The aim is to buy exotic animals from all over the world and display them in enclosures to make money. There are different environments like savannah, plain, polar, jungle, swamp and mountain in each plot. You provide the same environment as the animals’ natural habitat, and separate the predators from their prey. There are 15 species of animals that you can collect. If you get the combo of animals within a cage bang on, you can unlock surprise animals and diversify your zoo. Once your main attractions are in place you can place pathways so visitors can move around easily. The entrance fee is the only earning that you can control directly, so use the money judiciously to enhance the attractions.

It can get pretty addictive, simply because of the cuteness factor. The graphics really pull you into the game, and sort of compel you to collect all the animals, just because they are there. With Halloween, came the ghostly themed bushes, skeletons and witches, along with strangely exotic and mutated animals.

This simulator game doesn’t require a rocket scientist to play and win. In fact, the less you think, the better you are likely to fare at it!

You start off with manual watering of plants and feeding of animals. You can buy a gardener and warden later to do these tasks for you.  Once you get these helpers, it becomes a breeze, and your cash register will keep ringing.

Of course your earnings depend on how pleased your customers are, so keep them happy and you should be able to do well. Some animals have the ability to make crowds happier than other animals. Be prepared to pay more for them too.

The more variety you have, the more the crowd likes it, so don’t pile up on one animal that has the max happiness factor.

The same rule applies to the flora, so place as much variety of plants as you can. Where you place them doesn’t seem to be too important, so you need not spend time fretting over landscaping your zoo. As long as you have them somewhere, the plants will enhance the happiness factor for your entire animal park.

Clicking on customers every now and then will give you an idea of what they need to be happy, so you can accordingly manage facilities and attractions.

As for the downsides, firstly, it may be a tad simplistic for hardcore tycoon gamers. Some of the facilities like game stats are not available always. At day’s end, your expenses are not deducted, so to know your profit, you have to do the calculation yourself. You also cannot estimate the effect of the shrubs or the animals on the earnings wither.

Overall though, I would still rate this game highly as it is great fun and good clean fun for all ages.

Heather Protz, a freelance writer for usaheadlines.com – offers full home security to help protect your family, assets from burglary and other crimes.