Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania

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This article is for the expansion for Zoo Tycoon 2. For the expansion pack for Zoo Tycoon, see Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania. For the mobile phone game, see Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania Mobile.
Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania

Developer(s) Blue Fang Games
Publisher(s) Microsoft Game Studios
Games for Windows
Series Zoo Tycoon
Engine Gamebryo
Version 2.3
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date(s) USA October 17, 2006
EUR October 27, 2006
AUS November 7, 2006
Genre(s) 3D Simulation
Mode(s) Single-player
Rating(s) ESRB: E10+
OFLC: PG
Media CD-ROM
Input methods Keyboard, mouse

Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania is the third expansion pack for the computer gameZoo Tycoon 2. The expansion focuses around marine animals, as did the Marine Mania expansion for the first Zoo Tycoon game.

Contents

Gameplay

Animal shows

Marine Mania introduces shows and an animal training minigame (more minigames were later introduced in Extinct Animals) which were previously not in the other expansions of the game. The player can train individual animals in the first-person, guest mode themselves or hire a trainer to train the animals.

The training minigame takes place in a training area, inside the animal's tank. The player uses a "training wand" to follow a tracer along a form which differs with the trick that is being taught. The training increases the animal's skill in that particular trick, as the animal becomes more skilled the training becomes more difficult. The difficulty of the training is increased by the form becoming narrower, the tracer moving more quickly and the addition of such obstacles as the player needing to press an arrow key or click the mouse at a certain point.

The shows take place in a tank adjacent to the animal's regular tank, accessible through a tank portal. The player choreographs the show by adding trick into the acts of the show. Tricks by different animals in the same act as each other takes place at roughly the same time.

Animals

Animal Biome Conservation status Star requirement Can be trained
Beluga Tundra Vulnerable 0.5 Yes
Blacktip reef shark Reef Lower Risk 3 No
Blue marlin Pelagic Lower Risk 1 No
Bottlenose Dolphin Coastal Vulnerable 3.5 Yes
California Sea Lion Coastal Lower Risk 1.5 Yes
False Killer Whale Coastal Lower Risk 4 Yes
Goblin shark Benthic Lower Risk 4 No
Green turtle Coastal Endangered 1 No
Leatherback turtle Pelagic Critical 2.5 No
Narwhal Tundra Vulnerable 3 No
Manta ray Reef Lower Risk 0.5 No
Orca Tundra Lower Risk 5 Yes
Pacific walrus Tundra Lower Risk 4.5 Yes
Rockhopper Penguin Coastal Vulnerable 2 No
Scalloped hammerhead shark Pelagic Endangered 3.5 No
Sea otter Coastal Endangered 2.5 Yes
Short-finned Pilot Whale Pelagic Lower Risk 2 Yes
West Indian Manatee Coastal Vulnerable 1.5 No
Whale shark Benthic Vulnerable 4.5 No
White shark Benthic Vulnerable 5 No

Animals which can perform in shows must be trained first, either by the player playing minigames, or by hiring a trainer. Players are also able to swim with certain animals, by "riding" on them.

Animals can use either a tank or regular exhibit water. Animals like the rockhopper penguin or California sea lion, which live in coastal areas, require a combined land and water exhibit to remain happy. Animals which use land will generally accept either the rock or desert islands instead of normal land, and so may be kept in tanks or hybrid exhibits.

Polar bears and emperor penguins from the unexpanded Zoo Tycoon 2 were updated to swim underwater, while Nile crocodiles and American beavers were left as Blue Fang Games believed, contrary to scientific fact, that those two were incapable of doing so. In the following expansion, Extinct Animals, this was changed so the beaver and crocodile could now submerge.

Ambient Animals

These animals appear automatically in water that the player places, but are non-adoptable and cannot be moved (or eaten by inhabitants of tanks).

Animal Biomes
Blenny Coastal Reef
Capelin Reef Tundra
Common rock crab Benthic Coastal
Herring Coastal Pelagic Tundra
Moon jellyfish Coastal Reef
Lionfish Coastal Reef
Atlantic mackerel Coastal Pelagic
Remora Coastal Pelagic Reef
Spadefish Benthic Coastal
Powder blue tang Reef
Copperband butterflyfish Reef Coastal

Biomes

Four new biomes have been added with the expansion, in addition to the other ten from the original game:

Besides this, the method of biome layout has been altered, enabling players to filter rocks, plants and trees while laying down the terrain. The game also allows the player to build mixed tank-land exhibits, also called hybrid tanks. This way, animals like the walrus can come onto land to rest, and go back into the water later, while allowing guests to view the animals both above ground and in the water. Players can now dive underwater in "guest mode". The "photo mode" can also be used underwater, as the game's original camera has been replaced with a redesigned underwater camera (the underwater camera is used even when the player is not in the water).

It is worthy of note that all of the new animals go into either the above categories or the tundra biome.

In-Game Errors

These are some known within the expansion pack that have yet to be fixed.

  • In the Zoopedia listing for Rockhopper Penguins, the Fun Facts box reads 'Fun Bottlenose Dolphin Facts'. It should say 'Fun Rockhopper Penguin Facts'.
  • There are many instances where a marine animal, usually in hybrid tanks or regular exhibits, will become beached for unknown reasons. This happens most often with animals that are unable to go onto land.

See also

External links

Wikibooks
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This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.


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