FarmVille iPhone diary: Day three on the farm

Part three of a five-part adventure in the world of FarmVille. Click here for part one, and here for part two.

Despite sending several invitations and offering free fuel to any takers, nobody wanted to pitch their farm next to my somewhat barren array of ploughed earth patches. Not surprising, really, as it would be tantamount to relocating next to an industrial estate.

Still, whilst I may be lacking as a landscaper, I more than make up for it in savvy, so I told Pocket Gamer news editor Mark Brown that he had to do it instead.

Now that I have a neighbour (albeit under duress), I can report that it’s all very similar to the full Facebook version, and whilst you can’t actually see your neighbour's farm next door (a disappointing omission) a quick click of the adjacent plot will load it into view.

As Mark is also involved in the raspberry profiteering racket, there isn’t much to see (we are a collective blot on the landscape), but at least now I can help him harvest his fruit, given my newfound expertise in the produce.

It’s an unfortunate symptom of the increased access offered by the iPhone app that the two hour turnaround of the profitable raspberry is simply not an imposition to adhere to.

Whereas one might be tempted to experiment more with different crops when limited to the Facebook version, now the game sets its own appointments and woe betide anyone who fails to keep them.

Being regularly alerted that your crops are ready is a bain or a boon dependant on to what extent you prioritise the special farm in your life.

But with such (in)convenience comes instability. Unfortunately, despite the update mentioned yesterday, crashes are still occurring, and the loading time to gain access to my farm has slowed to a painful crawl.

I also keep being alerted to the fact that my internet connection is slow, and that I may lose game data, despite having 50mb broadband at home. And data loss came to pass when I loaded the game to find that I was level 11 again, rather 12 as I had previously left things, delaying my tractor purchase despite an unchanged bank account.

Hopefully these issues are simply teething problems, but at the moment they are making for a frustrating experience.

Still, in the last hour I have managed to purchase a tractor (I chose a pink one) for 5000 coins, and am looking forward to the saved labour…