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I recently read that the release of Halo 2, a rather brutal shoot-‘em- up video game, prompted thousands of fans not to go to work or school the day after the release, so intense was the interest in the features of the new game. From what I read, video game producers were crowing about the effect. They called "halotoesis". As a parent and a reviewer, I must say that I found the news a little scary on a variety of levels.

I haven’t read that thousands of fans stayed home just to play the latest version Zoo Tycoon 2, but maybe they should have. There certainly is a lot here to build up here rather than shoot down and the enhanced 3-D graphics make it easy to zoom in quite close to observe the animals, almost as if you were on a safari. You can also click on any animal and find out what it's doing at any given moment. There’s also a new and easy-to-reference Zoopedia where players or just visitors can get all kinds of entertaining and interesting facts about the 30 different animals included in the simulation.

In my experience, Zoo Tycoon 2 was easy to get up and running and Microsoft has kept the tutorial features so novices (ages 6 and up) can get up to speed without struggling to read all the help features. One great way to see what the game is all about is to pick Zoo Guest mode, in which you can walk around and enjoy the game like a visitor on a day at the zoo. (This also is a super way to view what your kids have built as they get their zoo in order so you can encourage them to do more.) Of course Zookeeper mode, which allows you to interact with the animals, is still available but much improved this go around allowing you to feed, groom and play with the animals to make sure their lives are enriched. There is also a new Photo mode that lets you snap pictures of your favorite animals and guests and share them with friends even online.

Of course the whole purpose of the game and the various challenges built into the game scenarios in Campaign and Freeform modes is to build a zoo that not only delights visitors but is self sustaining or even profitable. That’s a real challenge these days out in the real world where most zoos are going from being supported by local governments to being out on their own and privately held. Even that reality is mirrored in this simulation where guests can contribute donations at each exhibit. Just like in the real world of zoos, the more interesting the exhibit, the more the public tends to donate. And here’s a hint – visitors like biomes: exhibits in which the terrain, plants, and even the rocks look like the natural niche of the animals in them.

Creating exhibits continues to be one of the pleasures of the game. As in the previous version, players "paint" exhibits with appropriate terrain and fill them with the right vegetation for each animal. One improvement in this version of the game is that this is now done more broadly with players not having to worry about every square foot. I know some people really enjoyed selecting exactly what each part of the exhibit would look like last time around, but I’m more into the animals so that didn’t bother me. One good thing is that you don't pay to change of terrain, which keeps the costs of rebuilding an exhibit much more manageable.

By the way, in this new version exhibit fences no longer disintegrate so animals only escape if you use the wrong kind of fence for their species. Predators also are not as apt to kill other animals although they do kill their own kind – one of the grosser parts of the game. Kids still enjoy watching zoo guests run from escaped animals, though.

Of course there are some things that could be made better in the game that expansion paks and downloads are sure to address. There are only 30 different species of animals, many of them familiar from the first version. There is a wide variety, but it still limits the zoo. You also always start out with the same three animals – moose, peacocks and camels – and have to get them settled in before you can move on. That can be downright boring if you play a number of scenarios.

One other alarming thing is the number of comments about system requirements that seem to have sprung up online about this game. I know my local zoo could not get it installed on their two-year-old laptops while I got it to run just fine on a older desktop machine running Windows ’98. So make sure you check out the system requirements on the Microsoft site before you buy the game and look for patches and fixes.

If you go to the Microsoft site (listed below) you can also download a demo version to try out or add content to existing games.

Bottom line: this is a great game for the whole family to enjoy and kids interested in animals will particularly be pleased with the content and opportunities to learn and interact with animals afforded in this game. It is definitely worth the upgrade if you family is already a fan of the first version.