Legacy Interactive has been producing games revolving around animal medicine for quite a while now. Good examples are Zoo Vet and Pet Pals: Animal Doctor. When I got a copy of Farm Vet, I was expecting the same type of gameplay and presentation, with the difference being on the animals to take care of. However, I ended up getting a bit more than that.
Farm Vet lets you create your own avatar, male or female, and customize it a little with a few hair styles, colors and clothing options. Nothing fancy, but it’s already one of the differences from Zoo Vet and Pet Pals: you see your avatar roaming around in a 3D-rendered environment.
You have just applied for a job as an apprentice in a farm. Starting with a little tutorial, you learn that your PDA will list the tasks for the day, and that the animal button will show you a menu with each animal’s status and takes you directly to them with a simple click of the mouse.
Basically, your job is to feed and play with the animals, while keeping an eye for any illnesses. Each animal has three icons that represent their status: fun, health and hunger. A sick animal will have a red cross icon above them, which is your hint to enter the examination process. Oddly enough, I had some serious issues when trying to click on the animals and icons. It seems like there is little to no margin of error when it comes to clicking them, or the clickable area is off quilter, which many times ended up with my character running around the animal in circles and sometimes even right through the fences.
During the examination, the game plays much like Zoo Vet and Pet Pals. There is a series of tools at your disposal, everything from simple examination items like a thermometer or a rubber glove, to medical and surgical tools like an x-ray machine, bandages and medication.
The process is the same as in Legacy’s previous vet titles. Exam, find the cause, treat, get a score, sign out. Your PDA transforms into a diagnosis helper during the examinations, telling you the normal values of an animal’s temperature, breathing and heart rates, as well as other things you discover on the animal as you go.
Your character is free to roam around the 3D environment, and while the center of the farm seems quite nice with the barn and the pretty flowers, you realize that everywhere else seems to be lacking texture. The ground is basically flat and only the color palette defines grass from dirt or a path. It actually makes it look a bit weird when you’re running around to reach a particular animal pen.
Speaking of the graphical aspect, the movement animations seem very stiff. On the humans only, because the animals are just perfect. My character running reminds me of Barbie dolls before they had bendable legs. It looks very awkward.
The voice acting isn’t bad at all, but the game also has subtitles. Unfortunately, the subtitles are yellow, and when superimposed on the brownish ground areas, you can barely make out the words. An option to change the text color would have been greatly appreciated.
The good moments of Farm Vet are actually in the examination room. The cases are based on real afflictions observed in real farm animals, which makes this an interesting learning tool. There are also a few activities spread out throughout the farm (with more unlocking as you progress) in the form of mini-games, for example, milking cows, gathering eggs from the chicken coop and horseback riding.
I’d rather have played Farm Vet with the same first-person presentation, without the 3D environment, just like in Zoo Vet. At least then there would be no strange pathing or awkward clicking. I think I’m going to play some more of Zoo Vet: Endagered Animals instead.
Special thanks to Linda Meyers and Legacy Interactive for providing a copy of this title.