FarmVille for iPhone - app review

FarmVille is a widely popular real-time farm simulation game created by Zynga. It was originally created as a flash game for Facebook and eventually became available at farmville.com. Players can now farm on go with the most recent version of FarmVille on the iPhone.

If you have already invested a lot of time with a farm on Facebook, FarmVille for the iPhone allows you to access your existing farm via Facebook Connect. If you're a new farmer, you can create a new farm with the app; however, you must have a Facebook account to play.

Farming on the iPhone is much better than on the web. Although the game takes a long time to load, there is no lag while playing - this can't be said for the flash-based version. It's a quick tap to harvest anything which makes collecting from animals and trees nice and quick. To use a tractor, tap and hold a plot of land, then drag across the other plots you want to plow; your plowing can take any shape and does not have to be in groups of four at a time (like on the web). When your crops are ready to harvest, FarmVille sends you push notification.

You can also visit your neighbor's farms, send and receive gifts, purchase coins and FV cash, access the market, organize your farm, and much more. The only FarmVille feature that seems to be missing is co-op farming. There is also one bug; sometimes the harvest indicators for tress and animals are misaligned making it difficult to know which object needs to be harvested.

Zynga did a great job with FarmVille on the iPhone, and now I rarely play FarmVille on the web. Now, if Zynga would make FarmVille a universal app for iPhone and iPad, a farmers life would be complete!

[Free - iTunes link]

Pros

  • Tractoring is better than web version
  • Special iPhone only items (like Snow Leopard)

Cons

  • Takes over 40 seconds to load (on wifi)
  • Many harvest indicators for trees and animals are misaligned
  • Must have a Facebook account

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Leanna Lofte

Former app and photography editor at iMore, Leanna has since moved on to other endeavors. Mother, wife, mathamagician, even though she no longer writes for iMore you can still follow her on Twitter @llofte.