Planet Zoo is an ever-expanding game, with content seemingly coming out before we’ve even had time to fully explore the previously released Planet Zoo DLC packs.
Each new content pack focuses on a new part of the world, with animals and decorations specific to that area, the latest Planet Zoo expansion to come out is the Planet Zoo Africa pack, which also came out alongside the Planet Zoo 1.6 free content update.
What's New in the Africa Pack
- 4 new African animals
- 1 New exhibit animal
- 180 new scenery items
- A new challenge scenario
- Accompanying free update
As with all new Planet Zoo content packs, I highly recommend jumping into the challenge first, as this gives you an idea of what to expect with the new animals and items, as well as letting you test some of the new features without affecting your main franchise or sandbox zoo.
What New Animals Are In Planet Zoo Africa Pack?
When a new content pack comes out for Planet Zoo, the first thing we all want to know is what new animals come with it, and the Africa pack does not disappoint.
- Meerkats
- Fennec Fox
- African Penguin
- Southern White Rhinoceros
The most exciting of these new animals for me is the Meerkat, I mean who doesn’t love seeing a Meerkat, and as they would in real life, the Meerkats of Planet Zoo can actually dig holes with a brand new digging feature added to the pack.
As well as the impressive lineup of new animals, the new Africa pack also brings with it a new exhibit animal too, the Sacred Scarab Beetle, better known as the Dung Bettle.
The Sacred Scarab Beetle creates piles of dung and rolls them into a ball, making them a much more active and interesting exhibit animal.
New African Scenery
As with all content packs from Planet Zoo, there have been a large number of new scenery items added with the new Planet Zoo DLC, which are, of course, African themed.
As always, it’s evident that a lot of attention to detail has gone into creating these new scenery items, which really do help to make your zoo look more impressive.
Just like the other packs, players will need to research the scenery items before they are able to use them in their zoo.
It’s not just guests which are getting new items to wow them, there are tons of new items that can be used in your animal’s habitat too, the most memorable of those being the new disco ball enrichment item.
Planet Zoo's Latest Free Content Update
Once again, Frontier has managed to coincide a new content pack, with a free update, giving players double the fun.
You can read the full patch notes here, but the most interesting feature of the new update is the return of vista points to the series, veteran Planet Coaster fans should remember vista points from Planet Coaster, which are used to draw the attention of your guests to a certain part of your park.
In Planet Zoo, these vista points, will not only allow you to focus your guest’s attention on the best spots for each of your enclosures but will also give your park a marketing boon too.
Summary
Planet Zoo just keeps getting better and better, with each content pack released, we’re able to expand our zoos and include animals from all corners of the world.
The new tunneling system works wonderfully, watching my meerkats poke their heads in and out of tiny holes, is just so adorable, and my guests think so too.
At such a reasonable price, no matter if you’re a veteran player, or new to the series, the Planet Zoo Africa Pack is a must-have addition to an already amazing game, a game which I continue to strive to watch grow.
With every game, expansion or app we review, we look for both good and bad aspects of the software.
In so many cases, we find more bad to say than good, but it’s always a pleasure to write a review for both Planet Coaster & Planet Zoo games.
It’s almost impossible to find anything bad to say, which is such a breath of fresh air, especially in a day and age with so many early access games out there, and games with so many issues. Planet Zoo really does shine among the best games of our generation.
