Game Reviews

Farm Frenzy 2

Star onStar onStar onStar onStar off
Get
Farm Frenzy 2

First impressions of Farm Frenzy 2 - a game with a title that seems to scream 'FarmVille' clone - are not what you could call positive.

The splash screen and main menu graphics are fuzzy enough to stroke thanks to a resolution woefully unprepared for the majesty of modern screen sizes.

But, like the ugly duckling of the fairy tale, Farm Frenzy 2 turns out to be a beautiful (and frenzied) swan of an economics management game.

Birds of a feather

You start off with just a handful of chickens, which peck around the dirt and casually lay eggs.

Tapping these eggs allows you to pop them on the waiting truck, ready to be whisked away to profit-land. From there you can bulk up your menagerie of cows, pigs, and more.

With new creatures come new goods, which you have to process in specific upgradeable buildings before you can send them on their way.

Factor in that said goods all require a tap to put them in the right location, place them on the truck, and send them to market, and suddenly this cutesy title starts to show its teeth.

There's even a more literal pair of teeth waiting in the game that comes in the form of bears falling from the sky - you need to manually cage these by furiously tapping lest they decimate your livestock.

Wolf in sheep’s clothing

Because everything needs to be managed at once, on a time limit, and without missing a beat, Farm Frenzy 2 turns from what looks like another Farmville-style cartoon farming game into complete and utter pandemonium.

It may not be the best-looking title you'll play on your swanky new Android handset, but the pace and surprising depth of the gameplay will have you eating out of the palm of its hand.

Farm Frenzy 2

Farm Frenzy 2’s visuals may hail from a bygone era, but the fast and furious mechanics behind this poultry-themed economic sim make it a blast to play
Score
Catalin Alexandru
Catalin Alexandru
Catalin has worked as a game designer with Electronic Arts for two and a half years, creating mechanics and levels, while writing everything from narrative and dialog to postmortems and game reviews for iPhone versions of franchises like Star Trek, Red Alert and Medal of Honor.