Farming Simulator 2013 has been a hit or miss game for me, version by version. The PC version performs great, is a lot of fun, and had me addicted. Then I got my hands on the Vita version, which was just a port of the mobile version, which is a really watered down port of the PC version. In case you don’t want to read the full Vita experience, I can sum it up in one word: disappointing. Way back when the PC version was released, though, a console version was announced. I laughed, until I played the game. At that point, I couldn’t wait to get my farmers tan on the PS3. Farming Simulator (they dropped the 13 for obvious reasons) has finally arrived on my Playstation 3, and not surprisingly, was a different experience than I had on either Vita or PC.
The single best part about Farming Simulator on consoles is that the game is very much like the PC version. I could pick between two maps, the original I was accustomed to and a new map that was paid DLC on the PC. Since I was already familiar with the old map, I felt that playing the new map was in order. This new sandbox has no advantage or disadvantage over the older one, though it does have a slightly more “fall” aesthetic to it. There are still more fields than you could even dream of harvesting by yourself, and a change of scenery is never a bad thing.
Regardless of which field I picked, I was given just enough tools to start working on a field that was ready to be harvested. The scope of that field was not apparent until I had spent two and a half hours, made four trips to dump my truckload of wheat, and still had a huge portion of field left to clean up. I had spent a little money on a mowing attachment, though, because side jobs pay a lot more cash than anything you’ll dump at the store. On the PC, I had bought the bottom-of-the-line riding lawnmower, which had a bag so you could earn a little bit of cash by selling the cuttings. This time, I spent considerably more for a tow-behind mower so I had a much wider mowing radius. Time is money, ladies and gents.
Upgrading the tools is a big part of Farming Simulator. There’s always a smile that follows a big purchase, like a $100K tractor with a larger towing capacity. That tractor may feel a little extraneous upon delivery, but once the opportunity arises to get a larger seed sower, things start to pick up a little bit. Unlike when I played the PC version a year ago, there are some new tractors and other various tools of the trade, which was all a paid downloadable pack back then. For the consoles, it is part of the package.
The foundation of the game remains ideally the same, but two major setbacks (which probably coincide with one another) drop the console version down a few pegs from the original PC version. Firstly, the game has some serious technical issues. Farming Simulator has major frame rate drops, because loading wheat fields is very resource consuming. There’s also a huge problem with texture pop-in. I don’t mean like some open world games where this randomly happens. No, the whole top half of my 46″ TV runs with no textures while I’m chugging along on my merry way. Thankfully, I’m not missing anything in the foreground, but it’s largely noticeable.
Like the Vita version, there is no multiplayer. I’m sure I could have convinced a friend or two to drop $30 USD to go farm together, but that option isn’t available. Nonetheless, it’s another hit in the fun department.
As a single player game, Farming Simulator is fun to just mindlessly play. If it had a platinum trophy, and multiplayer, a lot of time could be sunk into this game. But as it is, it’s just a de-stress type of game, and a moderately high priced one at that.
This review was written with review code provided from the publisher on the Playstation 3 console. For more information regarding our review process, please read here.
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