History YMMV / PlanetZoo

** The path system is one of the most criticized aspects. It is surprising difficult and unintuitive to do things like make a large, wide square section, or a plaza. It's prone to creating "malformed path parts" when doing various things, which are ugly holes in the path where they failed to connect properly, you can't just fix these by placing more path over them, you usually have to delete the whole section of path and try again. It's also hard to run a path up or down a slope, often requiring careful fiddling with terrain smoothing before it will allow a path there. There are actually entire tutorials and guides just for placing paths.

* GoddamnedBats: Whenever at least one of your animals has a low welfare for a while, expect protestors to arrive at your zoo. They're not just visual decorations to tell the players that they treated the animals poorly, their presence contributes to the unhappiness of the guests around them, potentially enough to make them unhappy enough to vandalize your zoo and demand refunds as they leave. And to make them even more of an annoyance, you can't send the security guards there to remove them, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and they won't even pay the ticket admissions for entering the zoo]].

** A lot of people wish they could let the animals loose to attack and kill guests.

** Polar bears (from the Arctic DLC) initially required an absurdly large exhibit size, more so than an ''herd of elephants'' need, to the point people were speculating that there was a typo or other mistake in the coding. The size requirements were heavily reduced later in a patch. [[note]] WordOfGod explained the reason for this was because they are intended to be challenging, and for the game's goal of supporting animal welfare; in real life, there is a controversy about how much space polar bears need to have in zoos.[[/note]]

** Polar bears (from the Arctic DLC) initially required an absurdly large exhibit size, more so than an ''herd of elephants'' need, to the point many thought it was a typo. The size requirements were heavily adjusted later in a patch. [[note]] WordOfGod explained the reason to be because they are intended to be challenging, and for the game's goal of supporting animal welfare; in real life, there is controversy about how much space polar bears need to have in zoos. [[/note]]

** Polar bears (from the Arctic DLC) initially required an absurdly large exhibit size, more so than an ''herd of elephants'' need, to the point many thought it was a typo. The size requirements were heavily adjusted later in a patch. [[note]] WordOfGod Explained the reason to be because they are intended to be challenging, and for the game's goal of supporting animal welfare; in real life, there is controversy about how much space polar bears need to have in zoos. [[/note]]

** Polar bears (from the Arctic DLC) initially required an absurdly large exhibit size, more so than an ''herd of elephants'' need, to the point many thought it was a typo. The size requirements were heavily adjusted later in a patch. [[note]] [[WordOfGod Explained]] the reason to be because they are intended to be challenging, and for the game's goal of supporting animal welfare; in real life, there is controversy about how much space polar bears need to have in zoos. [[/note]]

** A in-game day lasts bare minimum only three seconds with no option to slow it down further, making a year last 18 minutes. This isn't a big issue for most people, but some potential players refuse to buy the game unless an option to slow it down further is added. Developer's response is you are intended to pause the game frequently, to build and do other things.

** Baby habitat animals cannot be removed until they mature to adulthood[[note]]Okay granted, you can put them into storage but there is only so much you can store and they won't even age there[[/note]]. While it doesn't seem problematic for animals that grew up rather quickly, it does prove to be one for animals that took a long time to mature or ExplosiveBreeders such as Giant Tortoises or Peafowls. As an added "bonus", these babies further contributes to the animal food expenses and makes your exhibit dirty rather quickly. [[note:]] The option can be overlooked, but you can put animals on contraceptives which helps prevent this issue. [[/note]]
** Guests don't change clothes when visiting in cold environments. This is minor, but it is immersion breaking.

** A in-game day lasts bare minimum only ''three seconds'' with no option to slow it down further, making a year last 18 minutes. This is by no means game ruining or a total deal breaker for everyone, but it has a lot of potential players refusing to buy the game unless an option to slow it down further is added. Developer's response was basically you can pause the game if you need more time to build, which just seemed to irritate the situation.

** Baby habitat animals cannot be removed until they mature to adulthood[[note]]Okay granted, you can put them into storage but there is only so much you can store and they won't even age there[[/note]]. While it doesn't seem problematic for animals that grew up rather quickly, it does prove to be one for animals that took a long time to mature or ExplosiveBreeders such as Giant Tortoises or Peafowls. As an added "bonus", these babies further contributes to the animal food expenses and makes your exhibit dirty rather quickly.
** Polar bears (from the Arctic DLC) require an absurdly large exhibit size, more so than an ''herd of elephants'' need, to the point people thought it was a typo. This was [[WordOfGod explained]] to be because the are intended to be challenging, and for the game's goal of supporting animal welfare; in real life, there is controversy about how much space polar bears need to have in zoos. While this may have been done with good intentions, many have pointed out that there is similar concerns about elephant exhibit sizes, and the game [[BrokenAesop doesn't try to "address"]] this in the same way, and that it just simply makes it needlessly hard and unenjoyable to have polar bears.
** Guests don't change clothes when visiting in cold environments. This may be minor, but it is very noticeable and immersion breaking.

