Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals

Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals
File:Extinct Animals.jpg
Developer(s)	Blue Fang Games
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios Games for Windows
Designer(s)	Justin Jones Joe Freener Charles Miles Shauwn Stone
Series	Zoo Tycoon
Engine	Gamebryo
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	() US: October 17 2007 EU: October 26 2007 AS: November 6 2007 ID: November 7 2007
Genre(s)	3D Simulation First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player

Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals is a video game expansion pack for Zoo Tycoon 2 released October 17, 2007. The expansion focuses around extinct animals, mainly dinosaurs or ice age creatures, as well as more recently extinct creatures like the dodo or thylacine.

This expansion pack follows the other expansion packs, Endangered Species, African Adventure and Marine Mania. Extinct Animals replaces, and includes the animals and objects from the similar Dino Danger Pack premium download.

The game's tagline is "bring 'em back".

Pre-release

During 2006, in a similar way to how the African Adventure expansion was first confirmed, Amazon.com listed a strategy guide for Extinct Animals under its listings. Curiously, it was listed as "Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct (working title)" , showing Blue Fang Games were still in very early production and had not yet thought of a title.

Nevertheless, in January 2007, Windows Vista released its 2007 gaming lineup as well as a promotional video featuring a few seconds of footage. Later, during April, Games for Windows added an Extinct Animals page to their website and revealed several new pieces of information such as box art and animal confirmations. The text that was shown was in fact the same as in the previous Endangered Species expansion.

On May 24, an official press release was released on the official Zoo Tycoon website revealing that Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals will be released in "fall" with a total of 30 animals, making it the largest Zoo Tycoon 2 expansion pack to date. When June arrived another press release reveled Extinct Animals would be released on 17 October, 2007 in the UK and all of Europe.

Upon the arrival of E3, Games for Windows and Blue Fang Games released a second promotional video of several new features and a set of screenshots. The Extinct Animals Games for Windows page was also edited with screenshots and new information. Zoo Tycoon.com, however, was still not updated for E3.

In August, Blue Fang Games released an official trailer showing many of the main features of the expansion, including sonar detection for fossils and minigames to clone creatures, as well as confirming several animalsIn the same month Blue Fang employees on several fansites began releasing new information, confirming a total of eight unseen animals.

A month later, the official Zoo Tycoon website was finally updated with a new Extinct Animals page, in addition to screenshots, the rest of the game's features, a "fansite kit", game demo and an official screensaver.

Gameplay

Minigames

Several new minigames (similar to the trick training games in Marine Mania) are included. These are, as follows: locating fossils, curing diseases, cloning animals, building skeleton jigsaws and tranquilizing dinosaurs. As you progress in the game most of these get more challenging.

Dino rampage

File:Dino tranquilizer.jpg

Dino rampage minigame, with redone Tyrannosaurus rex.

This mode is only available when a dinosaur becomes upset with its living conditions. This causes it to go on a rampage, where it will destroy its exhibit, then break out and attempt to destroy the zoo. However, the player can prevent such disasters by locating the enraged dinosaur and then entering tranquilizer mode. In this mode the player is holding a tranquilizer gun and can aim at the problemed dinosaur. The player must wait for the gun to charge up, whilst keeping a steady aim. Once the gun is fully charged, the spacebar can be used to temporarily put the animal to sleep. If the player was to move the gun off target whilst still charging up or fully charged up the gun, the charger will begin to move down again. Once the aim is re-established, the player can fire.

This feature puts Zoo Tycoon 2 under the first-person shooter category of games, possibly demoting it slightly from its fame among the family friendly world, although moving it up into the teen section. The gun itself is a large disentergrater cannon with an exaggerated blast tank, which, in the earlier screenshots, had CO
₂ painted on the tank. However, this was later removed.

The other option for the player is to hire a "Dino Capture Team". The team come in the form of a large building with two golden dinosaur statues on its roof. When a dinosaur starts rampaging, the team will leave their building and set out to tranquilize the problem. The team consist of three units; the "Dino Capture Robot", and two other employees. The robot will begin beeping and distracting the beast whilst his ally shoots it with a tranquilizer. Once the dinosaur is restrained, the third unit will approach the dinosaur and crate it, ready to be released back into its enclosure.

