Parents' Guide to My Town: Farm

This farming experience is exactly what the name implies, but its lack of instruction can make it difficult to figure out what to do or where to go next, frustrating players. Here, players are given a farm where they walk around and perform farm-related tasks. That gives kids a look at how some agricultural processes work; they'll learn, for example, seeds planted in a field need to be watered to grow, and milk from a cow is bottled before it's used.

Those are nice lessons to learn, and kids will likely enjoy cruising around and trying not to break eggs they pick up, hearing the cows moo, and seeing the other My Town: Farm sights. The game can be a little frustrating at times, though, due to a lack of instruction. There's no introduction when you first open the app, no written information that pops up during play, and no verbal directions given as you move through farm areas. This seems like a missed opportunity, given that you meet characters, but they can only make noises that match the expression you choose. In some areas, such as the field, a graphic indicates the order in which tasks are to be performed. But it's not clear how to work the tractor, or how to use some of the other tools involved. My Town: Farm would benefit from adding clearer instructions; kids basically need to just keep clicking on things and hope they figure out what to do -- which may prompt some to give up and stop playing.