[h4]Pimpin Reviews: Frontierville[/h4]
Special thank you to [user]Labyrinth[/user] for creating the Pimpin banner
Note that at time of playing I haven't played the newly released Pioneer Trail
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Farmville
Platform: Facebook
Modes: Single Player
Developer: Zynga
According to the majority of the gaming public, casual "Facebook games" of the sort made by freakishly successful developer Zynga, are not in fact, "real" video games. True gamers, apparently, should know that social gaming is beneath them. Perhaps it's because the content heavily relies on interacting with other players, or perhaps its their never-ending nature, or perhaps its because they're on Facebook, and Facebook is clearly evil. Asking any one of the true-gaming blue-bloods, and you're likely to get a response akin to something like this: "Do I look like an uneducated peasant? Now please, pardon me while I play the grand piano." But to be fair, that reputation couldn?t have simply spawned from thin air. Is Frontierville, like previous Facebook games, monotonous and forgettable? Or does it finally strike the harmony between entertainment and accessibility that keeps players around and interested?
If you?ve ever played a Facebook game in the past, you?re aware of a pessimistic routine. What was initially enticing and enjoyable quickly becomes a chore. It?s still reluctantly done daily, but now just to justify the previously wasted hours with the game. Though eventually frustration and boredom turn into guilty neglect as the game is forgotten altogether. This is probably caused by the very singularly focused nature of many of these games. My time with Farmville had me planting and harvesting craps to collect money, while Mafia Wars was all about collecting items to gain respect and power. But in both cases this was often as far as things were taken.
It?s the same with many of the other Facebook games. Too often, the only goal of an action is to needlessly hoard in-game currency and experience, though leveling up rarely means anything more than a bigger number next to your name and currency only allows you to purchase items unlocked at your new level. More often than not, the game feels rewardless. Expecting players to create intrinsic goals may make the game accessible to a larger variety of players, but it also severely cripples any reason for them to stick around long term except for either complete boredom or utterly dumbfounding determination.
Communist Frontier
In a similar sense, Frontierville also lacks an overarching goal, but where other FB games are devoid of any, this game is made up of many smaller ones. The quest system is fairly straightforward asking the player to perform certain tasks to obtain certain rewards. The only real limiting factor being the energy bar, which only allows a certain amount of actions before exhaustion kicks in. It only takes 5 mins for a single energy point to be restored, so it?s easy to return to a half full bar by the time you've finished watching porn, surfing the net, writing a review, or you know, watching porn -again.
Quests can range from asking a player to plant a specific crop to asking them to build a new building. Though more often then not, there?s always at least one requirement that asks you to beg friends for an item. Rewards are pretty diverse as well, and aren?t completely dependant on intrinsic motivation, though there?s plenty of that as well. Alongside your normal cash+experience, many quests advance one of the game's countless sideplots or uncover other parts to the same quest, often resulting in something like getting married, opening a bar, or having kids.
If that seems kind of familiar, it's because it's largely the same way many sandbox RPGs encourage you to play. Frontierville hands the player a world?or more accurately, a frontier-and allows them to do anything they want in any order that they choose. There?s a fair bit of customization to be had as well: from your bubble head-esque avatar, to your family, even down to the location, colors, and style of the buildings in your little town.
Capitalist Frontier
There?s also a wide variety of tasks to be done. In my 3 months with the game, there was only once where I had gone a couple of days without running into a new quest or having anything to do. To be perfectly honest, it's difficult to describe the sheer amount of stuff there is to do in this game, which makes my job as a reviewer difficult, but should come as a recommendation to any would-be players.
Like other FB games, players can add Frontierville-playing friends as ?neighbors? whose frontiers they can visit, tasks they can share, and needs they can fill with gifts. Visiting a neighbor?s frontier will reward you with reputation points, which show how generous of a neighbor you are and give you more food to trade for energy. You can also hire neighbors to perform any task on your frontier, though that?s limited to two neighbors a day. You?ll need a bunch of neighbors, because they?re the only ones that can send you the stuff you need to complete quests and build things. If you don?t have neighbors you can always just buy horseshoes, a special in-game currency that practically allows you to buy your way past any task or restriction.
That?s the basis of developer Zynga?s business model. The further you level up, the harder it is for you to collect the asinine amount of items you need from your neighbors. As ridiculous as trading real money for fake Facebook game currency may seem now, it's surprising how often the thought pops into your head on a particularly annoying quest. Not that this should be taken as any sort of criticism against Zynga?they are a business after all?but there is something fundamentally wrong with the notion that money can replace friends.
Facist Frontier
You just may have to do it though, considering how likely it is that your Frontierville playing is going to annoy your friends. If you let the application run rampant, it has the tendency to turn into the spambot from hell, flooding your wall, your friends' walls, and everyone's news feeds with the silly crap you?ve been doing in game that they care about even less than the silly crap that you?ve been doing in real life. To its credit, some of the updates are incredibly funny, riddled with inappropriate humor and sexual innuendo, though it can also be a little uncomfortable to learn that your girlfriend needs a few more wet rods for her well.
It?s evident that Frontierville is all about variety. There?s enough content to keep players around and interested for months. Despite the possibly more interestingly themed FB games like Cityville or Mafia Wars, or even newer games like Empires & Allies, Frontierville is with out a doubt the best Facebook game made to date. While I wouldn?t recommend logging into the world of Facebook solely for it, but if you?re spending your web time with that tab open anyway, it?s a healthier habit than stalking your friends and acquaintances for bikini pics. Hell, at the end of the day, Frontierville is just a good game, period.
