By Jim Rossignol on September 1st, 2009 at 1:37 pm.
I was just browsing some email, having just been booted off my gaming PC by the Mrs so that she could play FarmVille on Facebook, when I noticed that the PC actually does have a contemporary full-blown farming game: Farming Simulator 2009. From last month’s press release: “Become a farmer and experience the thrill of driving heavy modern farm equipment as you try and feed the world! Choose from a variety of vehicles and implements, and explore the huge, over 4 km², island.” Phwoar. More informatively: “The German version of this product shifted a massive 100,000 units within its first five weeks debuting at number one on the Media Control GfK chart.” Now that’s some credentials. I was just about to pick up a copy and start singing appropriate songs when I discovered: there is a demo.
The demo contains two levels, one where you drive a tractor around an obstacle course, and another where you use a hay-collecting machine to make bales of hay. I don’t think either do much to sell the game, but then it is about farming. Having completed the obstacle course (beat 1:19!) I decided to drive off and explore the island. It sure was an island, with ambient traffic, a small town, and some wind-turbines. Things were a bit quiet.
But could I cause some mischief? I began to harass cars. It turns out that cars in Farming Simulator 2009 are both indestructible, and 90% self righting. Only by flipping them right onto their roof could they be defeated. Here’s one I killed earlier.
Bored of this, I traveled further afield. Ooh, docks.
Careful of the sea! Hmm. Bah.
In conclusion: farming is best left to the professionals.
THE THRILL OF DRIVING MODERN FARM EQUIPMENT
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MANLY
YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!
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Shifted 100.000 copies in Germany? From one warehouse to the other, maybe. ;)
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That’s no dock. That’s a rocket launchpad! I think I’ve been playing too much Evil Genius.
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The comments are strong with this one
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Modern tractors are also hovercrafts. Did no one tell you?
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This isn’t a touch on “Harvest Moon”.
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Yeah, those games are quite a success here in Germany. It’s like our Peggle, casual gaming therapy for the masses.
There’s a developer, Astragon, who specialises in those casual simulations – not only farming but also bus driving, crane handling, fishing and garbage disposal (!). No further comment needed.
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Ah, quality games journalism right here, this is why I come to RPS, no joke!
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“That’s not a moon!”
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Pffft, farmers…
I seem to recall a game from way back called ‘A Tractor’. If I am correct then BEST NAME EVER etc.
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The thrill of driving in straight lines at a top speed of 25mph! i can barely contain myself!!!!11!
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Yeah, we here on the wrong side of the Channel have Astragon’s simulations while you over there had The Wurzels… you can’t choose where you are born, but fate nevertheless is a bitch for sure.
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Rossingol! You better watch your back, you’re stepping on Tim Stone’s turf now!
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A Tractor was actually a really open-ended indie MMO.
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6-year-old me just said “AWESOME.”
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An MMO with tractors. I know a few people who would probably lose themselves in such a thing.
They used to sit reading issues of Classic Tractor on the school bus.
Erm, not that I ever owned a Britons toy… oh no. *cough*
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Next up: paint inspector.
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Am I the only insane moron who suddenly remembered that
Operation Flashpoint let you steal tractors? Did that once and went merrily around the island… until a Hind blown my derriere with an AT missile.
And THIS, yes, is one of my favorite gaming memories.
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I must admit, this appeals to me and after watching some videos and reading the writeup I’m thinking about purchasing this one.
I’ll have to give the demo a go tonight, but it seems likely that I’ll help slaughter the US economy a little more by purchasing another game from across the pond. :)
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I wouldn’t mind a Harvest Moon/Sim Farm casual game, actually.
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ack, “for the PC” of course. (Damned lack of edit button…) >:(
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You’re no Tim Stone. He could have done that course in a minute flat. RIP Tim Stone.
Also: How much farming can you do in this game? Do you get to plant crops etc, or do you just drive tractors?
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omg, my son will this one
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I just watched this on youtube — some terrible pop-up going on. Maybe it’s just the guys settings?
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My best time is 1.03 for the obstacle course. I’m a bit confused by the other mission through, I was playing the German version because the english version seemed to be corrupted every time I tried to download it and the symbol for what I was baling is a wheat ear but surely if the wheat has ears on it I should be using a combine harvester and I should only be using a baler like that for straw or hay?
