a fantastic game for 4 years and older petting and looking after virtual animals

You can take a certain hypnotic bliss from simply working along calmly and peacefully, making sure that your park is running as smoothly as it can and improving the conditions for your ever-growing menagerie of creatures.

At most zoos, numerous signs and railings adorn every habitat, designed to keep hapless patrons from coming face-to-face with the wildlife. That's a practical and life-saving maneuver in the real world, but keeping people at a distance doesn't work in video games.

Zoo Tycoon is the newest Xbox One release from Microsoft Studios and Frontier Developments that has players creating their very own virtual zoo. Zoo Tycoon may not be at the top of your holiday list right now, but it should be.

The only reason you should play Zoo Tycoon is for the same reason people go to a real zoo in the first place: to see animals so adorable that you have to punch a wall five times to regain your manliness.

Cute; well-modeled animals and interactions; Smooth graphics and animations; Solid tutorials

Zoos reach capacity within three hours; Too much menu-hopping; No pause button for time; can't appreciate animals for long; Tags

Zoo Tycoon returns after nearly a decade, and arrives for the first time on Xbox. It also proves that a good management sim is addictive and fun regardless of platform or generation. Frontier Development's Zoo Tycoon was one of those dark-horse sort of launch day titles.

Consoles don't get nearly as many business management simulators as the PC market does, so when one comes to the console market it generally has to be something interesting to catch the eye of anyone who isn't into the genre.

Despite being a first-party launch title, there's a good chance you may have completely forgotten Zoo Tycoon even exists.

Simple and straightforward; Charming animal animations

'Zoo limit' restricts the fun; Customisation too basic; Lightweight Kinect features

Zoo Tycoon is definitely a family friend game that can be played by all ages.

Zoos provide a convenient location where wimps like me can come face-to-face with ferocious animals that, in the wild, would surely eat us. Zoo Tycoon on Xbox One aims to delight and inform animal lovers by capturing the thrill of such interactions in digital form.

Satisfying time management exercises; Convincing animal models; Extensive customization options; Learning all about animals and conservation

Tedious menu navigation; Limited number of unique species