Planet Zoo: Console Edition Review (PS5) | Push Square
Planet Zoo is at its best when things are going well. Some park building games thrive when they turn into disaster management sims and you're forced to frantically resolve crises before the whole thing comes crashing down like a house of cards. Planet Zoo ain't that.
Sure, things can and will go wrong in the zoo you've built. Animals might escape. A generator might break down. But this is a pleasant game at its core, and one that is most enjoyable when you've got your feet up with a nice cup of coffee next to you, making sure that your cute wittle lion cubs have got plenty of dinner.
If you've played some of Frontier's other park building games like Jurassic World Evolution or Planet Coaster then you should feel at home here. It controls similarly, and in some cases identically to Planet Coaster, and while it's obviously never going to compete with a mouse and keyboard, the transition to PlayStation and a standard controller is about as well implemented as it could be.
Building your zoo is relatively pain-free. Animals need to be housed in enclosures which means putting up walls, and once they're in there they'll need food, water, and toys. You also need to be mindful of the sort of habitat that each animal is used to so they'll be as comfortable as possible.
Fortunately, even if you were tempted to put a camel into an enclosure full of snow there's some helpful meters to explain why that's a bad idea, and terrain and foliage is easy to alter to make sure that your new guest remains as happy as possible in their abode. Each animal has different requirements from the types of plants they like to the size of group they'd prefer to be in and you can read all about it by opening the Zoopedia — a cute encyclopedia with pages dedicated to each and every creature in the game.
Of course, zoos are a controversial subject, and it would perhaps be unwise to ignore the obvious ethical implications of housing wild animals in walled enclosures to be gawped at by bumbag wearing
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