Wildlife Park 3 Review
I decided to do this review because I used to enjoy Theme Park, back when Amiga was still a thing. Being able to alter the salt content of the fries just enough to make them long for the watered-down drinks on the other side of the park was a personal favourite pastime. Of course, if I was aware of my eleven-year-old torturing pretend people with salty food - I'd get him psychiatric help. Thankfully, my parents ignored my gaming and the torture went on. Present day I tried out the mobile Theme Park, much to my disappointment. Little customisation and my first look at In App Purchases. So when it came to a new Steam park game, I snapped it up.
When you load up Wildlife Park 3, you expect to find a menu of some sort which will let you load, play a new game or whatever. Not so - you're subjected to a long wait as the load screen drawn by a bad artist still living in the ‘90s to hide the fact there is progress bar. There is some entertainment to be had however as the mouse cursor becomes an animated cheetah running - so you can pretend it's running across the screen a few times. This gets boring long before the main menu loads and does not entice you to return should you stop playing for whatever reason.
Starting a new game (eventually) takes you through the tutorial which is alright, but hardly thorough. It tells you to put down things from the toys menu - but not what any of the animals like to play with. Or how to even find that out to avoid wasting money.
You are eventually let out into your own park with a stipend. You are given the occasional task - such as to make sure the plants are healthy by hiring gardeners - but there is never any indication of making progress in them. You might finish them by luck, or you could have a task that has some sort of visual cue. If you have to make your ewe happy, just do whatever thought balloon floats over their heads, for instance. The park you are given is a set size with lots of plant life and an enclosure already set out for you. You are encouraged to fill it with more of the same animal before making your own enclosures and decisions. You can add heaters or chillers depending on the climate the animal prefers, change the ground to dirt, sand or mud, add water and plants... There are quite a lot of customisation options, but most of them are to change the habitat to suit the animal you buy and put in there.
The graphics are decent enough, well the animal models are anyway. Any still-images seem crafted by the chief artist's less talented brother using expressionist finger paint. The human models are fine, but there isn't anything special about them - they have thought balloons as well as the animals, meaning you do have to pay attention to them too.
Taking care of guests means making a route around the park that is interesting as well as filled with drinks machines, restaurants and attractions. Aviaries, insect houses, gardens and such must be interspersed between animal pens, which must have the perfect habitat and a dedicated keeper to restock their food. It all takes money, which you earn by charging admission, for drinks and for toilet usage. You can set whatever prices you want, so at least I got to torture people by having a single toilet in the park, set at $20. And of course you have to charge more for soda than water, so $10 for a soda and only $8 for a water. However, instead of dying like good park patrons of old, they just complained more...
There are plenty of sound effects for the variety of animals, from big birds to big cats and elephants, even meerkats. When you zoom closer to their enclosures, they all make their own noises. I spent a few minutes watching the animals and not doing anything else, when suddenly it popped up that one had gotten pregnant. I had sped up time, but hadn't seen any movement like that - so no matter how good the models, they don't move exactly like the real things. But mostly, certainly. There is music, but it isn't something you will be humming to. It is quite unnoticible unless you're just watching the animals and putting a meerkat "accidentally" in the cheetah pen.
The game moves slowly, even on the fastest speed. That and the long loading time to even start trying to play, are quite serious knocks. There isn't as much customisation of the food and drink establishments as I'd like, and yet too many options for enclosures. There are several salt licks and you can change the walls to have a couple of different prints on them - yet you can choose to, or to not, stock soda.
The speed of the game, lack of focussed narrative and odd artistic choices really count against this game. It may be for people who really love animals, but apart from that you're better off picking something else. And animal lovers, you don't even get to take care of sick animals - you hire a vet to do that.
Wildlife Park 3 (Reviewed on Windows)
The game is unenjoyable, but it works.
Nice animal models don't save a slow, oddly made game.
COMMENTS
Charli Smith - 11:16am, 19th December 2019
Well, I am hoping they are still with mum, because ideally they should still be mostly nursing. However, you can start to introduce pet store rabbit food into the diet, by giving two small bowls- one for mum, one for babies- and seeing how they react.
Leo Harry - 06:12am, 30th April 2020
Hello this is Leo Harry. It is doing the animal good, and it does not hurt them. They are sedated for a while during the surgery, and they are given pain relievers later, which is why they are droopy and act tired. It's the owner's choice.