Ranch Rush

T.J. Brumfield | Jul 20, 2009 Games

User rating:

(6 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

Loading ...

My mother is addicted to playing Farm Town on Facebook these days. As I was downloading Ranch Rush from FreshGames, my thoughts immediately turned to games like Farm Town and Harvest Moon. Both those titles have mass appeal, but I find playing both to be a chore. Thankfully Ranch Rush turned out to be a different kind of beast.

Sure, this is a farm simulator in the strictest sense. You plant crops, harvest them, and run a farm. However gameplay is not open-ended, nor very time consuming. The story of the game centers on Sara and Jim, who have eight weeks to save their business. Sara gets the idea of starting a farmer’s market to raise the necessary funds. If she can’t raise the money in eight weeks, greedy developers take over Jim’s Flower Nursery where they both work.

Going with this eight-week framework, each level is one day. You get an order of what the customer specifically wants to buy from you, and a small time-frame to fulfill that order. Crops grow quickly, and gameplay is a rush against the clock. You can pause the clock to purchase new items for your farm, or move items. There is some strategy in what moves you want to make, in what order. Layout of your farm is also crucial, but it is the quick-paced gameplay that really sets this title apart.

The lot you have to work with is fairly small, which means you won’t be scrolling forever in a massive repetitive micro-management fest (like later rounds of Civilization for instance). Conversely, you’re juggling the time constraints are varied orders with the limited space.

Initially you have to play in casual mode, though an expert mode is unlocked after 3 weeks. As each week passes, the customers are more needy. You have to juggle a greater number of crops, as well as processed goods, such as jam, cheese and wool. These goods require several steps to create. For instance, bees need clover, and when they leave their hives to reach the clover, you can harvest honey. Combine the honey with harvested grapes in a machine, and you can create jam.

Obstacles keep popping up as well to throw even the greatest strategy to the winds. Bugs eat crops, plots of land go dry, crops die, and machines break. A rather ingenious move is the addition of upgrades that you can purchase later in the game. They allow you to perform tasks faster, so the increasing work load doesn’t mean you have to dedicate a large chunk of time to play a single level. I’m on week six, and I believe most levels are taking me about four minutes. The speed upgrades actually make the game both more enjoyable, and more difficult as now I must respond quicker.

Thankfully, you can tap ahead and plan out several tasks in a row. Sara will perform the tasks in the order you can them to her. However, planning too far in advance can backfire if you make a mistake with one of your clicks, or if there is an unseen circumstance, such as a machine breaking down.

Expert mode, and a series of unlockable trophies should add a level of replay. You can replay the eight weeks as many times as you’d like. However ultimately, this is a game you can beat quickly. A mode that provided you with random orders might add never-ending gameplay.

This is a well designed game that won me over despite my initial reticence. One of my few complaints would be that this is a port of a PC/Mac title that doesn’t appear to take specific advantage of the iPhone hardware. Porting to any platform should take full advantage of that platform. I’d also like to see support for multiple profiles in a future version.

Lastly, I want to note two promotions. Registering your email address with FreshGames enters you in a drawing to win Ranch Rush 2 for the computer. Also, right now if you purchase the iPhone edition of Ranch Rush, FreshGames is donating 20% of the full purchase price (not 20% of their take or profits) to Action Against Hunger. If you’re on the fence and looking for a game to buy, perhaps this charitable promotion will urge you to give this game a try.

iTunes Link
App Version: 1.0
Reviewed on: iPhone 3GS