Parents' Guide to Farmside

Between its accessible controls, attractive design, and well-balanced gameplay, this is a recommended farming simulator for kids and kids at heart. Farmside might not offer anything brand new for diehard fans of the genre, but there's less between you and your time on the farm. Pacing is one of the game's strengths. It starts with a relatively small seaside farm, but after a few days, you'll likely outgrow the premises and move more inland to larger farms, with fewer cues on what to do and when to do it. Still, easy-to-follow and universal icons tell you the task at hand, what you may need, how much time to wait until said task is done, and so on. Once you get comfortable completing tasks, like buying and selling items, you'll begin to unlock more recipes, earn badges, and other goodies (as part of a Reputation Points progressive meter, of sorts), and start customizing your character or farm's look and yields.

Part of the fun is seeing all the things you can buy from Dunn's store, but the various currencies can be confusing (and makes more sense for a freemium game model). All items cost you either gold coins, green Nemo coins, or yellow stars -- all earned in-game for performing tasks. For example, a hammock costs 80 Nemo coins, a Party Palm Tree is 500 gold coins, and a recipe for a Crab Louie Salad is 100 stars. While there are several challenges to take on in order to advance in Farmside, the sim is relaxing and enjoyable to tap through. Speaking of which, the touchscreen mechanic works better than using a game controller (required for Apple TV and Mac). Farmside serves as a great introduction to farming sims, especially for younger and novice players. It's solid thanks to its easy-to-play mechanic, many customization options, and attractive cartoon graphics, but may not have the depth to hold more seasoned players for a long time.