Over the past year and a half, I gradually have become involved with a few games created for mobile devices, although I do not have anything that resembles a 'smartphone'. It may surprise some individuals to discover that many of the games created for mobile devices can be played on a computer or laptop through the use of a platform such as the Web Unity Player. Among these are Country Life Harvest Day and Zynga's Castleville Legends.
The first game for mobile devices that I played and which, I may add, I continue to play almost religiously to this day, was Family Farm Seaside. Unfortunately, FunPlus, the makers of Seaside, have not embraced the Web Unity Player option. Perhaps they will do so at some point as it is a very useful app that widens the audience for their games considerably. Although an enormous number of people have smartphones or tablets of some sort, not all do.
So far, the games I have sampled for mobile apps include Family Farm Seaside, Paradise Cove, Country Life Harvest Day, Fariy Farm, Castleville Legends and the new Farmville 2 Country Escape.
Of all the above, it is only Family Farm Seaside that has engaged me on a daily basis and held my interest for over a year. Of the rest, Castleville Legends and Farmville 2 Country Escape undoubtedly have the best graphics and simplest interface. My problem with both games is their repetitive and yet frantic nature. Basically, one must tap on a multitude of plots, animals and buildings CONSTANTLY in order to survive, with never enough storage space, requiring constant sales to be made. I do not enjoy the frantic pace of the games. Furthermore, at the end of the virtual day, one accomplishes less than one does in Seaside where one can plant Crops, harvest Trees, tend to Animals, use Machines, make dishes in the Kitchen and craft beautiful items and yet walk away for a rest... returning to find that work has been done nonetheless.
Family Farm Seaside actually has the best graphics of all. It is a rich, interactive landscape with creative Quests and new options always to keep the player interested. Daily rewards are given, similar to the original Family Farm. In all honesty, Seaside trumps the two Zynga games as effectively as the original Family Farm bests Farmville and Farmville 2 on Facebook.
The little Thai game, Country Life Harvest Day is a mirror of the Harvest Moon series but it moves too slowly. One must navigate the map, with endless need to move the farmer from plot to plot, in and out of different screens or to cast a rod or use another tool. Although I love Harvest Moon, I found the Thai duplicate a little tiresome, alas. So much so that I no longer am playing it, despite the fact that daily log ins brought premium cash rewards.
I will carry on with Farmville 2 Country Escape a little longer to see if I can tolerate it better than Castleville Legends. I believe ultimately I will face the same problem, however, which is that, as one advances to higher levels, the game becomes more frantic if anything. One must produce huge quantities of items quickly in order to keep pace with quests and rewards. In Castleville Legendas, there was a special Easter Dragon quest that i enjoyed at the start but, as I continued to work on it, I became increasingly frustrated. One had to hatch eggs to attempt to collect one of every type of Rabbit. I was able to collect the first few, but the 'rarest' rabbits eluded me. In the end, it was not worth the effort to continue to hatch eggs that produced no rabbits at all. This is in stark constrast to Family Farm Seaside where Rewards ALWAYS are possible. One simply must complete the Quest or Quests and sufficient time to do so always is given to players.
