The latest Farming Simulator has got a brand new combine harvester. But does it have the key to reach beyond its niche audience?
Over the years Farming Simulator has attracted a surprisingly large and varied fanbase. Whether its young children, curious non-gamers, or die-hards looking for that genuine simulation experience it can have an entrancing effect on them that others simply cant wrap their head around.
Rudimentary graphics and a focus on monotonous busywork have led many to poke fun at the franchise yet here it is, 10 years after its debut, still going strong. Farming Simulator now has its own Farmcon annual gathering in Germany (shocker) and has even taken its first steps into the world of eSports with Championship, a competitive mod in which teams go head to head. Ludicrous, you may think, but the appetite for the games has only intensified over the years, Farming Simulator spearheading a genre that has no shortage of imitators including the creatively named Real Farm, Pure Farming, and Farm Expert.
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Although technically an annual franchise Farming Simulator follows a strange release pattern, with a console and PC version one year and then a handheld port the next. Its slightly confusing but basically means that odd-numbered instalments are where developer Giants Software pushes the series forward by adding new features.
But exactly what those new features are would be hard to pick out if they werent printed on the back of the box (or download screen). They amount to your usual raft of minor tweaks and refinements, with an improvement to the games visuals and something hardcore fans have presumably been waiting for all these years… horse riding!
It wont mean much to those who arent agriculture maniacs but this latest instalment features the most extensive roster of official vehicles and tools in the series. Where racing sims vie for high-end Porsches and Ferraris, Farming Simulator 19 has managed to land fabled brands such as Massey Ferguson and John Deere. So if the thought of towing an officially licensed trailer somehow arouses you, then Farming Simulator 19 is pure filth.
Whichever vehicles you set your eyes on, youre going to see plenty of them. As always, much of the Farming Simulator experience revolves around driving up and down the same route, cultivating fields, sowing seeds, and waiting to harvest the crop ad infinitum. Youll occasionally need to refuel or switch vehicles/tools depending on the job at hand but theres no escaping the inherent repetition. Distractions, such as raising animals, adds some variety but the focus here is mainly on working in the fields, learning what to plant, where to sell it, and what land or equipment to invest in next.
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In Farming Simulator 19 there are three ways to kickstart your career, either starting from scratch, with a sizeable farm, or as a larger farm manager. There are further ways to tailor your simulation as well, such as modifying timescale and plant growth, with plenty more granular settings to tweak. As in previous instalments, workers can also be hired to automatically perform tasks (doing everything yourself manually is pure madness). Having those options there is great, allowing you to streamline specific parts of the game, but theres nothing to end this unappealing, never ending loop.
Farming Simulator 19 is way more interesting when opening your ranch to other players, hosting online sessions and working together with friends. It requires organisation but having six people farming in tandem revs up the otherwise sluggish pacing, whatever side antics you get up to serving as a welcome tonic to the soul-destroying loneliness of solo play. Those on PC can even go a step further, being able to host up to 15 other farmers for a hectic online hoedown. If only Giants had gone for the full 100, Fortnite and PUBG wouldve had some serious competition.
If the series were to pursue multiplayer even further, pushing towards something resembling more of an MMO, it could certainly breathe new life into the franchise. Speaking of multiplayer, its a shame this doesnt include any of the competitive Championship modes mentioned earlier. With the core sim experience seemingly entrenched, Giants should be looking to experiment around the edges of the core game, but alas they have not.
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A new graphics engine means that this is the best-looking Farming Simulator to date, which isnt really saying much. Its not exactly what youd call picturesque, rolling through the same cluster of fields with little in the way of variety bar a smattering of simple landmarks. At the same time these visuals are inoffensive (youll find some god-awful textures, but only if you go looking for them) and the work done to recreate the games stable of licensed vehicles is actually rather impressive.
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In terms of audio, theres not much to say. When theres a brief pause in whatever playlist, podcast, of audiobook youre surely listening to while you play, youll be treated to a constant soundscape of machinery and the occasional chorus of digitised farm animals. Theres an in-game radio too, but this should only be used if in dire need of some extra background noise.
The thought of trying any simulator is both scary and exciting, but theres a reason why these games attract such a particularly hardcore following. By design, theyre labour intensive and utterly monotonous but tick all the boxes when it comes to faithfully recreating day-to-day vocational life. Although Giants Software can be admired for its work on the franchise, and catering to fans, Farming Simulator 19 has almost no entertainment value whatsoever for gamers, no matter how open-minded you are.
Farming Simulator 19
In Short: Its incremental improvements will appease fans but it does little to entice new players, in what is still a very dry and demanding sim thats devoid of character.
Pros: Slightly better looking than past instalments, with more licensed farm machinery for fans to drool over. Online multiplayer has the potential to be fun with friends.
Cons: A slow, repetitive gameplay loop that requires hours of performing monotonous tasks with little payoff. Zero appeal to those outside the existing farm sim cult.
Score: 4/10
Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, and PC
Price: £39.99
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Developer: Giants Software
Release Date: 20th November 2018
Age Rating: 3
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By Jim Hargreaves
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