Facebook Game: Farmville Review

in Facebook MISC by Daniel Offer 2010-05-07
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It’s a universal truth that people at work get bored. The corporate environment can be on occasion be both emotionally draining and sometimes traumatic, and so it is perhaps no surprise that legions of white-collar workers are turning to Zynga’s Facebook game Farmville in order to provide some well-deserved light entertainment.

The sheer numbers of consumers across the demographic scale that use Farmville stands as a testament to the fact that Farmville is a wonderfully enjoyable and well-engineered game, which is highly likely to provide hours of enjoyment.

Farmville is exactly what it sounds like – a charming online flash game in which you create a little cartoon ‘sprite’ and waddle around a farm planting seeds, raising cows, ploughing fields and selling your wares to the locals. It may sound prosaic, but there is something incredibly addictive about the game play of Farmville, mainly because it encourages progression. A strong motivation is instilled in the player to expand and improve his farm as much as he or she possibly can – after all, the virtual animals deserve it.

The source of most of Farmville’s success is the game’s endearing and cute nature.

Farmville essentially distils all the quirky and loveable aspects of farming, such as smiling animals and giant profits, and conveniently omits the mud, hard graft, freezing cold weather, ghastly clothes and isolated lifestyle. For those city workers dreaming of an escape to the country, Farmville is something of a lifesaver, providing all the comforts of a rural dream-world without its dingy, overpriced and generally unpleasant reality. It’s for this reason that, regardless of one’s occupation, Farmville is still worth your spare time. Just be warned- it’s extremely addictive. In fact, Farmville could be liable to swallow up most of your spare time in one fell swoop. This is the only true flaw of the game, although its supporters would of course argue that this is not a flaw at all, but is actually Farmville’s greatest merit.

However, a potential addiction is unlikely to ruin your enjoyment of this Facebook game. In fact, it’s quite the opposite with Farmville, as you can bask in agricultural pleasures and browse on Facebook simultaneously, as the two programmes are linked to each other. This, unlike many computer games, makes playing Farmville very much a social experience, and for this reason the game towers above many of its contemporaries in the same genre.

Cynics have argued that Farmville is, at its core, nothing more than a cheap adaption of the Japanese video game ‘Harvest Moon,’ which had a similar premise, but this is simply not true. By contrast, Farmville provides an experience that its competitors in the Facebook game market can only hope to emulate. The lush, colourful environments, as well as the social aspect of being able to integrate with other Facebook user’s farms, makes it in many ways a significant step forward for the social networking site.

To conclude, Farmville is an incredibly innovative flash game that pleases on nearly all fronts. Not only does the game have a pretty and charming interface, filled with rich landscapes and loveable characters, but the game itself is highly addictive and hugely enjoyable to play. It’s unsurprising therefore that every day users log on to Facebook not to chat with their friends, but to play on Farmville instead. Sadly, it is unlikely that Facebook will ever have the privilege of hosting a flash game that equals Farmville in quality: It’s quick, cute, charming and it lasts forever. That level of achievement across all areas is something that no other developer will be able to challenge for a very long time. It’s therefore undeniable that Farmville can enrich your enjoyment of Facebook, and perhaps even your entire life.