Jane's Zoo HD Review

As cliched as it sounds, how much you enjoy Jane's Zoo is going to be quite dependent on how much you like other Time Management games. Revel in the joy that can be garnered from running your own supermarket in Supermarket Mania 2? Then, you'll love this!

Jane is quite the entrepreneur. Having run hotels in the past, she's switched to running zoos. Presumably after watching We Bought A Zoo and taking inspiration from it. As is common with these type of games, there's a warm, fuzzy ecological message behind Jane's Zoo with the need to rescue all the animals from the evil plight of pollution. So starts a mission which involves plenty of tapping at the right moment and remaining organized.

In the early levels, players only have to look after a couple of different animals and nothing more. This mostly involves tapping on them to feed or water them, clean their habitat and remembering to put them back in their respective houses when it rains. The game adapts according to what's needed so players hardly even need to choose what's required. It's far from taxing.

What is more taxing is when there's a lot going on. Animals become increasingly impatient and the number of them grow. This means there's a lot to juggle after a time. Their needs also differ with some needing bathing while others need putting in the zoo gym to exercise. Some mini-games emerge here as the animals must be washed with a handy finger tap or two to clear the dirt from their cuddly faces. Gym use involves finding the right activity that the animal will most enjoy.

Finally, a form of Hidden Object game appears in which players have to find litter scattered around the scenery. Again, it's quite simple but breaks things up. It's also followed by the ability to upgrade items around the zoo or give Jane a much needed speed or efficiency boost.

There's a lot to play through in Jane's Zoo with 39 levels in all, but admittedly it is all a little too simple and easy to complete. I did quite enjoy my time playing it but there was still that sense that the game was almost playing itself. There's just not enough challenge to the gameplay to lift it beyond average.