Creating animals

Fossil finding

To begin, the player must purchase an Extinct Animal Research Lab, and then enter 'fossil finding mode'. The player must then find fossils using a hand held sonar device, which beeps when a fossil is nearby. Once the player has achieved the required number of bones, one must return to the Research Lab for the next step. The player can get upgrades for the sonar device as his star rating increases, which also unlocks the fossils of additional animals. The player must also dig up a majority of the bones, as paleontologists will occasionally abandon a dig site to continue searching for new ones. The player can jump to the dig site using the zoo map.

Fossil building

Then the hunter can enter the lab and put the fossils together like a jigsaw puzzle. Using the '<' and '>' keys, or left mouse button, the player can rotate each piece of fossil to fit into the skeleton. Once completed, the player can then move on to the cloning

stage.

Extinct animals creation

File:Extinct Creation.jpg

Styracosaurus being created in the Extinct Research Lab.

This is then followed by the cloning stage, also within the Research Lab. This minigame is more similar to Marine Mania's trick training game. The player uses a scanner to analyze the DNA, while pressing the left mouse button and arrow keys. Once this is completed, the player can clone the animal in question for no price at any time, but must repeat the DNA minigame to do so.

If the player gathers a low score in the DNA minigame, another animal, usually a deformed version of an ambient animals, is given instead. Examples of these include a Giant Bullfrog and Killer Penguin. If the player achieves more than 90% accuracy, one will receive a "super" version of the animal, that is larger and more immune to diseases.

Disease curing

Occasionally an animal will catch a (completely fictional) disease ("pink elephant disease", and "love sickness", for example). The player is requested to enter "disease curing" mode, a module where the player must help cure the disease. The player must take a sample of the infected animal by pushing the spacebar. The player must locate the cause of the disease, generally in or near the animal exhibit. The player then takes a sample of the object. Meanwhile, the research lab "scientists" will start researching the problem, while the player can gather tips from them by pressing the 'H' key, the more the player uses hints the lower the reward is. The player can then find the cure, which is generally an object outside or away from the exhibit, and inoculate the affected animal(s).

This process can also be done for the player with the help of a zookeeper.

In-game humor

File:Proof of stokesaurus wearing glasses.jpg

Stokesosaurus wearing glasses while painting.

Extinct Animals is also the most joke-filled Zoo Tycoon game. The unlockable "killer penguin" is a reference to the original Zoo Tycoon game, where penguins could kill any herbivore, although Extinct Animals version can kill any animal. The fact that the penguin is from Madagascar may be a reference to the agent penguins from the film Madagascar. Sometimes the killer penguin will appear in the research lab, replacing the scientist. The killer penguin's Zoopedia entry states that "If someone offers you a penguin for free, you should say no". In challenge mode, occasionally a message comes and states that a zoologist has found a penguin wandering the Arctic, and offers it to the player's zoo for free. The penguin is really a killer.
The glacier temperature object will occasionally have a caveman frozen inside.. As the glacier melts, the caveman will thaw out and then act like a guest before leaving the zoo.
Inside the Stokesosaurus's Zoopedia, it states that the creature wears glasses. This will indeed happen in the game when an adult Stokeosasaurus uses an easel enrichment object.

Guests can get sugar rushes and "caffeine crazes" from eating or drinking too much sweet foods or coffee.

Content

File:T-rexes compared.jpg

A comparison of the Extinct Animals and Dino Danger Pack Tyrannosaurus

Animals

There is a total of 34 animals in this expansion pack, plus severable bonus and unlockable animals, the first in the Zoo Tycoon franchise to have one. The Dino Danger Pack animals are included, and all are updated.

