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Farm Mania HD
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Graphics & Sound:
In Farm Mania HD, you play as Anna, a young girl who has gone to her grandfather's farm over the summer to try to help him get the place under control. The graphics are cheerful and cute, but not as endearing as some I have seen and look a bit juvenile. The good news is that things are easily recognizable and distinguishable and you won't mistake one vegetable or animal for another. Levels are pretty detailed and you'll notice all sorts of little things like varying foliage in the background and little flowers growing all around. I did find that the bonus levels, which consist of hidden object puzzles where you locate camouflaged animals, were quite tricky in their appearance. While you were looking for a set number of farm animals, there were also wolves hidden in the background and clicking on those by accident can result in lost time for the timed level.
Sound effects and music work pretty well for the game, although it's nothing you'll remember once you turn off the game. Some of the animal sounds were kind of funny, but you still get the idea of what they are trying to convey. Overall, they were all nothing special, but did their jobs appropriately. |
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Gameplay:
In Farm Mania HD, you'll play across 60 levels as you try to rehabilitate Grandpa's farm and build his stock of farm animals and plants. In doing so, you'll be responsible for feeding and watering the animals, grooming them when needed, planting, hoeing, weeding and harvesting food crops, and keeping pests like rabbits and crows from damaging your crops. Grandpa is there to assist you as he draws water from the well and harvests the grain and clover needed to feed the livestock. As you progress through the levels, your goals for each level will increase and you will earn money that can be spent for needed upgrades. Goals will include monetary targets, certain amounts of produce, and particular animals growing from infant to adult. Some may include items like pies or even clothing, which require several different items to make, so you may find yourself tapping your toe while you wait for fruit to mature or livestock to produce eggs, milk or wool.
Of the 60 levels, 12 are the aforementioned bonus levels which consist of a greenery-laden background with farm animals hidden throughout in a very tricky manner. There are also predator animals hidden as well, so seeing some pattern that looks a little off in the greenery could be a goal animal or something to throw you off. These are timed, but there is no penalty for not finding all of the animals. You merely make less money. However, since it is timed, I felt compelled to get them all.
Any level can be replayed at any time if you want to earn more money and also, if you didn't make enough to buy the necessary items to get you through the next level. Each time you complete a level, you are brought to the Upgrade menu and there are suggested items for you to buy on the left and possible items for purchase on the right. If an item is suggested, that is because you will need it in the following level, so pay attention. Possible items can include things like a larger, faster vehicle to transport more items to market to sell them, a faster water well that supports 2 buckets at a time instead of one, faster hoes for working, and things like that. There will also be facilities that you can purchase to allow you to make pies, yogurts and items like that. Unfortunately, there's no way to know what livestock or produce plants you may need in the next level, other than the suggested items to buy, so there's no real way to know what you are able to sell, either. |
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Difficulty:
As far as difficulty in Farm Mania HD goes, there is no way to change it. The difficulty level is what it is. I found that it started off quite easy and ramped up nicely, to the point that when I was in the last levels of the game, especially the hidden object variety, I wasn't able to find all of the hidden animals. However, there were only a handful of times where I had to restart a level because I didn't make the goal. If you prefer to simply play without the standard pressures of a time management title, you can opt to play in the Casual Mode, where you will go through the same levels as the Arcade Mode, but without the constraints of the timer. Do be aware that you start from the beginning, however; you can't simply decide to play a previously beaten level on Casual, as it's essentially a separate game. That being said, when you play in Arcade Mode, there were times when doing farm chores felt just like that - a chore.
Farm Mania HD does guide you with hints in the early portion of the game, to get your feet wet. Plus, you can turn hints on or off in the Options Menu. If you forget what to do, there's also a nice Help section on the Main Menu that lays out the basics. |
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Game Mechanics:
Everything in Farm Mania HD is done using the touch screen interface by tapping. You tap the water well or livestock food supplies and Grandpa will spring into action to get things ready for you. While he won't begin on another bucket of water until you have removed the first one, he will start getting a bucket while Anna is busying herself elsewhere; it's nice that he doesn't have to wait for her to physically walk over there and select the water bucket option. The same goes for pesky crows and bunnies - tap them at will to drive them out of the farm area. One tap moves them along, but a succession of taps keeps them gone a lot longer and Anna doesn't physically have to be there to accomplish it. You simply use your "God hand" ...or would that be "God finger?" Regardless, in the latter levels, the pests tend to be particularly menacing, so the longer you can banish them, the better. One strategy I used a good bit was growing the produce items required by my goals as soon as the level begins, then letting the rabbits take over those plants so I didn't need to tend to them after I had met my goals. If you only need to grow six bushels of apples, then I would plant two apple plants and let them bloom and re-bloom three times. If they continued blooming after that, I let the rabbits have at them.
I did find that sometimes my taps didn't register and Anna would be wandering around carrying something she was supposed to have dropped off at a water or food bucket. This was annoying, at times, but it didn't happen all that often. It did rear it's ugly head during the hidden object areas and, if a tap doesn't register and you re-tap that area a few times in frustration, that can cost you penalty seconds on the timer.
I ran through Farm Mania HD in a handful of days and I enjoyed it, but I don't see myself going back to it. If there's a demo you can try out, I recommend that you see if it's your type of game. While not bad, it's just not my favorite. |
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-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins |
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