Farm Heroes Saga 4+

I would have given this game five stars because it is a very time consuming game and if it’s taking loads of time then it must be fun. However, twice in the last two weeks I have been very disappointed when the game crashed as I was within two stars or honey pots of winning. Each time I have reinstalled it, but this is the last time I am going to do that. Next time it crashes it’s gone for good. There are plenty of other options for fun without the hassle of a game that takes up time for the wrong reasons.

This is a good free game that has kept me amused for a few days now. However there are pros and cons.
- Free means that you will have at times 5-6 windows pop up constantly which you can’t automatically cancel, you have to watch them play out. If you are playing as long as they want you to there are just periods you are waiting for the developers to get over themselves so you can get back to the game.
- The leaderboard is not accurate, sometimes my score is placed lower than the others despite being a higher value. This happens frequently.
- Sometimes the tiles in the game take tens of seconds between your own moves just doing their own thing, changing tiles without reason and to other items. You just have to wait til it’s done then reassess to take your next turn as the game has changed.
- The gamification strategies designed to keep you in the game are not incentivising. I don’t care about how many rewards some random player has, I don’t care if I get a key in three hours or get a trophy by level 115. I just want to play. The horses that pop up with gifts for a streak are annoying too, I just want to play.
- Being locked out after you run out of lives is a drag and you can only get gold bars to exchange if you purchase them. There’s nothing else to barter with. This doesn’t affect the game too much you just have to wait.
It is free though so I put up with the above and will play til I don’t want to anymore.

I’ve been playing for years and am up past level 2600. A pretty decent puzzle game with far fewer nag screens than most other games. Some levels are ridiculously difficult and while a general strategy helps, can often be a matter of perseverance and pure luck to get past. This is particularly true of the ‘event’ games. You will probably need to resist the urge to use the companions and instead stockpile them to pass some of the more challenging levels. The game has however been highly stable on my iPad Pro (froze regularly on my old first generation iPad mini) but has a few minor bugs where it incorrectly says no moves available and shuffles the board. Overall a fun game that I keep returning to.