Software Review: FarmVille for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

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FarmVille for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

What is one thing you’ve dreamt about doing or owning and never got the chance to do so? For many people, believe it or not, it’s owning and running a farm. Yes, as strange as it may sound, this idea is something that many people wish to do. Some people even go on a special vacation doing just that: to work on a farm. Well, rather than spending a ton of money to buy a lot, cattle, seeds and all those expensive equipment, or going on one of those farming vacations, you can get the next best thing without even leaving your seat or getting your hands dirty. How so, you ask? Well, there’s a very popular game named FarmVille from a company called Zynga that’s available as an online game app on Facebook and there’s also an iPhone version as well.

FarmVille, as the name gives away, is a game that is based on a farm. Your objective of the game is to run a farm, make money and accomplish goals to expand your farm and make it more profitable and upgrade equipment and buy items that will help decorate your farm or aid in your quest for the most successful and profitable farm yet. Do you have what it takes to be a successful farmer?

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FarmVille is a popular online game available on Facebook and also on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad for those who want to always be able to play the game, even when they’re not at their computer. The game is ongoing and your objective is to run a successful farm and business and progress through levels, achieve special goals to get more money, experience (XP) and other bonuses which will allow you to buy more and better equipment, decorations, seeds, animals, buildings and others.

Unlike many other games in which you may encounter Game Over, with FarmVille, you won’t ever encounter that, unless you decide to quit the game and not play it anymore. The whole idea of the game is get better at it, and expand your farm and do a lot of different things, travel to your English countryside and help your friends with their goals or allow them to help you with yours. The game is almost never ending as the levels go beyond 100. There will be newer items, newer goals, and always something else that will keep you playing for a long time.

If you have already played FarmVille on Facebook, you simply need to log into your Facebook account to play FarmVille on your iPhone. If you haven’t set up an account, you can simply create one right from within the app.

You first start off by creating a farm plot, then plowing it, and next planting some seeds. When the crop is fully grown, you can harvest it and start all over again. Each crop harvested gives you coins, which can allow you to buy more seeds or equipment or other items. As well, you will also receive XP, which is short for “experience”. Each level of the game requires a certain level of XP to be attained before you will progress to the next level. From time to time, there will be items that you will receive in which you are expected to finish building or achieving a specific goal. Bonuses will be received once those goals are successfully completed. In addition, there are special goals called “co-op farming” which require the help of your friends, or more specifically called, your “neighbors”. Again, special bonuses will be received upon successful completion of those goals. Sometimes, you will also receive a special FarmVille cash, which can also be used to buy items from the Marketplace (store).

Some items from the Marketplace may be locked and require a specific action or level to unlock, while others may be purchased by a certain amount of coins, while others require FarmVille cash. Should you not have enough coins or cash you can purchase them directly from within the app. The purchase will go through your iTunes app store account and the amount of purchase will be charged or deducted from your iTunes account balance. This can be either considered a very handy feature or also considered a dangerous one in which you can easily spend a lot of money on virtual items for the game.

More details of FarmVille for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad (taken from Apple iTunes store)

Plow, plant and harvest on the go 24/7! FarmVille, the most popular game on the web, is now available on your iPhone and iPad. Current FarmVille players can access their existing Facebook farm, and new users can create a farm.

- Connect to your FarmVille farm on the web!
- Choose from a variety of seeds to grow beautiful fruits and vegetables!
- Earn coins and XP to decorate your farm or expand your acreage.
- Work faster with vehicles like tractors and seeders, and rear livestock including cows, sheep, and pigs.
- Exclusive iPad/iPhone/iPod items available!
- The more you help your neighbors, the faster you’ll level up.
- Support for multitasking (for iOS4 users only)
- Login to multiple FarmVille accounts using the Logout feature in the Options page
- Work on Co-op farming jobs
- Crop Mastery, Collectible and Bushel Notifications!
- Use your Biplane and Super Combine!

Thanks to all our faithful FarmVille fans for playing and being patient! We hear your feedback and have already put in multiple fixes to speed up loading and gameplay. We’re very much listening to your feedback, so please keep helping us to improve the game by posting on our Mobile FarmVille forums at http://forums.zynga.com.

Zynga Inc. is the world’s largest social game developer with more than 295 million monthly active users playing their games which include FarmVille, FrontierVille, Mafia Wars, Zynga Poker, Café World, Treasure Isle and CityVille.

