Zoo Hospital (Wii)

$30, Wii*, Nintendo DS

Teaches: science, biology, reading, veterinary medicine

CTR Rating: 90%

CTR Review

You've just graduated from Veterinary College and now your Aunt Lucy has called from the world famous Zoo Hospital asking for your help in this one- or two-player vet simulator. The zoo's land is being sought after by Gordon Grimm as a potential site for a new mini-golf course. You must help save the zoo by treating its ailing inhabitants, improving its Zoo Rating, and attracting new exotic animals that will bring in more visitors. Note that the format follows a familiar pattern -- explore a zoo and cure animals. What's different is the unique ways in which you use the Wii controls, plus the two-player modes.Using your Wii Remote, you will treat animals by playing mini games including: Big Stealth Bugs (expose and kill parasitic pests, then clean the patient afterwards using your Wii Remote to battle ticks, rashes and other forms of inflammation); Dentistry (clean, inject Novocain, wiggle and pull rotten teeth while battling tooth decay with the dental drill); Removing Foreign Bodies (drag foreign bodies out of the patient through a "maze" and eliminate Gall Stones by blasting them with a laser without hitting other organs); and Microscopic Treatment (under high magnification, the player must fight a battle against evil microscopic viruses by clearing the screen of all bad organisms and protecting the good organisms from attack). You will also use the Wii Remote to pet, feed, or treat patients in their enclosures. By finding out how each animals prefers to be soothed, you will keep it happy and boost your Zoo Rating. In addition you must follow up on patients by visiting them in their enclosures to ensure that they are healing properly and quickly. The Zoo Rating is lowered while animals are recovering so the faster they recover the faster your rating will rise.The game features 48 animals including seven not featured in the DS version (camel, capuchin, dolphin, gorilla, macaw, mandrill and owl) . There is also a two-player Cooperative Multiplayer mode that allows players to treat the same animals together and interact with animals in their enclosures. You can also unlock new animals, enclosures, medical mini-games, and plaques by successfully performing procedures and raising the Zoo Rating. All in all, this edition raises the bar on animal vet sims, thanks to the controls.