Farming Simulator 18 (3DS) Review

Over the years, Farming Simulator is a series that has become this huge in-joke within the gaming community. The mere mention of the game to anyone in the know would almost guarantee a chuckle or three. It has… quite the reputation. I came into the Farming Simulator 18 thinking I would get a giggle out of the fact that I was playing what was considered to be the subject of so many memes, but still expecting an enjoyable experience nonetheless, especially looking at how long the series has been going. That’s 9 games to be exact. What I wound up with was a game that certainly lived up to its name, but failed to capture my much of my attention beyond that.

Right off the bat, Farming Simulator 18 has an accessibility problem. Even after selecting Beginner Mode, the game makes no effort to fill you in on your purpose or even any of the necessary controls required to play on the most basic level possible. It really surprised me. It really just expects you to know. It expects you to be the kind of person who picked up this newest edition after playing every single other game before it, and after all that – I couldn’t help but be left scratching my head. It seemed redundant to even bother including a Beginner Mode in the first place considering it makes no effort to fulfil its purpose.

I spent a while trudging around aimlessly in an incredibly slow combine harvester until I discovered that the bulk of the instructions were… well, in the digital instruction manual. That makes sense. The real glaring problem though is that the game doesn’t tell the player that they can refer to said manual. Strangely enough, there’s not even a single whisper of it even existing.

However, after overcoming all those hurdles, the point of the game finally revealed itself (well, the point other than being a literal Farming Simulator). The ultimate goal is to make as much money as possible. Sounds fair. But hang on just a moment. Why should I care about making money? Why does it matter? The answer to both of those questions is that it really kinda doesn’t. There’s no reason to care. You cultivate, sow and harvest crops to sell to various investors in order to make cash to buy more equipment to cultivate, sow and harvest crops even faster which leads to selling to investors to make more cash and – you get the point. This whole game is a cycle of chores. Even the missions and achievements, which are included to spice things up are excruciatingly repetitive.

The slow transition from day to night works well to give the player a sense of progression. Days can feel long or quick depending on how you decide to spend your free time and the invested will find themselves surprised that it might already be night (or morning!). This system isn’t meaningless, as the financial worth of your goods shift as every second passes, so you might find yourself kicking yourself in the foot for forgetting to invest in something you were meaning to earlier. This day and night cycle makes time management crucial, keeping players on their toes to make sure they get top dollar.

Presentation-wise, the game does what it needs to do. All the vehicles you use are well modelled, and good sound design gives each one their own distinct feel and a great sense of weight. Otherwise, other elements such as the landscape can feel lifeless, with the only moving objects being distant waterfalls and vehicles driving by. In addition to this, while the same two or three background songs that play on loop successfully capture the feel of the countryside, they get old pretty fast. There’s a good chance you’ll probably find yourself putting the game on mute and listening to your own tunes instead.

I really wanted to like this game. I really did. But I think when it comes down to it, Farming Simulator 18 is just not for me. In fact, I don’t think Farming Simulator 18 is not for a lot of people. There’s a very niche audience that really enjoys this series, and probably for good reason. Even so, the game’s lack of accessibility makes for an initially intimidating experience for the uninitiated and unaware. When you do learn the ropes, the core experience feels so bland and uninspired that it doesn’t give you too much reason to keep playing.

Having variety and diversity in games is important, and honestly – with this series still running so long, there’s definitely something there that’s appealing enough to give people a reason to keep buying these games. I just wish I could understand exactly what that ‘something’ is.

Rating: 2/5