Planet Zoo 2 review: Superstar animals and frustrating micromanagement

What is it? Zoo-based management sim with added fish, birds, and nature reserves.

Reviewed on: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, Nvidia 2080 Super, 32 GB RAM, Windows 10

Multiplayer: No, but you can share creations.

Planet Zoo 2's animals are truly majestic creations. Even at a time when games are gnawing at the chain-link fence of photorealism, watching Frontier's meticulously modelled critters clamber and prowl, swim and fly, or play with whatever enrichment toys you've dunked into their enclosures, is always a treat. Like watching animals in a real zoo, there's a soothing, almost therapeutic quality to it. Which is just as well, as there were times playing Planet Zoo 2 that I felt like I needed an emotional support animal.

Frontier Developments' management sims have never been the sleekest examples of the genre, but Planet Zoo 2 couldn't be fiddlier if it involved teaching an octopus to play the violin. …