A Facebook account is required to play FarmVille. Creating a Facebook account is free and you can play along on Facebook at: http://apps.facebook.com/onthefarm

Use of this application is governed by the Zynga Terms of Service. Collection and use of personal data are subject to Zynga’s Privacy Policy. Both policies are available in the Application License Agreement below as well as at www.zynga.com. Social Networking Service terms may also apply.

What’s New in Version 2.01

FarmVille has been updated with crash and bug fixes.

Thank you for your support and feedback. Keep on farming!

Slideshow of FarmVille for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Video of FarmVille for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Video review of FarmVille for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Here are my observations:

I Liked:

Simple, easy to play

The game, much like most games for the iOS, is quite simple to play. Simply tap on the item, button, etc to “do” something. Tap on a plot of land to either plow it, or plant seeds or even harvest a fully grown crop or plant. It’s simply tap and play.

FAQ and tutorial pages to explain how to play the game

There is a FAQ page and a tutorial of screens that explain the game and shows how to play the game. This is a very welcomed feature that I believe makes the game so much more enjoyable as anyone who has never played the game before can easily figure it out and start playing.

Syncs with the Facebook game in real time

One nice feature of the iPhone version is that it synchronizes with the Facebook game in real time so you are viewing and playing the game without any delay. That means whatever you do in the game will immediately be reflected online in the Facebook game. However, if you have both the Facebook game AND the iPhone version open at the same time, you will encounter synchronization error messages as both versions are competing with each other in terms of dictating what’s been done.

Most tasks from Facebook game supported in this game

This iPhone version of the game supports many of the tasks that are available on the Facebook version. You can plow, plant, harvest your crops, buy items from the Marketplace, visit your English countryside farm, visit your neighbors and much more. This game is very much a good companion to the Facebook game as you can do most of the tasks that’s available on Facebook.

Facebook integration

As mentioned in a previous point, the game supports Facebook integration as you are logging directly into Facebook from within the game. You can invite your Facebook friends to the game or invite them via email.

Notification support

One nice feature is the notification support. If you set the game to notify you when a crop or plant is ready for harvest, the game will provide a pop up window to indicate when it is ready for harvest. This allows the gamer to be able to harvest the crop as soon as possible and avoid allowing the crop to wither, thus wasting coins, effort and time.

Can easily purchase FarmVille cash, coins, etc in game

For those who are addicted to the game, you can easily purchase FarmVille cash, coins and other virtual items directly in the game. As mentioned, however, this may be a bad, expensive, addictive habit that may be a problematic issue.

Game Center support

The game supports Game Center so you can easily view how your stats on Game Center.

FREE

Need I say more?

I Didn’t Like:

No volume slider

Again, this game does not support a volume slide and only allows toggling between enabling sounds and music. As many who know me, I tend to prefer a volume slider control.

No Twitter integration

Although the game is mainly supported on Facebook, I am surprised that there is no Twitter support from within the app, something a lot of game developers offer in their games.

Only supports landscape mode

Again this is a personal preference. I can understand the reasoning for only rendering the game in landscape mode, I would like the game to support portrait mode as well.

No FarmVille gift card redemption support

Especially nowadays when most retail stores sell many Gift cards for stores and games, I am a bit surprised that there is no Gift card redemption support. So if you buy a FarmVille gift card, you can’ redeem it in the app and must do it via Facebook.

Can’t view password field when logging into Facebook

When I was originally logging into my Facebook account, one big annoyance is that when I’m entering my password, the screen does not move the password field up so I am guessing about the accuracy of my input since I can’t see what I’ve typed in the password field.

Background music playback not supported

Unfortunately, the game does not support background music playback. Thumbs down.

Requires internet access

As the game is an online web based game which synchronizes between the Facebook account and the iPhone, it requires internet access. If your iPhone does not have internet access for whatever reason, you won’t be able to play the game. There is no offline support.

Needs more Zynga iPhone games available

As much as FarmVille is one of Zynga’s popular games, I am somewhat disappointed that other just as popular games like Cafe World, Cityville aren’t yet available as an iPhone game similar to FarmVille on the iPhone. I’m totally addicted to those other games and would LOVE to have an iPhone game to stay up to date on those games. Why there isn’t any is beyond me.

Review Summary

FarmVille is a great replacement for the online Facebook game, allowing those who may be out and not near their computer to be able to still play their FarmVille game wherever they have internet access. You can buy all sorts of items directly inside the game as well as play and do most of the tasks found on the Facebook game on the iPhone version and all actions are automatically synchronized with the Facebook game. As the game is free to play, why not try your hand at farming? At least you won’t get your hands dirty.

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