Farming Simulator 19 test: the horse business

The flagship animal of this version, the horses of Farming Simulator 19 present a double interest. Overview of this production.

They had been announced at the beginning of the year, the horses are now part of the list of farm animals of Farming Simulator. The gameplay is revisited for the occasion.

A business without constraints

You knew it or not, farming in Farming Simulator was limited to chickens, pigs, cows, sheep. Each production has specific needs in terms of power and maintenance. These 4 types of breeding, if they are carried out well, will bring you some things to sell or to enhance (milk, eggs, wool, manure, slurry…). The horses, on the other hand, do not bring in anything directly. The “business model” is very different: you buy your equines, you feed them, and it is the training phases that will develop the physical capacities of your mount and allow you to sell it for more.

There are fewer constraints. The food is very simple, based on hay and oats. There is no dung to collect. To train your horse, just mount it and browse the map a bit. The various decorative elements then find their full meaning. Trailers, van type, also arrive at the dealership. They allow you to transport up to 2 horses at the same time. The idea is good if it were not limited to the transport of horses from one stable to another. Impossible to drop the horses on the beach from the van.

As for the animal itself, it is modeled very well, you can choose the coat (color), but the animation is still to be improved. The 3 gaits are well done and the transitions from one to the other are smooth. The jump is to be reviewed. As for physics, this is the big black spot. Your nag does not seem to know the laws stated by Newton, climbing one blow in a tree, another blow on the lamppost. It is also able to climb a nearly vertical wall without slowing down. Too bad for a production that the launch trailers sold us as exceptional.

Big positive point all the same, the horses open the door of the game to a new audience, perhaps more feminine, who will be able to dedicate it entirely to this breeding (few tools to handle, only one plant to cultivate, the hay being able to s 'buy in store).

Enclosures are no longer dependent on cards

To carry out your breeding operations, you need enclosures. They are naturally found in the “Placeable objects” section of the store. But can we really place them where we want? Not quite, it is necessary to have a sufficiently flat surface so that the game engine adapts the terrain, and the problem is there: on the new maps, there are very few flats, and finally a lot of cant. You can nevertheless place several livestock buildings and thus obtain very large herds.

We expected a little improvement at the level of the old farms. There was none. Worse, some players are already criticizing Giants Software for moving away from the realism that we knew in Farming Simulator 17. How to explain that it is necessary to make several round trips with a water ton of 7300 liters to fill the drinking trough with our 40 cows? Ditto for the mixed ration. How to explain that it is necessary to mulch the outside of the enclosure rather than the inside of the building? These are things you shouldn't see on a simulation that is celebrating its 10th anniversary. New players may see nothing but fire, but old ones may cringe.

The dog to the rescue?

And it is unfortunately not the dog, another expected animal, which will come to raise the degree of realism. This good fat grandpa stays next to his kennel, waiting to see his bowl full or his owner to give him a few scratchings. Play ball ? This good old Rex seems to have some understanding problems and the throwing of the ball does not trigger any reaction, probably a youthful mistake which will be corrected.

The rest of our FS 19 file

• Summary of the file
• Giants Engine evolutions
• New maps, gameplay: some welcome changes
• Crops: oats, but especially cotton
• Animals: the business of horses, not to mention the dog
• In the garage: Vehicles, at this level it's art
• Modding, the centerpiece of the game
• The opinion of the players