You can spend hours tinkering with a clever new genetics component of the game, with which you can specify details in people, then watch as they develop and are passed on to the next generation. Likewise, in THE SIMS 2 (EA $50), you can nose around in the lives of your artificial family as they burn breakfast, put up with Grandpa's stories or flirt with others. Once you're finished, you can walk around and enjoy a day at the zoo (that is, until the crocodiles get out). Microsoft's redesigned ZOO TYCOON 2 ($40) makes building the dream zoo even easier than the last edition did, with more land-sculpturing tools for ponds, mounds and moats. Or you can ride the rides at night, thanks to a new lighting system. You can also create your own family to turn loose in the park, and see which rides they prefer.

In ROLLERCOASTER TYCOON 3 (Atari $35) you can look inside trash cans to see if they've been emptied or strap yourself into the fast Mega Coaster and scream as the ride rounds each curve. With today's simulations, you can see things up close. This is a major advance from classics like Sim City 2000, which featured cities with people the size of ants, or the first Microsoft Zoo Tycoon, in which you could barely discern the smaller animals. All you need is a robust graphics card in your computer and a burning desire to make money.īy far the coolest feature of the new simulations is the way you can roll the wheel of your mouse forward, zooming in for a first-person view.

With the latest batch of simulations, you really can buy the farm, spending thousands of dollars and making decisions that can lead to profit or disaster, although without the real-world consequences. Now, at least, you can pretend to, thanks to a recent increase in the number of tycoon game programs. FEW people ever make the decisions a business tycoon does.

Zoo tycoon 3