A few days before the release of the title from the studio IceFlames, here is a first opinion on the "Preview" version of Pure Farming 2018 dating from mid-January and which is much more advanced than the "Press" version that we have had in our hands before.
The latter only allowed you to discover a few missions and part of the 4 maps available when the game was released. There was no menu, the game was very basic. In this preview version, we find a more complete set with real menus: new part in free mode or in farm challenge mode, management of extensions, options, etc.
The free mode is a raw simulation, you find yourself let loose in the German scenery without any help or tutorial. The "farm challenges" mode is made up of about twenty "arcade" oriented missions to discover the game. Unlike the simulation mode, there is a beginning and an end, with a pre-established scenario and material. . An "extensions" menu allows you to manage the mods. Moreover, the first have already appeared: two outfit packs for the farmer, the “Germany” card, and the JCB 435F loader pack are integrated.
Finally, it is now possible, via the "options" menu, to tweak the guts of the game a little: change the language, adjust your controller, mouse, audio, video settings, and graphic effects. We also discover that many of its effects were announced in Farming 19 last week. With hindsight, one wonders if FOCUS did not communicate on the graphic information only for marketing reasons and to counter the arrival of the Polish title. It is good to note that the release of the title on March 13 coincides with the arrival of the DLC Ropa for FS17… Marketing coup? Regardless, the 2 titles have their place in the cottages!
We start
For this preview, only the Germany map is available in a "light" version. Before starting a game in free mode, you can choose your map, starting capital (up to 600000 euros for the preview), time of day and weather conditions.
Ingame
My test config: Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM and Nvidia 960M. All options thoroughly, it is fluid and beautiful. We find the Unity engine in the background, with all the graphics options it is capable of. Technically, Unity Technologies' tool is versatile and “go anywhere”, ensuring compatibility with all platforms on the market, including mobile. The general appearance is attractive and the exterior models are good bills. The interior of the vehicles, on the other hand, is the big black point of this preview.
The all-rounder
The farmer has a tablet to manage his entire farm and his acquisitions. Everything goes through the mobile device: purchase of equipment, sale of animals, and piloting the drone to take a quick look at its operation.
We start the game with a material base consisting of a Zetor tractor, a plow, a 4 × 4, a harvester, and a trailer. No building, no animals… and no fields. You have to buy everything. After our first purchase of fields and tractors, we went there to place a worker there and test the game's AI. By the way, juggling between purchased equipment is a real treat and involves a very intuitive selection wheel.
Many inconsistencies are still present when it comes to artificial intelligence. The worker sometimes passes the plow twice in the same place and it is not uncommon to find him drifting at the end of the field. Efficiency level we have seen better. In addition, it is not yet possible to put 2 workers in the same field, the game does not allow it. We are not going to throw stones at a title that is still only a preview, and we will come back to it during the final release.
Regarding breeding, the land has a prefabricated building that can be purchased and then improved in terms of reception and storage capacity. For the example of cattle, the outdoor enclosure is adjacent to the building and has a milking robot, a manure storage area, a slurry pit, a silo for feed, etc. animals are all represented in the field. If you make a farm of 1000 cows, it could quickly be a mess ...
At this stage it is useless to go further in the presentation of the single player campaign because not all cultures are present in this preview. I will come back very soon to the rather original “farm challenges” mode in terms of these scenarios. Much like Cattle And Crops, Pure Farming is a game that I really enjoy as it develops. Finally, it represents a more fun version than the other agricultural simulations. Farming Simulator, however, remains a master in the game / simulation balance… for the moment.