City Slickers Get Out of Town

I'll admit it. I've never worked on a farm. I've never spent more than a few minutes on a farm. Heck, my only experience with barnyard animals would have been at the local petting zoo. And I have a feeling that I'm not alone in this situation, but I still found Farm Frenzy 2 to be strangely appealing. The setting may be that of a working farm, but somehow I felt right at home almost right away.

Yes, this title was able to banish the city slicker in me, getting me to roll up my sleeves and get dirty in the occupation of running the family farm. At its core, this title functions in a similar manner as other business-management games, but you don't have customers coming in with specific orders. Instead, you've got chickens laying eggs and trucks shipping the goods to the market.

That's not to say that there is a complete lack of pressure! Quite the contrary! Be prepared to stay on your toes as you tend to your animals and reap the benefits.

The Life and Business Cycle

With each of the individual stages, you will be faced with a specific set of goals in mind. This might be to raise a certain amount of money or to sell a certain number of powdered eggs. Although these goals may vary, the core gameplay remains very similar.

By and large, the focus on your farm, at least initially, is your collection of chickens. By clicking somewhere on the field, you will plant some grass. This is fueled by the well near the top of the screen, so you'll want to make sure that you have enough water. When you run out of water, you'll need to spend money to refill the well. The grass that is planted is then eaten by the chickens. If there is no grass, the chickens complain and then die.

After eating enough grass, the chickens lay eggs. You can collect these eggs by clicking on them. From there, the eggs can either be processed by one of the machines to create a new product, like powdered egg. The powdered egg can then be further processed by the bakery to produce a baked good. These products can then be shipped off to the city, via truck, so that they can be sold and you can earn a profit!

The colorful graphics and brilliant animations will surely put a smile on your face!

Darn Those Angry Bears

You didn't think it was that easy, did you? Aside from managing your inventory, keeping an eye on your funds, and tending to your flock (which extends to four different kinds of animals), there is also the risk of predation. Bears can suddenly storm their way onto your farm and terrorize your livestock. This is clearly a bad situation.

Fear not, because you can place these bears in cages by quickly clicking on them. Better still, you can even choose to sell these bears in the marketplace by placing them on the truck. Just be aware that bears take up a lot of room and your city-bound trucks have very limited capacity.