After a soft-launch in limited markets, Zynga has announced the worldwide release of FarmVille 2: Country Escape on iOS and Android devices. The game is a brand new experience in the FarmVille franchise, which sees players starting a new farm near the coast as they craft and sell a variety of crops and resources.
While a new game, FarmVille 2: Country Escape does connect to the Facebook version of FarmVille 2, as players will be able to send valuable resources between both farms to make extra progress.
FarmVille 2: Country Escape was built as a continuation of the mobile efforts Zynga put forth in releasing CastleVille Legends, another mobile version of a popular Zynga browser game. Country Escape has very similar gameplay, as players complete quests by crafting a multitude of items, selling them to other real players or on the game's multiple virtual wanted boards. Players use their profits from selling these items to purchase land expansions, workshops and more, continuing the gameplay cycle.
Players start their journey in Country Escape with a few crops, like wheat and corn, and a small pastry oven. Instead of growing large amounts of a single crop, as in the web version of the game, this mobile experience focuses on small amounts of permanent crops. Players are given two crop-specific plots for each particular plant, giving them constant access to these crops each day, so long as they keep the plots watered (unlike the browser version of FarmVille 2, water here is unlimited). Additional crops can be purchased with premium currency.
As gamers complete quests, they're introduced to special "landmark" locations, like a garden or a pond. Similar to the Places of Legend in CastleVille Legends, these areas can be tended by "hero" characters that live on the farm. Each Farmhand has a different specialty, which determines the kinds of items they'll find as they complete these timed explorations.
For instance, a fisherman will give players a better chance of finding bass or trout in the pond, while a gardener would be better at finding plants like berries or chives. Players can ask their friends for additional Farmhands, in order to complete more actions simultaneously, but the game doesn't require social play for success.
In fact, this solo play is a point of pride for Zynga. Jonathan Knight, vice president of games at Zynga, tells us, "the game doesn't require friends to play (the first time in the franchise), but playing the game socially will make it better." With that in mind, the game supports offline play, but will backup save files to the cloud the next time players have internet access on their device.
If players wish to be social, they can login with their Facebook or Game Center accounts (Google+ on Android), and send gifts to their friends each day. These "Speed Seed" gifts speed up the growth or completion time of animals, trees and crops. Elsewhere, players can visit their friends' farms and use five doses of fertilizer on their crops or trees each day.
Finally, the "Alliance" feature makes a return from CastleVille Legends. Here, these alliances are called "Co-ops," and see players joining others from around the world to trade items and chat. Players can sell up to four items from their inventory at once, to friends or strangers, and can purchase others in the same manner.
While FarmVille 2: Country Escape starts with just a few elements, it eventually expands with new storyline chapters and characters. After becoming familiar with the game in the "Grandma's Recipe Book" chapter, players are introduced to a winery, a mine for collecting copper, quartz and tin, an arts and crafts area for creating clothing and dolls and much more.
Knight tells us one of the most heavily requested features in Zynga's games is the ability to earn premium currency for free. In Country Escape, gamers earn premium currency when completing some quest lines, as well as through the Prize Tent. This Prize Tent allows players to trade in Ribbons (collected from prized animals) to earn premium currency, as well as large amounts of free currencies.
As with other Zynga releases, the developer plans to cross-promote Country Escape to existing FarmVille 2 players, giving them free items for logging into the mobile game. What's more, the two games can be connected via a new Gas Pump, which allows players to send mobile water to the Facebook version, and send crafted items from Facebook to Country Escape.
FarmVille 2: Country Escape is now available to download for free on iOS and Google Play.
