Home Review My review of Farming Simulator 17

My review of Farming Simulator 17

December 19, 2016

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Take on the role of a modern day farmer

Welcome to the farm! The latest installment of the surprisingly popular framing simulator is here, Farming Simulator 17 is available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Developed by Giants Software, Farming Simulator 17 has already sold over one million units worldwide since launch in late October. Get ready to put a hard day’s worth of work in on the farm as you take care of the farmland and animals—ensuring that everything runs smoothly.

Game Details

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Developer: Giants Software
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Genre: Simulation
Modes: Single-player, Multiplayer
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Profitability of your farm, a long-term job

When you first start Farming Simulator 17 you have the ability to choose where the game will take place, either in Goldcrest Valley or Sosnovka. Regardless of which you choose, you’ll be surrounded in a beautiful rural settings filled with birds singing and the soft peeping noises of chickens.

You start out with three parcels of land that is yours to build your farm and cultivate. You can also purchase neighbouring land as you earn more money to expand your farm. By properly managing the money that you earn, you can buy animals and hire employees to perform the daily tasks on your farm.

farm

Farming Simulator 17 requires you to carefully make decisions about your farm as you will have to ensure that you have the proper resources available. For example, buying cows for milk is a good investment. However, in order to ensure that you can their milk to make a profit you must feed the cows properly to ensure that they produce enough high quality milk.

Working on the neighbouring land pays off!

To take care of that land, you’ll need the right tractor for clearing, plowing, sowing, fertilizing, cutting and harvesting crops. You start with the basic tools and as you gradually grow your farm you earn money to expand it. I quickly realized that if I only take care of my farm, it can take quite a long time to earn any substantial amount of money.

When you sell your crops, you have to factor in many additional expenses. The grains for seeding, gas for the tractors and their maintenance, and the cost of hiring of employees can be expensive. Farming Simulator 17 gives you complete freedom to pretty much do whatever you want to, just like on a real farm. I found that if I help with my neighbour’s farm in addition to the duties on my farm, I could earn money a lot quicker. Depending on the scope of the task, you are paid accordingly. I like it because it allows me to use the different tractors available in timed challenges where the speed and execution gives you a bonus at the end. It also helping in showing you the different steps to cultivate land, which in turn I can use on my own farm.

working-neighbouring

After several hours, however, these tasks become rather repetitive. Farming Simulator 17 is a simulation game in the truest sense. Often days passed and resemble each other, and for the true sim fan you can even play the game in real time—minute for minute and hour for hour. For myself, I found setting the time at 5% of day. To do maximum of work and at night I raise the transition to 120%, this way the next day arrives faster for another day of hard work out on the farm.

A detailed North American environment

Farming Simulator 17 is a pretty game. Seeing the mist in the morning and the pollen float in the wind produces a calming sensation. The simulation effect is good and you can always find something to do. You can walk, run, and jump around your farm, but the best way to move effectively in Farming Simulator 17 is on-board vehicles.

By using vehicles, you can go to town to sell your products and acquire new equipment. The vehicles control a little awkward at first, but once you get the hang of it you won’t have any problems. By pressing the left or right arrow on the joystick, you change the vehicle, which acts as a quick move in some way. Luckily, when driving any of the vehicles you can really get into an accident that would kill you. The game gives you a map to navigate on, but I found it to lack to me some information that would have been useful to me.

screenshot07_en

If this is your first farming simulation, be prepared to do a lot of reading by navigating through the menus to figure out how a farm works. After you have expanded your farm and property, you can play online with up to 16 players who can help you with your farm. Alternatively, you can help them with their farm and making it successful. What I often notice on YouTube is a group of friends who work together as a team to build what cannot be done alone.

Final Thoughts

Farming Simulator 17 is an incredibly complete product. Not only will you have access to the most popular machines from the most famous brands in this field, but there is also a lot of things you can do in this game to keep your interest. Although I have the feeling that it is aimed at the fans of agriculture, the game is designed well enough to be played by anyone willing to learn.

If you are looking for a farming simulation and enjoy the farm life then you will be hard pressed to find another game like Farming Simulator 17 that will satisfy your needs. Simply put, sim fans will fall head over heels in love with Farming Simulator 17.

+ Large variety of farm equipment
+ Core farming mechanics are detailed
+ A true farming simulation
+ A lot of vehicles and equipment to use

– Sometimes it can feel like you are doing the same thing over and over again
– Steep learning curve for some