It used to be that we'd play videogames to act our fantasies of being a spaceman, soccer player or a soldier. It seems these days though, that everyone would prefer to play out the dream of becoming a humble farmer. Amazingly, the Facebook agricultural sim Farmville is currently the most popular computer game in the World, with 65 million active monthly users.
Now virtual farming comes to the iPhone in the shape of iFarm, a free game in which you need to make us much money as you can by working the land. You start with a simple plot of land and need to plow, plant and harvest crops in order to make money. You use this money to buy new seeds, better tools and decorations to make your farm bigger, better, and more profitable.
iFarm is easy to pick up and play, and it won't take you long to figure out the controls. You just need to tap on a square to plow it, tap it again to plant a seed and tap it again to harvest it and bank the cash. Different plants have different growing times. For example, a cabbage only takes two minutes to grow, whereas you can expect to wait three days for your potatoes to be ready. This means iFarm is a game that you should be going back to time and again in order to check up on the progress of your farm, plant new crops, and make sure you harvest stuff before it wilts.
In order to play iFarm you need a PlayMesh account, which requires you to be connected to the Internet. This account allows you to get in touch with other farmers, and there are all sorts of upgrades and enhancements you can purchase for iFarm on the iTunes Store.
Personally, I found iFarm very boring but there are some people who swear by these kind of games and I guess they find it relaxing in some way.
If you're a fan of Farmville you'll surely like iFarm, but personally I find the whole thing a bit of a waste of time.
