In the beginning, you have very few animal species choices. This makes the goals easier to meet early on. It also helps you get accustomed to the interface and game concepts. With completed chapters, you gain more animals. Because of the slow build up of animal species, it is not too hard a game to learn. The graphics are done well enough that the game is enjoyable. The concept of balancing an ecology in a game is new to me, and I had so much fun doing it. I would often have to restart the level I was on when I figured out a better strategy. This never upset me. The game would have been playable if I had just kept going, but like any good puzzle, when approached the right way it is easier.

The first thing I learned was that the game stays true to the food chain. You have to carefully build your herbivores' ecosystems, providing multiple sources of food, and build a strong population prior to slowly introducing predators. I have an aquarium with local fish, amphibians and reptiles in it. I would definitely compare trying to maintain the balance in my tank to trying to maintain the balance in game. There is a delicate balance, but it's very fun to find. I am hoping Pocketwatch Games continues to work on this concept.

In Story Mode you must pay to place animals. Payment is not in dollar figures, but in flowers. You gain flowers by your animals reproducing. For each baby born, you get a flower. Some creatures cost one flower, some two or more. This concept encourages you to often place animals that you do not have as goals, because of their reproduction rates. There are also Gem goals that you need to meet. When you meet these goals you earn a gem, that you can use to buy more plants for the herbivores to eat, or buy rain to fill new watering holes. Each time you meet a gem goal, the numbers of that animal needed to meet another gem goal goes up. This makes you have to think and plan ahead on placement. The gem goals always vary, and you need to gain more gems, to buy more plants to get the animals fed that you need in the level goals. The balancing act can get very interesting.

The interface is not too hard to learn. You click on the animal you want to place, and if you can afford it you get it and then place it. If the animal you want to place is not in the current options, you have to throw out your current options and roll new options. In Story Mode this costs you a flower. In Sandbox Mode it is free. (In Sandbox mode, you try to beat your own scores of goals met.) It is an easy pick-and-place interface. You can track the health of the creatures by doing a mouse-over. You can track your goals by just watching the bars at the top of the screen with the animal image on them (mouse over to get precise numbers).

The game has no age limits. Kids can easily play in Sandbox Mode . They will be able to play with any of the creatures you already unlocked in Story Mode. In Story Mode, there are three levels of difficulty, and at around 8-10 years old a child can play story mode on the Easy setting. My 11 and 13 year old children really enjoy the game, both Story Mode and Sandbox Mode. It is one of the first games they pull out to play when I give them computer time. My son likes watching the animals interact. He is 11, and lions chasing zebras across the plains and vultures eating the remains is fodder for imagination and conversation. It has been nice to see him so excited with this game - it is a change in genre for him. He actually has to think and not just beat on the buttons. My 9-year old daughter enjoys it as well, but is more likely to play in Sandbox Mode, where there are fewer restrictions to her play style.

I think that the game is very fun, and worth the price. My favorite part is the Zebra's call. He sounds exactly like zebras do in the real world. I downloaded the trial of this game not expecting much, but got a real gem. I have the full version now. It is a game I see myself playing regularly. I have not completed the Story Mode yet. I have gotten as far as unlocking the wildebeests. It has its own niche in the Civilization-type game genre. You do not have to like Civ to like this game, but if you do like that type of game, you should give this a try. It is very different than most of it's genre, yet similar enough for it to be a fun change.. There is so much growth potential in W ildlife Tycoon, that I hope the game's designers continue with their work.