Nintendo DS - Zoo Keeper

Format
Nintendo DS
Publisher
Ignition
Developer
SUCCESS Corporation
Country of origin
Japan
Genre
Puzzle

Zoo Keeper

By David Rasmussen
31st May 05

Ever play a game that is so darn simple yet so addictive at the same time?
Like a smack habit in the Midway game NARC we have this Nintendo DS game, Zoo Keeper, which originated on the PC (online game) and now can be brought home on your DS.

The story is so short I won’t even have to break a sweat telling it to you.
You are a zoo keeper, obviously.
You work for a strange little man who might be a judge considering the way he looks… maybe this is where naughty Supreme Court Justices go when they go into hiding after one too many bad conservative rulings.
Anyway this guy has you sorting out the animals, which leads to the addictive gameplay.

A large mass of animals comes falling down onto the bottom screen, and you have to line three or more up to make them vanish. To do this you’ll use your stylus to click on animal heads to rotate them about until you make matches. With each match you make the heads disappear (apparently irritating whatever animal happens to be occupying the upper screen as you do so) until you cleared the level.
And that is that. You go on, and on, and on, racking up points as you do.
No twists, no gimmicks, nothing. Just an addictive puzzler that’ll keep you going for hours as you match up animals and see how far you can go in Zoo Keeper.

X-Play said games like this prove that nothing beats fun, and this is true. Zoo Keeper is fun. You can’t beat down on this simple addiction of fun even if you tried. And considering this is far better than some of the Mario stuff on the DS now I can’t see why you wouldn’t want this.
And did I mention that this game is special? You can multilink wirelessly with other players and they don’t even need to own this game! Your DS will download this game onto other people’s DS so they can challenge you, and feel the addiction of this game just as you have.

This is one of the games that compels me to want a DS, and one of the few games I want to get once I get that DS for myself. Simple addictions are the best sometimes, and this is a simple addiction.
Breakdown time!

Zoo Keeper Breakdown
What’s Hot? - Three simple words - Simple Addictions Rock.
This game is your puzzling addiction, and considering it’s far superior to some of the more boring tripe out on the DS now (and scored a 4 out of 5 from X-Play) I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to sate your addiction for fun gameplay with this simple little gem that takes only a few minutes to master, and hours and hours to play. Something for the road that’ll make you forget you are on a long roadtrip!

What’s Not? - Can’t think of a thing. If you have to have five games on the road this is one of those games.

Moments to Remember? - It’s simple, so no moments here.

What to Ignore? - Hmmm… your little boss is a little… I mean majorly weird. What’s with him.

Overall? - You can’t beat simple joys, and Zoo Keeper for the DS is a simple joy if I ever saw one.
One for your DS, this non Mario related release will have you plunking away animals like crazy to rack up the points, and make a name for yourself as a true zoo keeper amongst zoo keepers.
Multiplayer rocks too and you don’t even need to find a person who owns this game to get them turned onto it, and how cool is that! Buy it, it’s a little addiction well worth turning people on to! Oh yeah! Go for it!

-- David Rasmussen 31st May 05

Nintendo DS Zoo Keeper Images