Farm hard or go home.
I’ve never really dived into the previous Farming Simulator games, and this is my first plough through the series. If you ever had the need for speed, Farming Simulator 15 might not be a game that would interest you. Granted, if you ever had the need to farm and farm hard, look no further. Farming Simulator 15 is here and is the first version to drop on current gen consoles. Drop your suspenders, sit in your laziest comforter, and grab the controller because you got some work to do.
Farming isn’t easy in real life, and getting started in Simulator 15 isn’t either. While there is a tutorial that covers some very basics, once players have finished that, they are free to do as they see fit for their farm. Life is hard and there are two maps to play on, starting off with little to no money depending on what difficulty picked. For new players this can be very intimidating, and if folks don’t take the time to play around on their own, exploring the farm and how the eco system works, they can come away frustrated.
MSRP: $49.99
Price I’d Pay: $40.00
Multiplayer: 1-4
How long to beat: 20 hours
The first few hours were spent just getting accustomed to the map. There are a ton of icons showing what buildings house which equipment or farming needs. Players will be plowing dirt, planting seed, watching it grow, harvesting, dumping it for distribution, rinsing and repeating. Eventually they obtain some farm animals, and even the ability to cut down trees and harvest wood. There is something so satisfying about cutting down trees with a hand saw, and later being able to get huge equipment to do the work.
The systems at play here all work under time and money. Starting the farm, building up resources and buying newer and better equipment. If players don’t want to accomplish harvesting manually, as cathartic as it can be, they can also pay to hire folks to do the work. As an established up and coming farmer, it would seem this is the way towards future grow, but it’s really all up to players to decide how to run their farm, regardless if it’s efficient or not.
While graphically the game isn’t a looker, it does well enough to give players the sense of the open farm land and view distance. Controls for vehicles can be a bit spotty, but otherwise serviceable. That being said they can also be a bit cumbersome as with some farming tools, players need to hit multiple buttons to do multiple actions, but it appears this is probably the best solution the developers could incorporate. Everything here works as intended, but the tutorial and the way mechanics of gameplay work can be over bearing to new folks to the franchise and it probably the biggest hurdle the game has to offer.
While there are a few missions to partake in via mission points on the map, the game really had no ultimate goal other than to grow your farm, and prosper. While it might seem a bit disappointing there isn’t anything else to the game, I’ll admit it’s a relaxing experience in a lot of ways. There is no end of the world, no plague, no bad guy. It’s simply you and the farm, making it your own experience as you will. I can’t compare the game to previous entries, but I can say this, if you want “THE” farming experience, Simulator 15 offers the best you’ll get on current gen consoles, and it’s no surprise they are onto this many iterations of the series at this point. Farming Simulator is king at what it does, so go farm to your heart’s content. There is even multiplayer farming with your friends! Win, win!
Review copy of game provided by publisher.