Two adults, one child, a horse, two chickens and two sheep are staring at me from the box of Family Farm. “Farmville”, I thought to myself and went on to install the game wondering why anyone would want to put that on a DVD. I had the topic right – the game is about managing a farm – but any comparison between Farmville and Family Farm ends there. And no, it’s not Sim Farm either.
Family Farm is a casual title from HammerWare and Iceberg Interactive that puts the player in control of a 19th century farm when farming was still done by hand. You’ll be sowing and harvesting crops, breeding livestock, extending your house and – very importantly - expanding your family.
To look at Family Farm in its screenshots and trailers, many gamers could easily dismiss the game as some sort of family gaming novelty: providing plenty of colourful entertainment but lacking in depth. A hasty judgement if ever there was one, as Family Farm, much like Wildlife Park 3 before it, is deceptive in its demands on the player, eventually building to a complicated and absorbing Management Strategy game.
The Electronic Farmyard write:
'Following the success of those little Facebook games such as Farmville, Frontierville and the endless ‘energy’ based apps, it was only a matter of time before the more in-depth versions began sneaking onto the PC platform. Family Farm is one such game, and its influences are clear to all from the first level.'
“This game’s purpose is to be a simple, throw away, farming simulator walking in the footsteps of Farmville.”
