Zoo Keeper

Reviewed by Melody Hawman
March 2005

Developer: Success Co. Website: http://www.ignitionusa.com/products_zookeeper.htm Publisher: Ignition Entertainment Platform(s): Nintendo DS Players: 1 ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

When I originally thought of writing a review, my thought was to do something on a game I love at the moment, such as Halo 2 or Burnout 3: Takedown.  Suddenly something else popped into my head though, in the form of a Nintendo DS that I simply cannot put down, and even right now have paused at my side.  The game that has captured my attention completely at the moment isn't flashy, isn't full of bells and whistles, or anything like that.  It's Zoo Keeper for the Nintendo DS.

The story of Zoo Keeper is simple and doesn't really matter in the scheme of the game at all.  The animals are angry with the Head Zoo Keeper, and are rioting.  Since you are also a zookeeper, you must bring the animals back in line.  Restoring order to the chaos is the point of this puzzle game.  The controls are simple, and the game modes all resemble a game such as Bejeweled, or even a twisted Columns.

Please insert a pause of twenty minutes into this review, and you will then know how long I was just playing Zoo Keeper while I was "writing."

Ok, where was I?  The game is very easy to pick up, and doesn't really require any knowledge of a "story."  In fact, I just learned about the animals revolting against the evil zookeeper after I finally read the instruction manual, nearly a week after purchasing it.  There are several different modes – Normal, Tokoton, Quest, Time Attack, and Two-Player Battle.  The Normal mode gives you a screen full of animals – Giraffe, Hippo, Elephant, Rabbit, Monkey, Panda, Lion and Alligator – and you are given a quota of each animal to catch. In the beginning of Normal, you have to catch three of each animal, and then four, and it spirals up from there.  The fun thing is whatever animal you leave for last, it will get angry and make faces at you.  Tokoton mode is similar to Normal, but you level up by capturing 100 of each animal and you keep capturing them until you run out of time.  Quest gives you 10 different objectives to complete and the Head Zoo Keeper will give you a point score that sometimes feels completely arbitrary.  Time attack is – surprise! – a six-minute timed level where you try to get the highest score possible.  As for the two-player mode, the game is one that allows other DS units to download the game, so you only need one game pack for multiplayer games.

In the end, Zoo Keeper is simply a puzzle game.  However, it's a very addictive puzzle game!  I thought it was just me until a friend and I took a quick day trip to the beach, and my friend started playing Zoo Keeper – and did not put it down for the entire hour-plus trip.  All I heard from the passenger seat were sounds of excitement and frustration as the game unfolded.  Of course, if I wasn't driving, the same sounds would be coming from me!  I definitely recommend picking this game up, but be sure to leave a block of time free when you play, and don't blame me if you find yourself dreaming about animals.