Sim: Dope Farmer [by WeaponStudios]

Game: Dope Farmer
Release: March 2003
Genre: Sim
Developer: Weapon Studios
System Requirements: Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000 or XP
Price: $8.00


Harvest Moon for Super Nintendo/N64 and Dope Wars have been combined into a simulation called Dope Farmer. In this game, you have to plant your crops, harvest them, and sell them for a profit, just like in Harvest Moon. This time, of course, your crops are marijuana, coca, and other drugs. The real goal is to be the most successful.

There isn't much of a story behind the game. You simply have a small house and a huge patch of land. You have to mow your lawn to clear up the land, then plant your crops and water them with your constantly full water pail (except for mushrooms, since they grow without care). When they grow to a fully mature plant, you can then harvest them. They automatically are placed into shipment, and you receive the payment the next day. Of course, given the nature of the crops, the investment can be a big risk, especially if the authorities conduct a raid and find them. They can be bribed with money, but if you invested it all in the plants, then you lose everything. Also, nature can be your enemy as floods can wipe out your crops or tornados might sweep through your front yard.

There are three time limits available and another exclusively for the registered version: 15, 30, 60, and 90 days. You can try to play the game, and if you do well, you can post your score to a high score list online for everyone to see. Show the world how much of an entrepreneur you are!

Also, if you build up enough money, you can buy yourself a meth lab or a chem lab. In them you can create LSD, MDMA, and Meth, which sells for big bucks. Naturally the tradeoff is that they take up more time, but the rewards in cash value can be worth it.

This game has a few nice features, such as the online high scores list, and the ability to play it in a Windowed mode. There is also an option to have it minimized while you play so that if your boss or other authority figure checks up on you, you won't get in trouble. It was also nice to see the host of hotkeys available. When you're competing against time, you don't always want to be clicking multiple icons when you can simply hit a key on the keyboard. Still, it would have been nice to be able to configure it yourself.

While fans of Dope Wars might find this a nice upgrade to the old game, I felt that it was fairly limited when compared to games like Harvest Moon. The challenge in this game is to try to top the high scores list, and many people will find this fun in itself, but I would have liked to have seen more variety in the game play. There is no upkeep to worry about, like gas for the lawn mower, or fortifying your home against the natural disasters, and I think this would have provided a nice challenge.

Graphics: 6
While the graphics aren't terribly sophisticated, they do their job. Also, having full-screen and windowed mode options was a nice touch.

Sound: 7
Similarly, the sound effects weren't mind blowing, but then again, this game didn't require them to be. I found the music was appropriate as well.

Game Play: 8
The controls were intuitive, although it did take a little getting used to. The hotkeys allowed the game to proceed quicker than multiple clicks would.

Options: 7
Having the online score list was a nice touch, and the boss-key was a must-have for a controversial game like this.

Concept: 7
Again, this game was a cross between Harvest Moon and Dope Wars, and it was handled quite well.

Fun: 8
I found this game to be quite fun to play, if only because it reminded me of Harvest Moon and economic sims. Competing against other players with the top score list is challenging, especially when you first start out and find that people have been playing with scores magnitudes higher than yours.

Overall: 7
This game was quite fun to play, and fans of Dope Wars and economic sims will find much to like with Dope Farmer.


Added: December 20th 2003
Reviewer: Gianfranco Berardi
Score:
Related Link: Official Website
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