Animal	Biome	Star rating	Notes
American Mastodon	Boreal forest	4.5
Ankylosaurus	Wetlands	4
Aurochs	Temperate forest	1
Bluebuck	Grassland	0.5
Bush-antlered deer	Temperate forest	1.5
Carnotaurus	Boreal forest	3	Included in the Dino Danger Pack.
Cave lion	Alpine	3.5
Deinonychus	Tropical rainforest	2.5
Deinosuchus	Tropical rainforest	4.5	Like the whale shark from Marine Mania, it will grow twice its size after several game years.
Dimetrodon	Wetlands	3.5
Diprotodon	Wetlands	2
Dodo	Tropical rainforest	0.5
Doedicurus	Scrub	2
Dwarf Scillian elephant	Grassland	3
Elephant bird	Wetlands	2.5
Giant camel	Grassland	1.5
Giant ground sloth	Scrub	5
Giant warthog	Savannah	3.5
Gigantopithecus	Tropical rainforest	4.5
Kentrosaurus	Wetlands	2
Protarchaeopteryx	Wetlands	1
Sabre-toothed cat	Boreal forest	4
Short-faced bear	Tundra	4
Sivatherium	Savannah	1
Stegosaurus	Boreal forest	4
Stokesosaurus	Boreal forest	1.5
Styracosaurus	Tropical rainforest	1	Included in the Dino Danger Pack.
Thylacine	Temperate forest	3
Triceratops	Boreal forest	4	Included in the Dino Danger Pack.
Tyrannosaurus rex	Tropical rainforest	5	Included in the Dino Danger Pack.
Utahraptor	Boreal forest	4.5
Velociraptor	Desert	0.5
Warrah	Grassland	2.5
Woolly rhinoceros	Tundra	3.5

Unlockable animals

File:Extinct Killer Penguin.png

According to the Zoopedia, the "killer penguin" was an accident in the Extinct Research Lab.

These animals can be unlocked either by completing a goal (the quagga), or by achieving a score between 10% and 50% in the animal creation minigame. None of them besides the killer penguin and quagga have Zoopedia entry and proper stats.

Animal	Biome	Unlocked by	Notes
Squirrel	N/A	Minigame	Selectale ambient
Springhare	N/A	Minigame	Selectable ambient
Giant bullfrog	N/A	Minigame	Selectable ambient.
Giant monarch butterfly	N/A	Minigame	Selectabe ambient. Cannot be contained, as it can fly through anything.
Killer Penguin	Tundra	Minigame	See above
Quagga	Savannah	Release of all extinct animals into the wild; fossil hunting	This is the only unlockable that is a real extinct animal. The quagga can be earned through fossil hunting before unlocking it. It is also able to be unlocked in freeform (after you have managed to release all the extinct animals), which is rare for rewards in the game. It is able to interbreed with the common zebra. Once unlocked, it will become available at Challenge and Campaign games at 1.5 stars.

Super animals

When in the Extinct Research Lab, once fossils have been pieced together, during the DNA minigame, if 90% or higher accuracy is achieved, a super animal will be created. The name of the animal will be 'Super' followed by the animal name and number. Super animals are slightly larger than their original size, get ill less often and instead of the regular circle around the animal when it is selected, a DNA symbol with a star surrounds the animal. Also by the gender of the animal, a test tube symbol will signal a super animal. It is impossible to purchase super animals and can not be produced by breeding two normal animals. However, if one breeds two super animals the offspring will occasionally be a super animal. Also if one breeds a super animal and a normal animal, the offspring will occasionally be a super animal.

Animal biomes

As explained by Blue Fang employee Keith Carpentier on various Zoo Tycoon fansites, "Extinct animals aren't fully happy with correct biomes. Since extinct animals have not been around for quite a while, the climates in your zoo just are not quite what they are used to, so even when they are placed in their recommended biome, their environmental need won’t quite be satisfied. The animals require "temperature-changing" objects to be placed inside the animals' exhibit. These are tar pits to raise temperatures, glaciers to lower temperatures, and mist fountains to raise humidity. These will work for non-extinct animals as well as their extinct counterparts." According to Carpentier, the items will "give the player a lot more options when it comes to making mixed animal exhibits." Also: The animals will not directly interact with these objects although they are classified as "enrichment objects"

Reception

Critically, Extinct Animals did well, receiving a 7.2 critic score and 8.6 user score on GameSpot. The first-person shooter mode of the game attracted slightly older audiences, but brought the expansion's ESRB rating up slightly.

See also

• List of Games for Windows titles
• Zoo Tycoon franchise

External links

• Official Site
• GameSpot Page
• Games for Windows Extinct Animals page