Little Farm

Developer: Mumbo Jumbo
Steam Release: Jun 2008
Hours Played: 3.6
Similar To: 10000000 / Clickr / T-Kara Puzzles /
Rating: 2/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY
Little Farm's level are comprised of lop-sided grids of small squares. In each square is a vegetable ranging from tomatoes to courgettes to yellow peppers etc. Early levels consist two different crops but later ones have three or four. A number of trucks appear along a path at the top of the screen with each truck's roof having the crop you are to harvest. The trucks then trundle along the path at the bottom of the screen. The player's task is to drag a box over the grid so that the same symbol (or crop) appears in all four corners. You release the mouse and all the squares that have the necessary symbol, within the larger square you dragged, fill up the truck. The truck has a meter over it which once filled allows the truck to zoom off and to be replaced by another.

BALANCE & PACE
A countdown timer also appears on the far left hand side which slowly runs down as you go. The idea is to fill up all the trucks with their crops before the time runs out. At the end of four levels you get a bonus level and then move on to the next segment. The game is mind-numbingly easy. Coming up to the half-way stage I have not really faced any difficult challenges and I really did wonder why the hell I was playing such a simple game. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's really aimed at very young children; probably around the 8-10 age group. Sure, the way the symbols tumble into the truck is satisfying and it's a pleasant romp as you zap the bugs and capture butterflies that land on your field but the gameplay is very repetitive and automatic; the same way in which a fruit machine makes you play on and shovel money continually into the slot.

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
On firing up Little Farm, you are greeted with the cartoon image of a bright and colourful farm with a nice honky-tonk tune tinkering away in the background. Options gives you the minimum of tweaks in the sound department while Scores take you to meaningless stats attained by fictional players. There is nowhere to view your own scores that you have achieved and no option to replay levels or fields. (Not that you'd particularly want to.) On hitting Play you are taken to a shop-screen which shows how much money you have acquired and what power-ups you can purchase with the money. You may also purchase seeds which allow you to farm crops that yield more profits. From the shop-screen you may also view a map screen which shows you the layout of the farm. 

PROGRESS SYSTEM
Your farm consists of about 18 segments that are initially wooded areas. As you complete levels the wooded areas become quartered and thus divided into four fields. These fields represent levels and become fertile crops once the level is complete. You plow your way through the game (pun intended) and watch as your whole farm on the map-screen gradually transforms from wooded areas into lush cropped fields. As mentioned, it is not about amassing high-scores or setting the fastest time and then trying to beat that score or time; it is simply an exercise in completing levels and going onto the next one until you complete the game. Buying more expensive merchandise from the shop makes progress enjoyable because the power-ups do change gameplay slightly but at nearly half-way through the game, the difficulty is hardly the most challenging you'll find.

CONCLUSION

Little Farm is the quintessential so-so housewife game that has you dragging the pointer over a grid and watching things go pop. It won't exactly rock your world  but I liked the little extra touches like the power-ups and the inclusion of pesky bugs along the way but there is no wow-factor here. It is an ideal distraction for a young child to help develop mouse control but for a serious indie-gamer, it'll probably feel like a waste of time. I'd pass on this one if I were you.