the animal interactions and the educational side of the game. As a tycoon, it was greatly adapted to a console but fell short on the management side.

There's huge satisfaction to be had from building your zoo, observing the animals and watching all the graphs go up. It's just a shame that over time, as the novelties wear off, the lack of depth makes it hard to keep coming back.

Zoo Tycoon is too hard for kids and too simple for adults, specially if they're looking for a game to become zoo managers. So we guess that it's meant for parents who want to play with their kids. If you're one of those, then it's a great choice.

Be ashamed, Frontier! Where is the depth and the fun of Rollercoaster Tycoon? Even on the DS Zoo Tycoon was more entertaining than here. Yes: The animals all look great and you can interact with them – but this ain’t Kinectimals 2!