Farming Simulator 2013 – Review
Farming Simulator 2013 became one of the most surprising best-selling titles for pc. After this success the game was released for several more platforms. Besides iOS, Android and PS Vita versions we now have a PS3 version. So let’s talk farming!
Story
The game features no story at all. There are no goals either though there is an achievement system in place, sadly with only limited challenges like earning this amount of money or harvesting that many acres. What you get after a set of tutorials is a choice between only 2 maps. After that it’s up to you to decide how you want to spend your time in the sandbox that is Farming Simulator. Occasionally missions will pop up but essentially there are only 2 varieties so they get repetitive very fast.
Graphics
All equipment (and there’s a lot of it) looks detailed and is animated. Unfortunately the terrain is not of that same quality. Buildings look unfinished and the game is plagued by texture pop-ins. The quality of graphics lags behind other recently released games on the PlayStation 3. Of course there is some tough competition but the pc version feels a lot more detailed. The field of view is so small that with almost all your fields, you won’t even be able to see edge to edge. After about 30 feet the terrain will get blurry. You’ll soon learn not to look in the distance here because there’s simply not a lot to look at.
Sound
Every tractor has its own unique and authentic sound. Same goes for equipment, when you lower your cultivator for example that’ll happen with an appropriate sound. When buying chickens, you’ll hear them across your farm. The same for other animals you can purchase. The problem is when working your fields, you’ll quickly find yourself turning down the sound level below normal because the engine sound will become deafening. That is certainly the case when using the cruise control option because your engine will stay around the same rpm thus the sound will remain constant and that gets really annoying when spending some time in the game.
Gameplay
It is surprising how well you can handle the controls using the controller. This is probably the best thing about the console version of Farming Simulator 2013. Riding around the various machines in the game feels fun at first. Mainly because the controls are all well placed and thought through. Don’t get me wrong, it will take some time to get used to but once you get the hang of them they feel natural enough. However you’ll soon find yourself hiring npc’s (non-playable-characters) to complete tasks for you. You’ll still have to do a couple of tasks yourself though, like emptying the harvester or bringing your goods to the market.
Depending on the map, you start off with one or a few fields but as soon as you can, you’re going to want to get some more fields. It’s all about maximizing you’re potential income so you can buy some extra’s and/or better machines. After seeding your field, you can speed up time so you don’t have to wait for too long to start the harvest. When owning multiple fields however, it’ll get hectic. Because you have to do a part of the tasks yourself, you’ll be short a pair of hands. Also the npc’s you can hire aren’t too bright. If they get stuck against a tree, they won’t be able to get back on track themselves and they might forget to work a part of your field. If you wait too long to harvest your fully grown crops, they’ll wither and be lost.
Certain elements add to the immersion such as the need to buy fuel or fill up the seeders before they can be used. Though other elements deduct from the experience, i.e. AI cars riding around act in no way realistic. The biggest problem this PS3 version has is the lack of mods. Currently there’s no way to allow such a thing on the PlayStation platform but that was one of the best elements of the PC version. Tons of maps were created by players as well as tractors, machines, AI-enhancements, extra animals and so much more. There isn’t any DLC available either. Sadly you’ll soon have the feeling you’ve played this game for all it’s worth and won’t come back to it.
Conclusion
The PS3-version of Farming Simulator 2013 is a port and sadly not a good one. If you want to delve into the world of farming, you should do so on PC or on a real field. The enormous mod community and extra features that mods bring is too important for this game to ignore.
Farming Simulator 2013 - Review,
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