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What an amazing undertaking for a sim Mac game. Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa is a game with vast landscape and limited resources to create an ecologically balanced savannah environment for African wildlife.
Dr. William Willoughby, explorer, is your guide to creating a fertile ecosystem featuring one animal. The story mode will take you to an immense, empty and arid land to make into a lush, green oasis for the animals to thrive and multiply. Your first animal is the zebra, and when you click on the zebra head at the bottom of the screen and then click on the play board, you have your first animal. Below the heads are flowers, and it takes 2 flowers to make 1 zebra. The flowers will replenish itself in time. If you can, the zebra head at the upper right side of the screen, will let you know how many zebras you need to have for that level. Remember, the zebras must have water and shrubs to survive. Also you can lead the zebra with your cursor, but I found it difficult and usually killed the zebra if you should let it wander too far from water and its food. Also if the zebra is hungry or thirsty, it will not follow you.
When you make 3 flamingoes, you get one jewel. That one jewel can be used to make a shrub and that bush will provide food for the zebras. The flamingoes do not seem to need food, but must be near water or they too will die. Of course, you must make a lion to be part of this circle of life, and you must have enough zebras for the lion’s meal. In addition to you creating the animals, if you should make a pair of zebras, they will breed and multiply.
Moving your cursor to the end of the screen will take you to other parts of the landscape, or click on the map on the lower right to take you directly to another location. This type of play is very similar to Westward 2. However, in Wildlife Tycoon looks realistic and covers a serious topic whereas Westward 2 is a funny cartoon. With that in mind you may need to consider whether to let young children see this game. There is no violence or blood, but it’s very obvious when there is a dead animal what happened.
The other mode is Sandbox and this is unlocked after several levels in Story. Also there is an encyclopedia to look up facts about fauna and flora. This Mac game is very educational, unique and interesting, but the play is not your action-packed excitement sort of thing so if you are in the mood to create your own African Serengeti try Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa.
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