by Rosemary Charlton

Created on: January 03, 2010

FarmVille is one of numerous interactive virtual farm games found on facebook. A definite time waster like all the other similar games, it provides mindless entertainment and is a fun way to spend a few minutes during a coffee break. Beware that a few minutes can easily lead to a few hours as it is very addictive.

A virtual farm where you can grow your crops and animals. FarmVille is superior to other similar games in that the graphics are beautiful and larger than rival games, from choosing your own avatar to designing your farm. The crops look sumptuous and the player gets a real sense of pride and achievement at the beautiful crops they have grown, especially when fertilized by neighbours. The animals are adorable and if you have time, you can even pet them. Watch them stamp their hooves or webbed feet in delight when you click "pet". They kick up clouds of dust and grateful hearts float in the air.

Harvesting is not limited to crops and trees, animals can also be harvested. One does not need to be concerned about killing a pig, you harvest truffles and the duck does not become dinner, instead you harvest the feathers. This makes it an ideal family game which even small children will delight in. Don’t have a lot of time to sit and watch crops grow? No problem. Trees and animals do not go to waste if not harvested on time, however if you are serious about this game then it is essential to grow crops to advance to higher levels more quickly.

Crops take a variable amount of time to grow from a few hours to several days, allowing the player to decide how soon they wish to return. The more crops you harvest, the more experience points you earn and the higher the level you achieve. In the beginning advancing levels is quick and easy, but as you become a hardened and addicted farmer, so the levels take longer to reach. While waiting for crops to grow, creative players will spend hours designing and arranging their farms. A player can visit neighbours farms and fertilize crops and compare other people’s ideas and creativity.

The biggest drawback are the constant prompts to publish your success to facebook. It is distracting and annoying but no way limited to Farmville. It happens in all the games on Facebook. The icons telling you of new gifts and products sometimes invade your farm space and should be placed on the toolbar with the other icons.

FarmVille is a wonderful application from Zynga Games and is a great stress buster when you want to relax and escape the real world. It is the most popular of all the farm games available with good reason.

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