A Few Variations on Facebook Farming Games
Island Paradise and Farm Pals Have Unique Aspects
Sep 23, 2009
Facebook.com has at least half a dozen different farming games that are all the rage right now. Farm Town and Farmville are the hottest two at the moment, but don’t write off all the others just yet. There are a few with distinct differences to add excitement to an otherwise standard farming day.
Farming on an Island?
Island Paradise throws a bit of a different slant by having the farming being done on a small island. The farmer is actually a castaway stranded and having to farm to feed him or herself. The game is in beta, so improvements can be expected. This can only be hoped since the store’s variety is lacking, and there is only currently one island upgrade. The size isn’t specified, but it does require 4 neighbors. Considering that most of the other games require many more neighbors than that, the cost is also pretty low. That is a positive note in its favor.
The graphics are very cartoony, but at least the player can somewhat customize the avatar. There are 3 choices of outfits, which beats Farm Town by 2. It does seem that all the games forget that hazel should be an option for eye color, since not everyone fits either brown, blue or green.
Stealing Crops is Friendly?
Farm Pals is another unique farming game. It has the standard foundation in that the plots of land are plowed, seeded and harvested, but it also has one distinct advantage. There is no avatar to get in the way. The player chooses the tool to use with his or her mouse and doesn’t have to worry about the choices that go with a cumbersome avatar.
Farm Pals has things like a Daily Wheel of Fortune where the player can get something on the Farm for free. This is great in a game where most gifts are supposed to come from other friends, of whom may or may not ever send them. It does have corny aspects like needing to add Love via little hearts to brighten the day. This gains the player experience points that are needed to advance to higher levels. There is also a rake to get rid of leaves and a bird chaser, which also earns points.
The most unique part of Farm Pals and Island Paradise is that the player can steal crops from other friends’ farms. This doesn’t hurt the friend (other than lowering how much they can harvest), but gives the player more ways of earning points and coins. It also inspires the friend to play more often to avoid the stealing. There is even an option of putting worms and weeds in neighbors’ crops on Farm Pals, and they can do the same thing in return. This is a great way to earn advancement points and is a lot of fun for everyone involved.
All Bright Skies Have Clouds
A disadvantage of Farm Pals is that each player is only given 6 plots to farm. Expansion is only possible once level 5 is achieved and then it costs $15,000 coins. This is a bit excessive, since on testing only half of that amount is earned once that level is achieved. There is only so much that can be done with 6 plots, and that high cost to upgrade only gives the farmer one extra plot. Farm Pals is also in beta, so it can only be hoped this will be fixed before the final version.
Both games do offer fertilizer, which speeds up the growth of the crops. This is a nice addition to the store, which is not in most of the other farming games. The fertilizer is great for the impatient farmer who does not want to wait around for hours for his or her crops to mature. It can speed up the process and make the game more fun.
Interactive is Important
Neither game is too interactive though. Other than the ability for Farm Pals to steal other crops, there doesn’t seem to be a way for farmers on either game to interact with other farmers. Farm Town still rules in this area, so until the other games add this aspect, they will never be superior to that game.
Island Paradise and Farm Pals add two more fun games to the farming community on facebook.com. One can only wonder how many more farming games they will add to their collection. So far they are all entertaining and a great way to pass the time.
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