I love games that use the DS screen real estate wisely and liberally. If you have two screens, find a way to use 'em, I say. Zoo Hospital doesn't offer a lot of variety, but takes full advantage of the platform. Both screens are used to display information on the zoo and the animals you are treating, but the touch-screen has special controls that you'll use during your treatment. As each animal comes in to be treated, you'll see a top-screen view of the animal in 3D and have the lower-screen view filled with information about where the animal lives, what it eats, etc. As you move into the treatment phase, you'll see the animal on the lower screen where you can push and drag various tools to diagnose the problem. The doctor appears in the upper screen and helps you by offering advice and feedback on the tests you run.

There isn't much music in Zoo Hospital, but you'll hear lots of sound in the treatment room from the animals and the medical devices. The sick animals make some pitiful sounds and spend most of their time prone on the table until you treat them. At that point they are frolicking and flying and making happy sounds. It's gratifying and a nice reward. The instruments you'll use to examine your patients make all kinds of sound and there's a very annoying buzz that you'll hear if you are too rough during a procedure. The classic example is when you find something lodged in an animal's body and have to remove it. Think of that old game, Operation and you're on the right track. The sound you get if you accidentally touch the side of the throat or stomach when you remove a foreign object is exactly like that annoying buzz in Operation, so you'll be motivated to take it easy and do careful work.

Zoo Hospital is a refreshing game for parents that really don't want to support violent play. Nothing about this game is remotely violent and there aren't even many overtly competitive elements. If you work quickly and make good diagnoses, you'll receive better scores but the scores don't really matter. As you play the game longer, you'll win awards for treating certain types of animals, regardless of score. The only possible source of frustration for kids may be in not figuring out what is wrong with the animal or not being able to master some of the controls.

The story begins with your Aunt Lucy inviting you to be an intern at her zoo. She pretty much turns the examination room over to you, but stays close by to give you feedback and information on the different tools you have available to help sick animals. When you're not treating an animal, you are free to browse the zoo and read lots of interesting facts about the different animals. The game doesn't require reading skills really, but it helps. All the little facts on each animal will be interesting to older kids, at least those able to read. You'll know when an animal needs help because its icon on the map will start flashing. If you tap the icon, you'll enter the examination room where Dr. Lucy briefs you on the animal's condition. There are lots of symptoms you'll see in the different animals, and you'll sometimes see the same animal more than once during the game with new issues.

Once you know the symptoms, it's time to inspect the animal. There are a wide range of tests that let you measure basic stuff like temperature, weight, and pulse. More advanced tests check blood and skin or let you pull x-ray reports. Some tests, like weight, are one-and-done type tests. You grab a little heart icon and drag it onto the animal and the report comes up. Other tests are available for different parts of the animal, so you can inspect an eye, mouth, or body with your magnifying glass. After you run the test, you'll see the results and be able to check against a special computer that shows the ideal results. A few tests require that kids be able to read numbers but most of them are visual checks. You see the animal's eye and if it looks dirty you need to operate. The "Operate? Yes/No" choice is always presented and if you make the wrong choice, Lucy will send you out and tell you to come back later. It's pretty low-key, not like you're evicted from the ER... In the early stages of the game, you'll find that successfully treating animals will lead to new animals being delivered to the zoo. It doesn't take long for the zoo to fill up and after you earn all your medals, there isn't much else to do. The replay value is decent and there's a co-op multiplayer, but Zoo Hospital is a very light-weight game. It's appropriate for younger kids and a lot of fun, but it doesn't hold up as a long-term investment. The co-op is neat because one DS performs the operation while the other DS keeps the animal calm.

One source of challenge is making good choices in your diagnosis. If you determine an operation is needed when it isn't, you'll have to restart the exam. If you don't operate when you should, you'll end up in the same place. Rest assured that you always have a 50% chance of success, pretty good odds. Many of the symptoms can come from different ailments, so it isn't like Zoo Hospital won't keep you on your toes. The lack of challenge comes from the simple fact that if, like my four year-old, a viable strategy is to just keep trying tests until you get to treat the animal. A larger challenge comes from performing the operations. A few "gimme" procedures just involve calming the animal, accomplished by stroking with the stylus along the animal's body until its heart rate goes down. More commonly you'll have to do something more drastic. Setting bones works like a jigsaw puzzle and there are opportunities to destroy bad things in the blood in a little tapping game that feels a bit like Asteroids. The harder procedures require multiple steps, like giving an injection, shaving the patient, making an incision, sewing up the incision, and finally spraying the spot to prevent infection. The good news is that even a four year-old can master these tasks, with the possible exception of the injection. Giving shots is hard! Something about the controls is more unforgiving in this part of the game than any other. The only penalty for messing up a part of the operation is that the animal gets agitated and has to be calmed down. Making a wrong diagnosis ends up being more of a penalty than anything you do wrong on the operating table.

Most of the neat tricks utilized here with the touch-screen have already been revealed. There's a sloppy feeling to a few of the mini-games, for lack of a better description. It's as if the controls are a bit loose or imprecise. It only matters in a big way on the procedures that require tight controls, like removing a foreign object or giving an injection. Swabbing a wound with antiseptic spray or dousing parasites in some chemical only requires diligence and a fast stylus. Other procedures like the incision and stitching are pretty liberal in how they respond to the stylus. Zoo Hospital saves every step along the way, so it's hard to lose any ground unless you delete your save file. There are virtually no distractions in terms of the screen interface, and the fact that 85% of Zoo Hospital controls with the touch-screen makes it easy to manage for little guys and gals. The only downside in terms of awkward control comes from a few tests that could have been designed more intuitively. The idea of comparing test results to a standard is fine, but it would have been nice to show results and standards side-by-side instead of requiring players to pause their exam to check a different screen. Especially in the case of the little kids, by the time they navigate over to the computer system they've probably forgotten the test reading.

Zoo Hospital is highly recommended as light fun for kids that like animals and parents that want something less competitive or bloody in their kids' hands. It's ironic that with all the cutting and sewing there isn't any blood spilled but the point was to make a fun game rather than a simulation. The stats on the animals are real, so at least parents can rest easy knowing that their children are learning about 40 animals. If the family dog starts to exhibit strange symptoms, you might even discover that your child is ready on-the-scene with a treatment. Zoo Hospital is a safe bet and would only be improved by more animals and possibly a few more zoos to explore. Hopefully Aunt Lucy gets a promotion and invites us back soon!