2023-08-15 16:50:33
A farmer and his land.
Developed by Nerd Games and published in synergy with Eastasiasoft, it is a small farming management game divided into timed challenges. Basically, it’s regarding completing a series of requirements from level to level. Agriculture has no plot. Nothing at all. Not even a prologue, an introductory video, a few lines to simulate a semblance of scenery. Nothing. On the other hand, the title does not intend to tell a story or justify our activity. What you need to know is visible on the screen: we are a farmer with his own land (divided into two beds) and a series of tasks to complete before the time runs out. That’s all there is to know. After finding that Agriculture is devoid of any narrative or lore whatsoever, it’s good to grab your hoe, watering can, and seeds and begin our journey through the pixelated fields. Agriculture bills itself as a farm management game but actually has a puzzle game structure (similar to titles like Slap the Rock). The entire game is broken down into 50 challenges, all on the same field, in turn locked into a single fixed screen. There is nothing else, no exploration or interaction with NPCs of any kind, other than two stalls. But let’s proceed in order. In Agriculture, we have the direct control of a farmer, the only individual who moves on the screen. On the top right we have our goal, which basically consists of the number of vegetables and fruits we have to grow and sell before the time runs out (the timer of which is still visible on the screen). Each level has its own objectives and a certain time to do everything.
To cultivate what you want, the order of action is as follows: buy the necessary seeds (using the economic resources, i.e. coins, provided at the beginning of the level), hoe the ground (divided into two clods, themselves divided into a series of squares), scattering the seeds (an activity that can be carried out with the corresponding command which, in addition to sowing, also carries out the harvest of the fruit/vegetable). Each square requires a single action to prepare with the hoe), scatter the seeds (an activity that can be performed with the corresponding command which, in addition to sowing, also performs the harvest of the fruit/vegetable), waiting for the plant to grow, water the plant before it dries out, wait for the fruit/vegetable to grow, harvest the fruit/vegetable and sell it. The whole game boils down to these simple actions. Agriculture is all that. There is nothing else. The level of difficulty increases, of course, and there are several complications that we are going to address, but we are talking regarding a title that, following already three levels, becomes extremely repetitive, lacks bite and is boring. But back to the difficulties. The challenge in Agriculture is mainly due to time, the only real enemy. In the given time, you have to decide how to invest the money, how quickly and how much to plant the seeds (because the plants must be watered immediately, otherwise they will die and you will waste seeds and money).
A race once morest time.
For information: each plant has its own growth times (we are talking regarding seconds anyway) and death times (trivially: a watermelon is significantly slower than a carrot). Also, watering plants is not as easy as it looks. The watering can runs out and you will have to recharge it by going to the well (also still visible on the screen). So, to sum up: you will need to have the watering can full, the clods prepared and decide how quickly and in what order to plant, water and harvest in order to then sell and earn on time. As for the variety of fruits and vegetables, there too, despite several pages available, Agriculture does the bare minimum and it is not enough to put watermelons that take longer to grow or a few additional novelties in the middle of the game to make a title intended to weary following regarding ten minutes, being terribly thin and anonymous. Graphically speaking, Agriculture is flat, anonymous and with very few elements. There’s practically only one screen and limited, mundane animations. Even the sound doesn’t add much, with poor and predictable effects as well as repetitive and, once more, monotonous. Finally, the absence of French subtitles is worth mentioning (the game is in English and without any type of dubbing, of course) but, as expected, the amount of text on the screen is almost zero.
VERDICT
Agriculture is a farm management game with a level structure reminiscent of a puzzle game. Locked in a cyclical, repetitive, anonymous and flat structure, and lacking bite, the title struggles to stand out. The basic idea is also cute, but it might have worked for a mini-game, not for a title that bets everything on a single activity without noticeable variations.
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