When people see My Zoo Vet Practice 3D they seem to think it’s nothing more than a shovelware game. And that’s kinda sad considering that many elements of this game show human nature is its fullest and its most “Naked form” if you will.

A modern-day Atlas shrugged. My Zoo Vet Practice 3D asked questions no man dared ask for ages and does so in the brashest and confronting way. What is an animal, why does man oppress those he deems as less worthy and labels them “animals”. If only he himself stood still to look at his species as a whole. Then he would see what the rest of the world already knows. The true animal is man himself. This is the philosophy that is the backbone of My Zoo Vet Practice 3D and never even once does the game shy away from asking the hard questions.

An amazing metaphor for war, this jeep represents the vicious circle that never ends.

Et tu Zooman.

The story follows the player who just arrived in what could either be the last safe haven of these so-called “animals” or a harsh, brutal battlefield where no love can bloom and innocence goes to die. Where games have asked if “War never changes” or “war has changed” this game takes it to the next level. It doesn’t ask you whether war has changed or if it never changes, instead this game tasks you  in the most brutal and shocking way to make that decision for yourself. Love or peace is not an option. The cycle of hatred and death will always endure. This is wonderfully represented with an FMV of a jeep that seems to drive in a continuous circle until you say stop and fight for what you believe in and help these “animals”, these victims of a war they did not want a part in. You decide who lives and who “runs away”. Do you help, heal and fight for these poor helpless embodiments of grace, justice and innocence(or what little is left of it). Do you fight and chop at the chains of oppression or do you back down like a coward who doesn’t even smoke crack.  You decide who gets saved and who will be greeted by the Valkyries at Walhalla’s gates. It doesn’t take long for your companions to start and see things his own way and so inner turmoil ravages through the Zoo as you decide if you are a follower, leader, if you dispose of the corpse in the tar pits or feed the husk of what was once considered a loving husband and father of three to the lions. After all the true path to enlightenment lies within the spiritual and not the physical. The endgame asks you as a ruler of the new world order which is now named New Zootopia 3D to make one last hard decision which will determine the future of the world… Nay the universe. The question remains the same every time, but with whom you face this dilemma is decided by you as you journey through a world that might not even be able to be saved or shouldn’t even be saved. Man or “animal” who do you side with?

Grab your shovel boys. we need these dead monkey corpses of the streets and into elementary schools, grinded as C-grade imitation meat loafs.

The new way games should be done.

The gameplay of My Zoo Vet Practice 3d is simple in theory but complex in execution. You start at your home base which has elements of both the Sims and The Shadow Of The Colossus. The ascetics look like the sims but it controls as if the player is climbing a Colossus. This naturally reflects the personality of the main character (and to some degree the players themselves) tossing, turning and forever in turmoil with himself doubting about the future and if the choice to work in a Zoo was the right one after spending +-4 years of serving in ‘NAM. After going out of the Home Base you can go to the map and select one of three typical enslavement centers. The Savanna, Arctic and the Jungle. In all of these you will find lost helpless souls who need to be guided to the light to accept and be embraced by our Lord and Savior Superman. Or you can pull that splinter in their paws disinfect it and let them go on with their lives never knowing the true and warm comforting touch of death. “Animals” get sick and you have to go out there to diagnose them, or you can stay inside where Malaria won’t get its cold hands on you and read a book about the animals out there in the wild.  Resource management is also A huge part of the game. If the player lacks medicine for the “animals” riots might break out and the small innocent souls you tried to protect will get trampled and killed by the very same chimp mothers who would literally step over the trampled baby alpacas in the streets to save their own young-uns. The gameplay might seem simple, dull and repetitive to some people but that only means life has selected them to be left in the dust and die a horrible death. Any other person who sees this immediately sees the innovative and genius way plot and mechanics meld. A beautiful marriage of concepts one might call this. My Zoo Vet Practice 3d raises the bar that shan’t be raised anytime soon again.

Prophetic in its art style.

Now I have been accused of over-praising things so I won’t lie that on a visual level the game is rather lacking. But that did not stop this game from using its lower graphically fidelity to its advantage. A lot of animals look very lowly modeled but this reflects their sad sad states. As you look at the sad decaying husk of a monkey you can’t help but feel the sadness of the million primates that die daily due to the radiation of all the Uranium that THE MAN dumps in the rain forests where chimps are known to frequent and eat. The character portrait of your colleague seems bad but even this reflects the state he is in. He speaks in a happy tone but his face reflects the soullessness and his eternal struggle in his own personal hell from which seems no escape. truly Raylight has all its bases covered.

As you see this screen you begin to question your morals and the ethics you consider a huge part of being human.

You know Zoo Vet, we really are the Practice. 3D.

Closing note:

Where other games try to leave the player thinking. My Zoo Vet Practice 3d does not only leave the player thinking. It Forces the player questioning his or her very existence. A not suitable for children warning would normally be suggested but this game is the perfect way to get your child ready for the real world. It shows them that in order for you to get ahead in life you have to take A life. And that’s what this game is. A lesson. It shows human nature in it rawest and asks you NO TELLS you that you are an awful person for not being an “animal” in the traditional sense. You are not an “animal” and you should be ashamed that you are not.

9/10

Tested on Nintendo 3DS