It would be an exaggeration to call African Adventure an expansion to Zoo Tycoon 2, even though that's what it says on the box. Yes, there are plenty of fascinating and rare animals to be found on the African continent, including cute meerkat and Ethiopian wolves. This pack delivers many of them to you to include in your zoo. However, the problem is, there isn't much else. It pretty much goes without saying that the primary emphasis on any expansion for Zoo Tycoon 2 should be the animals, but this takes it a little too far.

To sum things up, African Adventure includes twenty new exotic animals and a new looking jeep. That covers everything. Really, no joke. There are no additions or changes to gameplay, no new equipment, and no additional furnishings to purchase. The concept of the jeep tour was introduced in the previous expansion, Endangered Species, and African Adventure doesn't do much with it except change the style of the vehicle for your African tours. You now have a brand new Jeep Commander, which has two paint jobs to choose from. This isn't so much an upgrade as it is a lateral change from the Jeep Wrangler you got in Endangered Species.

The animals are wonderful, and as always, it's great to see them in action. It's great to see their unique behaviors and the pack mentality for some species is still fun to watch. As usual, it's your job to build the best zoo and keep everyone and the animals happy while turning a profit. Obviously, somebody hasn't been playing their own game, because there isn't enough please audiences. There's nothing that changes up or expands gameplay in any way. The African Adventure should have been released as a cheap downloadable booster pack, not a fully boxed off-the-shelf forty dollar expansion. There simply isn't enough here to justify the retail price, except for maybe the fact that part of the money from the sale will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund. In that case, picking up this expansion would be like buying an overpriced T-Shirt for a good cause. Most people will probably prefer to wait a few months for it to drop in price.