Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season is another solid entry in the critically acclaimed Farm Frenzy franchise. The game’s trademark addicting gameplay is as good as ever. Fans of the previous installments will feel right at home—and have a hard time turning it off—while newcomers to the franchise will likely be convinced to stick around.
Storyline
Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season begins with you overlooking a massive landscape of destroyed farmland. You are immediately approached by a woman named Scarlett—who, in her own words, runs the “Farm Association of The World.” She tasks you with rebuilding the beleaguered farmland with the aid of several of your farm animal friends.
The storyline of Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season is by no means the game’s focal point. Rather, the brief story elements between levels help to illuminate various gameplay mechanics and guide you along as you move from level to level. The game’s characters handle this job well, allowing you to seamlessly learn new facets of the game without taking you out of the experience.
The story plays a minimal role, but does what it needs to: teach you about the game while keeping you immersed in the world.
Graphics
The graphics in Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season are exactly what you want out of a casual time management game. The bright, colorful artwork is beautiful, and the game’s bouncy cartoon style sets the less-than serious mood wonderfully. Hurricane Season’s animations make the game come to life. I often found myself distracted by the interesting movements of the animals and farm equipment.
All of Hurricane Season’s components fit together effortlessly. You never get the impression that any of them are out of place. The game’s visual cues do an excellent job of letting you know when an aspect of the game needs your attention. Eggs about to spoil will blink rapidly, ambushing bears are preempted by a swelling shadow, and your delivery truck will bounce and puff when it’s ready to go.
Gameplay
The Farm Frenzy series is already known for its wildly addictive gameplay—this addition to the franchise is no different. Fans of the previous installments will feel right at home with the fast-paced clicking spree that you engage in straight out of the gate. You will find yourself frantically scanning the landscape for thieving predators while maintaining your farm and upgrading your equipment—and quickly accepting the next mission as you crave more.
For those who haven’t touched the series, Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season is a time-management strategy game that hands you the reins of a small ranch. You are required to gather eggs from the chickens you keep, and use them to produce dozens of products, which you sell—using the profits to upgrade your farm. The game uses these mechanics to create various objectives; produce a certain number of products, or bank a specific amount of cash.
Hurricane Season challenges you with a timing benchmark in the far right corner of the screen. Although you are allowed to complete the levels at any pace you like, I found myself clicking away as fast as I could, trying to finish the missions in record time.
As mentioned before, the gameplay is wildly addictive. After the game’s initial warm-up levels, the fast-paced style is hard to walk away from. The levels go by quickly, and it’s easy to convince yourself to play just one more.
Boredom is not in the cards. There is more than enough going on at any one time to keep your attention, and I found myself forgetting to breathe at times amidst all the frantic clicking. The game gives you a rush that you want to experience over and over again.
Music and Sound
Like its predecessors, the sound effects in Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season are excellent. Egg powder machines swish and swash as they churn eggs into power, your water well bellows a resounding glug after each refill, and the oncoming bears sound convincingly menacing as they storm toward your flock. All of this adds to the feeling that you are part of a living, breathing environment that you want to become immersed inside.
The game falls short in the music department. While time-management games are not known for their brilliant musical scores, Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season could have done well with a little more variety. You will spend most of your time listening to a single, short, country-style musical loop on repeat. It does a good job of setting the cheery mood while not becoming intrusive or distracting. However, it is hard to not feel like you are going insane after an hour of hearing the same thing over and over—and continuing to hear it in your head after you shut the game off.
However, you shouldn’t be too bothered by the music either way, the gameplay will steal the lion’s share of your attention the majority of the time.
Conclusion
Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season is another excellent addition to the already strong Farm Frenzy series. The game promises to keep long-time fans happy, and is sure to help attract new followers to the franchise.
Hurricane Season provides a slick package. The gameplay is a homerun, the graphics are beautiful, and the storyline helps to keep the whole thing moving. The less-than polished aspects of the game were unlikely to grab too much of the limelight, even if they were executed well.
Download Farm Frenzy: Hurricane Season at your own risk, you probably won’t be able to pull yourself away after you do.