Review: Farm Frenzy
January 18, 2010
, Posted by App-reciation Reviews at 11:52 PM
Category: Games
Price: $ 0.99
Requirements: iPhone or iPod touch, OS 3.0 or later
Version: 1.2
What's good: There's something pleasant about the simplicity of idyllic rural life. Although modern-day gaming provides millions of high-tech and futuristic choices, many people love the idea of running a farm or working with virtual crops and animals. Farm Frenzy by Alawar Entertainment manages to capture what players love about a rustic setting and integrates it into a fun and challenging time management and strategy scenario. The game provides a continuous play setting where each level introduces you to something new and gradually trains you up to be a real farm expert. If you're not familiar with this title, you're basically given an entire plot of farmland and your goal is to run it successfully to complete the different missions each stage requires, all within a time limit. Buy ducks from the store, then keep your water supply filled in order to plant grass patches to feed them and encourage them to lay eggs. When they do, pick these up, deposit them in your warehouse, and deliver them to the market via truck to earn cash. Use the money to purchase more ducks, or explore other livestock options like sheep and cattle. Each animal comes with tons of gameplay options - the duck eggs, for example, can be processed into powder, which in turn can be baked into delicious pies. The more refined your goods are, the more value it has. The trade-off is that you first have to invest in the appropriate structures - in this case, an egg solids plant and a bakery. If you find it a bit hard to juggle all the tasks at first, don't worry! As you buy more upgrades and familiarize yourself with the mechanics, you'll discover techniques to maximize effectiveness and should be able to gain several medals and achievements along the way, too. For just $ 0.99, find out if you have what it takes to string processes together and create efficient production systems throughout over forty five levels of good old fashioned fun. Oh, and don't forget to trap those pesky trampling bears (or they'll make meals out of your carefully reared animals).
Suggestions for improvement: The game lacks a solid tutorial or how-to page, and the controls don't work as well as they could - for example, sometimes tapping on the ground to pick up eggs yields grass patches instead. The updates menu also need descriptions so players get some information on what they're spending hard-earned (virtual) cash on.
Breakdown:
Graphics - 4.25/5 Creativity - 4.75/5 Gameplay - 5/5 Controls - 4.75/5
App-reciation - 4.75/5
Its looks much better than TAP farm :)
cheers
I tried the lite version and got totally hooked! Quite different from Tap Farm, It kind of reminds me more of Ranch Rush, though I find Ranch Rush to be a bit more stressful in the Sally's Spa/Diner Dash sort of way.