** Polar bears (from the Arctic DLC) require an absurdly large exhibit size, more so then an ''herd of elephants'' need, to the point people thought it was a typo. This was [[WordOfGod explained]] to be because the are intended to be challenging, and for the game's goal of supporting animal welfare; in real life, there is controversy about how much space polar bears need to have in zoos. While this may have been done with good intentions, many have pointed out that there is similar concerns about elephant exhibit sizes, and the game [[BrokenAesop doesn't try to "address"]] this in the same way, and that it just simply makes it needlessly hard and unenjoyable to have polar bears.

* Guests don't change clothes when visiting in cold environments. This may be minor, but it is very noticeable and immersion breaking.

* GoddamnedBats: Whenever at least one of your animals has a low welfare for a while, expect protestors to arrive at your zoo. They're not just visual decorations to tell the player that you did a bad job, their presence contributes to the unhappiness of the guests around them, potentially enough to make them unhappy enough to vandalize your zoo and demand refunds as you leave. And to make them even more of an annoyance, you can't send the security guards there to remove them, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and they won't even pay the ticket admissions when they enter the zoo]].

** Baby habitat animals cannot be removed until they mature to adulthood[[note]]Okay granted, you can put into storage but there is only so much you can store and they won't age there[[/note]]. While it does't seem problematic for animals that grew up rather quickly, it does prove to be one for animals that took a long time to mature or ExplosiveBreeders such as Giant Tortoises or Peafowls. As an added "bonus", these babies further contributes to the animal food expenses and makes your exhibit dirty rather quickly.

** Baby habitat animals cannot be removed until they mature to adulthood[[note]]Okay granted, you can put into storage but there is only so much you can store and they won't age there[[/note]]. While it does't seem problematic for animals that grew up rather quickly, it does prove to be one for animals that took a long time to mature or ExplosideBreeders such as Giant Tortoises and Peafowls. As an added "bonus" these babies further contributes to the animal food expenses and makes your exhibit dirty rather quickly.

* ScrappyMechanic: A in-game day lasts bare minimum only ''three seconds'' with no option to slow it down further, making a year last 18 minutes. This is by no means game ruining or a total deal breaker for everyone, but it has a lot of potential players refusing to buy the game unless an option to slow it down further is added. Developer's response was basically you can pause the game if you need more time to build, which just seemed to irritate the situation.

* ScrappyMechanic: A in-game day lasts bare minimum only ''three seconds'' with no option to slow it down further, making a year last 18 minutes. This is not a complete total deal breaker for everyone, but it has a lot of potential players refusing to buy the game unless an option to slow it down further is added. Developer's response was basically you can pause the game if you need more time to build, which just seemed to irritate the situation.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The graphics shown thus far are nothing short of breathtaking, the cartoon-ish design of the guests notwithstanding. The animals are all incredibly photorealistic and the environments and foliage border on SceneryPorn.

* ScrappyMechanic: A in-game day lasts bare minimum only ''three seconds''' with no option to slow it down further, making a year last 18 minutes. This is not a complete total deal breaker for everyone, but it has a lot of potential players refusing to buy the game unless an option to slow it down further is added. Developer's response was basically you can pause the game if you need more time to build, which just seemed to irritate the situation.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: This game could be interpreted as an attempt to WinBackTheCrowd after Frontier's last attempt at a zoo simulation game, the 2013 Xbox-only installment of ''VideoGame/ZooTycoon''. That game was largely panned by fans due to its complete lack of real creative freedom over the layout and design of one's zoos. ''Planet Zoo'' seems like a heavy attempt to rectify that by having ''VideoGame/PlanetCoaster''-levels of creative freedom.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: This game could be interpreted as an attempt to WinBackTheCrowd after Frontier's last attempt at a zoo simulation game, the 2013 Xbox-only installment of ''VideoGame/ZooTycoon''. That game was largely panned by fans due to its complete lack of real creative freedom over the layout and design of one's zoos. ''Planet Zoo'' seems like a heavy attempt to rectify that by having ''VideoGame/PlanetCoaster''-levels of creative freedom.