I got bored after that as well and I discovered that cars are impervious to being pushed into the sea and that tractors are so awesome they can’t just drive up and down near virtical cliffs but along them as well! I also discovered the shop where you can buy and sell tractors, it let me sell my tractor but it wouldn’t let me buy the cheaper one that I could afford, I don’t know why because I can’t read German and I didn’t have enough money to by back my old one so then I was left on foot.
That turned out to be ok because running and swimming seem to be the fastest methods of travelling so I did some exploring and found a shopping centre, a garden centre, two churches, a container ship and a really large statue of a cow! Then it gave me a message which I assume meant I’d failed the mission because it looked big an ombinous and booted me back to the mission selection menu a few seconds later. Thus ended up adventures in tractor land.
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I actually still have a copy of John Deere American Farmer somewhere. It’s like a farming RTS. Was pretty cool actually, until you realized that you could either make a ton of money or go totally bankrupt, all very quickly, to the point where it wasn’t fun anymore.
In order to try out all the cool tractor attachments I just found the money variable in the convenient .ini file and changed it to 999999.
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Who here remembers SimFarm?
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Did I hear somebody mention The Wurzels?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc
Classic!
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Not a patch on Bus Driver.
http://www.busdrivergame.com/
No kidding, I actually really enjoyed driving the bus :-(
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Are the farm animals in this game European ? Do the cows go SHA-ZOOOOOOO? Does the pig go WANK?
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I really, really hope the pig goes WANK.
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Stewie: Yeah, I built it after I got bored with that European See ‘n Say.
[Cutaway to Stewie playing with a See 'n Say in the living room. Stewie pulls the cord, and the toy speaks with an undisclosed European accent]
See ‘n Say: The pig goes “WANK!” [Stewie pulls the cord again] The cow goes “SHA-ZOOOOOOO!”
Stewie: It most certainly does not! [pulls the cord again]
See ‘n Say: The rooster goes “GICKERY-GEE!”
Stewie: Where? Where does the rooster say that? [pulls the cord again]
See ‘n Say: The monkey goes “MACAQUE!”
Stewie: Oh, no, no, no! It does not! [pulls the cord again]
See ‘n Say: The elephant goes “THWOP!”
Stewie: Yeah, kinda…
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FarmVille! Ha Ha!
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Wow, having actually driven a tractor for hours mowing fields, this is the least appealing game I think I’ve ever seen.
I can picture it now, sitting in front of your computer, mowing row after row, daydreaming about finally finishing the day’s work so you can get to your computer to do some gaming, then realizing that you ARE in front of your computer and can do some real gaming!
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I REALLY remember liking Sim Farm back in the day but I have to agree with Chadplusplus , this seems like it would be really boring if you have to do everything in first person instead of running the business from a god like view ALA Sim Farm.
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Caleb:
I’m pretty sure you’re preaching to the choir. Don’t you remember the PCG OFP tractor race?
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There are also some nice tractors in Men of War that you can use to run over people or tow certain anti-tank guns and the sort ;P much more fun than this sounds like (Cause you can drive them through a barn and totally destroy it unlike this game I’m guessing)
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I am personally looking forward to Coal Miner 2012: The Carbonifering.
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How do you think that will fair against Comerical Lawn Mower Simulator 2012 ? ;P
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Sure you can drive tractors, but does it accurately simulate the cleaning the putrescent detritus from animal pens? I get enough of that in my own life.
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Yes, but when you flip the cars on their rooves…
…do their front wheels “twitch” like a beetle’s legs?
This IS important.
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It looks more like farming in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Except they decided that they’d only use neutron bombs to spare the environment.
Rather thoughtful of them really.
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hey..cheat farming simulator 2009!!!!!!!plsssssssssssssssssssssssss
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where do i get the demo?
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hi
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dra spiil !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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vegard er en gutt ut en jenter men han er den kuleste i trinet ta kontakt med vegardnv@hotmail.com vis du er singel jeg dor på nesna i norland
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how i donload driver?
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i love the comedy of people and the website here=D(just look at the ‘submit’ button- it says “OPINION, AWAY!”)
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“The thrill of driving in straight lines at a top speed of 25mph! i can barely contain myself!!!!11!”
HAHA uv not played it have you? the vehicles dont go in straight lines :P
they should have called it farming when pissed!
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