Farm Up

It might not look like it, but the world of idle-clicking games can be rather brutally competitive. When most games look so similar, you've got to do something to stand out from the competition, and that's a lesson that Farm Up more or less captures with its gameplay.

The game follows some of the basic premises of other titles in the genre: grow a plot of land into a massive agricultural empire by buying and selling crops. It sounds basic – and that's mostly because it is – but the truth is that Farm Up is a highly addictive little game that will have you coming back for more with its charming graphics and laidback gameplay.

Pro Farming

As I've mentioned before, your goal in Farm Up is to make the most out of your dilapidated piece of land. Sure, the harvest is not as good as it might be, but it will be up to you to upgrade your farm with everything it needs to ensure success.

If you've ever played a game like FarmVille, then you know more or less what Farm Up is all about. This is one of those games that, unfortunately, forces you to wait in real time for your energy to refill, with every action you make costing a set amount of energy.

This can make the game rather tedious, as most of the time you'll just be waiting for your harvest to end. In the end, however, that mechanic has become an integral part of games like this, for better or for worse.

Agricultural Economics

Like many other mobile games, the monetization scheme of Farm Up involves two types of currency: Gold and Silver coins. I have to say, even for a freemium game, it seems fairly easy to get Gold coins in this game, and that's great news: you'll need them to complete some tasks in a bearable time frame.

You get Gold coins each time you level up; they're the game's most precious currency, and they're reserved for valuable upgrades and speeding up some in-game actions. As for the Silver coins, those are much easier to find – all you have to do is sell your crops and complete quests to get them.

It all makes the game feel much more balanced than other games in the genre – some of them even feel like borderline scams from time to time.

Adorable Farms

One area where this game certainly excels is its cartoony visuals. Presented in an isometric view – very similar to Mafia Wars – every building and unit is full of detail and warm colors.

This is one of those games that simply exudes a feel-good vibe. The hand-drawn sprites all have a lot of attention to detail to them, making the game feel like the Harvest Moon we never got.

Some of the menus and UI elements, on the other hand, can feel a bit obtrusive at times. Fortunately, though, much of the game is simple enough that players can just ignore most of the notifications and annoyances, and just lose themselves in the colorful bliss of their farms.

Pros

• Fair monetization scheme
• Adorable visuals with lots of details
• Basic gameplay that everyone can enjoy

Cons

• Lots and lots of waiting around for something to happen
• Gold coins can get a little difficult to get as the game progresses