Developer: Frontier Developments
Publisher: Frontier Developments
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Planet Zoo: Arctic Pack DLC – Review
Back in November, we had the chance to try out Planet Zoo, which was the first proper Zoo ‘Tycoon’ game in years. The game offered a lot of content but it also came at a premium price. We concluded that the overall experience was great, but that the controls were somewhat clunky when placing enclosures and that the game client itself was still riddled with game-breaking bugs. Nonetheless, the developers are committed to their cause and they released a massive patch that should have fixed most of the biggest bugs that were still present. Now, roughly two months later, the first DLC has already hit the digital shelves and it showers us with many new scenery and foliage options. The latter is great, but at the same time, we only received four new animals, to fill our snow-covered habitats, and a measly two new scenario options for those who rather stick to the story portion of the game.
As mentioned above, the Arctic Pack adds a lot of scenery and foliage options, allowing you to build proper snow-covered zones in your zoo. This is, of course, a critical requirement if you wish to add animals that are used to the cold in your zoo. The package comes with the addition of the arctic wolf, the polar bear, the Dall sheep and last, but not least, Santa’s good old fashioned reindeer. The animals chosen for the expansion are nice, but for a DLC that’s all about snowy environments, it would have been nice to have penguins, walruses, leopard seals, arctic hares and so on. That being said, the animations are nicely handled and the animals do look lifelike, which is certainly an important aspect for a simulation game.
Outside of the cosmetic additions and the animals, the game also includes two separate story scenarios for you to dive further into the ‘story’ mode of the game. While two scenarios aren’t that much, you’ll still be able to sink some time into perfecting the zoos you’ll have to manage during said story portions.
Conclusion
While our introduction might not have shed the biggest positive light on this expansion, the addition of all the cosmetic items is quite fun to mess around with, as well as the new animals and the scenario pieces. Sadly, the DLC comes at a steep price, and it should have included a few more additions when it comes to animal types that live in the cold. We immediately think of a great addition such as penguins and walruses, as well as others. Those comments aside, we still enjoyed revisiting Planet Zoo a lot, and this DLC is sure to add some extra fun content to the game, especially for those who are still working on the ultimate digital zoo.
No Comments