Game Time! Farm Mania

Farm Mania

Last Updated: 2012

Company: Realore

# of Levels: 48 regular levels and 12 bonus game levels

Price I Paid: Free

Time Spent Playing: 4 hours and 33 minutes

Story Line: Help Anna build up her grandfather's old farm and get an excellent mark for her graduation work.

Review:
+ You can play either Arcade or Casual mode. As always, I picked arcade. I like having a start and a finish to my games.

+ You get extra money for all additional items that you sell above what the level requires and you get extra money for the time left on the clock each level. 

+ Instructions are given throughout the game about upcoming changes or new items that are available.

+ The goals for each level are clearly posted at the bottom of the screen and will update when you complete tasks.

+ Every fifth level is a bonus level which asks you to find certain animals hiding in the forest for bonus cash. My eyes aren't that good at "hidden object" type games so I probably only found about 75% of the animals during each bonus level.

- Once your farm starts to develop it becomes very hard to tap the right space in order to do the right task. All of the feeders and water dishes are very close together and half the time I tap on the wrong one or when I tap, nothing happens (see the picture to the left). They either need to make the items larger or just not have them all right next to each other.

- I usually play Time Management games to relax because I find them fun. This game however was pretty much what I imagine it would be like to run a real farm, exhausting. During most other games you have at least a few seconds to catch your breath but this game is super hectic with more that needs to be done every level then I can possibly do.

- Not enough specific upgrades. Why is there so many different vehicles I can buy but yet there is only one upgrade for food and water dishes? Why is there nothing I can buy to cut larger sizes of the animal food or something to keep away those annoying rabbits that eat the items in your garden? 

- I wish that you could see what was upcoming for the next level BEFORE you get to the buying/upgrading screen. That way if I knew I was going to need, say a lot of milk, I would purchase another cow. 

Overall (Would I recommend it?):
There are quite a few upsides to this game including two different playing styles (arcade or casual), able to bank additional funds per level, clear instructions on upgraded or upcoming items, updated goal task bars each level and lots of bonus levels that earn extra cash. But for every upside there seems to be a downside including the items being to close together to tap on the right ones, the fact that this game is crazy hectic, there are not enough specific upgrades and that you can't see what's upcoming in the next level before you reach the buying/upgrading screen. Farm Mania was a decent game to play once but it wouldn't be a game I pick up and play over and over.

B

Game Play Tips:
- When playing the bonus levels make sure that you found a hidden animal before tapping on it because to many taps that don't result in finding animals makes you loose 15 seconds per time.
- In order to be able to upgrade as much as you like you need to make as much money as possible. So even if the level doesn't require selling honey or watermelon for example, make and sell as many extra items because it's all money in your pocket.
- Everything is so close together that if you try tapping on a specific animal, it either doesn't understand or it will hit the wrong one. Instead of tapping on an animal, try tapping on the command bubble. For example if the cow is asking for more food, tap on the food command bubble rather then the animal itself. For some reason it seems to connect better that way.

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