Farming sim likely to dissuade you from

your childhood dreams of 3rd world agriculture

Play 3rd World Farmer at 3rdworldfarmer.com.

Farming of any kind is a gamble; no matter how hard you work the land, no matter how well you treat your crops, the weather is temperamental at best. Sudden heavy rains can drown your crops, high winds can blow them away, too much or too little sun can shrivel them to nothing; the list goes on and on.

In 3rd World Farmer, the weather is only the beginning of your troubles; war, guerilla raids and poachers are just a few of the serious threats heaped on top of the farmer’s already heavy burden. Immersing you in this plague filled world like no other medium can, 3rd World Farmer will make every joint in your body ache and pull all your emotional strings to their limit.

With no time limit, your goal is to keep your family healthy and prosperous, either through growing crops or raising livestock. Prices for buying seeds and selling crops fluctuate yearly and are completely out of your control. All you can do is plant and pray. While crops must be planted anew every year, livestock do not have to be resupplied every turn. Barns and shed must be bought however if you're going to store them and give them a place to sleep, making them a worthwhile, albeit, expensive investment.

With crops of this magnitude, it's hard to imagine why this family couldn't afford a larger hut in a nicer part of town.

To help increase your profits, tools may also be purchased which will aid in the harvesting of crops or the survival of your livestock. These range from shovels and scythes to plows and tractors, sheds and barns. Individually each upgrade gives only a small boost but the effects of upgrades compound on top of each other so the more you have, the better the effects. If you're skilled enough, or lucky enough, you can start running your own pseudo plantation. The real challenge is even making it to that point. Crops bring in very little profit; you'll literally be working for peanuts as you harvest peanuts to make a living. Upgrades can help but farmers are always at the mercy of the markets and their roller-coaster price trends.

This is, of course, under the best of conditions.

Major events take place yearly. A harbinger of death, these events are rarely pleasant. Refugees can run through, raiding you of your livestock; bandits can steal all your money; civil war can break out, reducing the prices you'll get for both crops and livestock, etc. This is in addition to the erratic weather patterns, droughts, crop and livestock diseases, and failing markets that all tighten the already suffocating grip around your fragile fate. With each step up the mountain you make, it seems the game enjoys pushing you back down, laughing as you tumble down the cliff face.

As if all this wasn't enough of a challenge, 3rd World Farmer takes it even one step further; your families health. With each passing year, the well being of each family member slowly deteriorates, bringing them closer to death and decreasing their overall output, which has a negative effect on your total income. Ensuring their well being is key to your long term survival but medicine doesn't come cheap, making for an extremely precarious balancing act.

When you're flat broke, the game will extend its only helping hand and give you an opportunity to make some quick cash. Some are as simple as performing for tourists while another is growing opium for a local "merchant." This is a clever angle for working a social issue into gameplay; money in your pocket means your family can eat and get medical treatment.

One can hardly fathom the hardships of farming underneath a horrendously oversized sun; not to mention the dangers of raising a free-range herd of elephants.

Technological upgrades are also available which come at a literally high price but can be completely worth it once, if you can purchase them. Constructing a local clinic will reduce the cost of medicine dramatically, making it far easier to care for the needs of your family. Supporting a political representative protects you against the occasional raid and allows you to buy crop insurance which protects you if your harvest is wiped out by drought or disease. They're like chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow though; you know that once you get there, the rewards will be worth it but the problem is finding that ever elusive finish line. Better start digging for that four leaf clover.

Artistically the game is lacking.  The bland, plain buildings do make sense for a 3rd world country but a little variation between them couldn't hurt. Your family doesn't look like a tribal people so much as cave dwellers.  With the time put into the gameplay I'm a little disappointed with the quality of the art.  It works but leaves much to be desired.

3rd World Farmer is a tough game that stacks the odds against you. "Winning" isn't the point; it's to get the player to experience the hardships and plights that people go through on a daily basis first hand. The devastating yearly events turn what should be a simple walk in the park into a hellish nightmare. Though it may not use specific examples, the immersive gameplay works wonders for representing the horrendous situations these people must face. You'll be frustrated and angry at the game after it throws plagues and raids at you, one after another. It only takes a small step of the imagination to place yourself in their shoes. Art aside, when it comes to spreading a message, 3rd World Farmer has certainly done a good job.

Worthy of play by casual and hardcore gamers and a great supplement for any classroom, 3rd World Farmer is another great serious game.

Review by Smith

score
  out of 5

Art: Little variation between buildings or people. Farmers resemble cavemen rather than tribal peoples of today.

overall
3.8

Gameplay: Simple game to pick up and learn. Difficult to “win”, even under the best of conditions. Yearly events can hit you below the belt.

Design: Strong sense of empathy comes after playing the game. Incredibly tough gameplay represents harsh living conditions. Very broad generalization of 3rd world conditions.