➤ The Pure Farming 2018 review 🎮

Video games simulate by vocation, even when they don't seem to want to. The fascination of seeing the most disparate human activities reproduced in virtual form has always exerted an attraction towards a certain public which for some is incomprehensible. For example, what is the taste of running an agricultural business? Evidently a lot, given the success of titles like Stardew Valley, or Harvest Moon before it. Not to mention the various "simulators", some of which have taken the concept of simulation to its extreme consequences, so much so that it seems almost incomprehensible to the general public. Many features that in other video games would appear absurd, in a simulator are not only suitable, but necessary to create the right atmosphere that fans like so much.

Pure Farming 2018 follows in the footsteps of the various Farming Simulators trying to stand out in different ways, but partly missing the target, probably due to youth. Not that it is badly done, let's clarify, but there are some tricks that fans of the genre expect by now. But first things first.

No multiplayer, no party

Once the game is started, you can choose between three modes: "My first farm", that is a long campaign / tour in which we have to reach the indicated objectives from time to time, also carrying out the secondary missions assigned by local farmers, to accumulate money and experience ; the "Cultivation Challenges", which we can describe as single missions that take place on different scenarios of varying difficulty; finally, "Free cultivation", that is the classic sandbox mode in which, given the initial resources, we have to manage the company as we like, obviously trying not to make it fail. If you are familiar with Farm Simulators, you will have already noticed the first notable absence: if in fact the campaign mode is of great help for newbies and is a commendable addition, the total absence of an online component is felt.

The reason is inherent in the genre itself: Pure Farming 2018 is an accurate simulation, in which the player is called to carry out all the tasks directly. In short, to plow you have to take the relative agricultural machine and go in person on the ground, crossing it several times from top to bottom. The same goes for sowing, harvesting and so on. Does it seem boring to you? For an average gamer it is but, as already pointed out, simulator lovers are looking for this. In Farm Simulator, multiplayer allows players to collaborate in carrying out various tasks, so that if one plows a certain field, another can engage in another activity (tilling another field, or selling the crop, or even more). In Pure Farming 2018 this is not possible and you have to do everything yourself, at most relying on artificial intelligence that can, at a certain cost, help us manage the farm. Too bad it doesn't always work great, but that's not the problem either: to be felt is above all the lack of sharing of work with other humans, which is particularly heavy in the sandbox mode. After all, even in reality who would ever manage such a large amount of work alone?

Friendly farming

That said, there is no doubt that the developers, the Ice Flames, have done a great job to refine the mechanics related to agricultural activities and the various machinery to the maximum. Of the latter there are not very many (altogether less than half of those of Farm Simulator), but being a very young title, it is not too surprising.

It is more up to the player to decide if he wants to trust the series, hoping it will grow like the Farm Simulator one, or if he wants to play it safer by relying on the Giants Games product. It seems ugly to say it, but it is the only way to allow new players to enter the market without being crushed immediately. Remaining on agricultural machinery, there are various types: tanks, transport vehicles, tugs and trailers, tractors and others, all useful or necessary to manage the different types of cultivation or to expand the activities already in progress. If you want more information on this while playing, there are two ways: read in the integrated encyclopedia, or face the campaign mode and select some secondary mission that requires its use. By doing this, you usually receive an email on the protagonist's virtual tablet, which acts as a user interface, in which it is explained what needs to be done. Of course, not being able to rent the vehicles (as in Farming Simulator), it is advisable to face only the missions that require the use of machinery that you want to add organically to your stable, i.e. those with which you believe you can carry out activities that go beyond the mission itself.

Aside from that, we have to admit that we really liked the developers' response to the problem of introducing newbies into the game. Often titles of the genre take a lot of things for granted, while in Pure Farming 2018 they don't, which makes it the perfect choice for anyone who wants to approach the genre without suffering too much.

Realism

Speaking of realism, Pure Farming 2018 manages without problems to join the competition, also adding some touches of class such as the drone that gives detailed information on the fields. For the rest, crops grow at the right pace, rotting if not harvested, and the various productions are simulated in a decidedly realistic way. As you can imagine, the fields, depending on the occurrence, must be tilled, plowed, sown, irrigated and, in short, made productive. The aforementioned tablet will help the player, which contains all the information he needs: from a map of the area, to the livability of some land, in case you want to breed animals, to the state of the means, with the possible possibility to repair them with a simple click (after taking them to the workshop), at the cost of the sheds and so on.

The controls are also extremely functional and you can play without problems with each of the systems provided. Too bad for the lack of support for the steering wheels, which will make the ultra fans turn up their noses in particular. Also note that the sandbox mode allows you to play on different scenarios, some of which are very different from each other, including one set in Spain. Finally, speaking of more technical issues, the game engine did not turn out to be very heavy: of course, it does not scream a miracle from the point of view of image quality, but it must be said that the means are reproduced very well, as well as some objects of the scenery are pleasant. The major details, however, are mainly found in crops, as it should be. That said, don't expect much more than you've seen in other simulators. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is excellent from the point of view of the effects, very rich and varied, and very bad from that of the music, the latter really silly. This is not a dramatic flaw, given the genre, but it is fair to note.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Intel Core i7-4770 processor
16 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 video card
Windows 10 operating system

Minimum requirements

Sistema operativo Windows 10,8,7 (64 bit)
Intel Core I5 2,3 GHz processor
4 GB of RAM
Geforce 560 GTX 2 GB video card
DirectX 11
5 GB of hard disk space

Recommended Requirements

Intel Core I7 processor, 3,0 GHz
8 GB of RAM
Geforce GTX 970 4 GB video card

Comment

Tested version PC Windows Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store Price 29,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

7.5

Readers (2)

8.6

Your vote

Pure Farming 2018 is a good alternative to Farming Simulators, which we especially recommend to newbies for the attention paid to them, especially in the campaign mode. Some new mechanics, related to crops, could also attract veteran players, who, however, must carefully consider the lack of multiplayer and the reduced fleet compared to the competition. In short, we are faced with a title that has evident qualities, which we hope will fully blossom in a new edition. In the meantime, it is up to you to decide whether to trust him or not.