You might remember Zoo Tycoon as a title that was mentioned in an interview I did this past August at Fan Expo 2013 in Toronto with Jeff Rivait from Xbox Canada as we discussed some of the games that families would be able to jump into during the launch of the Xbox One.

In Zoo Tycoon you can hose down a baby elephant and pull faces at a chimpanzee . If you're not all rushing to your favourite game retailer to buy it right now, you're a stone-hearted, emotionless monster and Zoo Tycoon is definitely not the game for you.

Brilliantly modelled animals; A great; subtle learning tool; Aesthetically pleasing and fun to explore

Kinect is a hindrance as much as a help; Menus often work against you; Game modes are generally too similar

Business and city building games are a marmite genre. No one has ever described it as a genre they "quite" like. You either think they're boring as fuck or it's like injecting heroin into the veins in your eyeballs.

Altough there are not many games out for the new Xbox one, I would highly recommend this game. The children have had hour of fun building their own zoo and learning about the different animals and their habitat.

k/d ratios have settled however, Frontier Development's colourful park management simulation could easily act as a palate cleanser for those of you...

Fantastic animation; Colourful; joyful presentation; Good controller interface; Huge variety of animals

Automated road placement; Little in the way of challenge; Occasional slowdown; Meta-game is a grind

The Zoo Tycoon series has been letting PC owners build and manage their own animal park for over a decade, and the latest entry makes its debut on...

Easy to read and navigate menus; Good Kinect implementation

Restrictive construction limit; Difficult to meet visitor demands

It's rather ironic that one of the best Xbox One launch titles is a game that most people with an Xbox One will never even consider, let alone play. Sure, games like Dead Rising 3 and Ryse: Son of Rome have that initial shock and awe factor, and Forza 5 is certainly addictive for those who like...

Positives Quality family fun; incredibly realistic animals in both look and behavior; lots of unlocks to keep you playing; great use of Kinect; endless replayability

Negatives Menus layers are overly complex; some of the better animals are locked away and require a lot of gameplay to unlock them

Bought as a present for son's birthday. Excellent service at competitive prices. Would recommend using Zavvi.

I just don't get this game. Neither does my 7-year-old son. It's not the least intuitive and seems pointless--other than riding around in a golfcart.

My kids like the freebuild sandbox style option, however, your Zoo reaches maximum capacity very quickly which is unexpected considering the amount of land you have on the view. This means you have to build multiple Zoos in order to meet achievement requirements.

good game for all ages; none so far