As always I like to start out by saying thank you to the people over at GIANTS Software for hooking me up with a review copy of this one. As you all know I am a huge fan of the Farming Simulator series and have looked forward to this one.
So how does 22 stack up to the previous years you may ask? Well there are a few spots 22 is a swing and a miss and none of them are in areas I expected. So before I go and talk about all the things the game did right, I am going to go and explain where I feel like this one failed. None of then are game breaking but after playing on my PS4 Pro you can tell graphically this needed a little more time. As seasons change more than once I’ve had snow on the ground that suddenly would disappear all at once.
And not just on a part of the map, my entire farm would suddenly just not have snow. Fields would also suddenly pop into existence with fully grown crops where before there was a black void. Entire buildings would do this as well when things would be there and gone and pop right back into existence. This was always purely visual and would only happen occasionally in the distance. Your vehicle would always stay firmly attached to the road and it never messed with gameplay etc.
Now the news isn’t all bad, in fact despite what I just said about the graphical issues, this game is truly the epitome of the series. The seasons changing is a nice touch and honestly it gives you incentive to do jobs for the other farmers in the game. It helps pass time and make money while you wait for your crops to grow in the early game until you have more fields for yourself to grow a variety of crops. Why you might want to do that will become apparent in a moment.
Another great addition to the game, and my personal favorite is the production chain. You no longer just have to grow crops simply to sell them, which you still can do and early on you pretty much have to. Later for example you can buy the Oil Mill and deposit your canola there. The Oil Mill will then turn it into canola oil which you can then sell for even more profits.
This process also works for things like wheat or grapes and everything else however some go further. For example wheat can be turned into flour which can then be made into bread or combined with other things to be made into cake. The more complex the potential more money to be made.
None of this replaces the older features from past games, there is still money to be made raising animals, making silage, tossing bails around or logging. Honestly I haven’t even touched half of what the game has to offer I think and that’s after easily 30-40 hours of playing.
When all is said and done, if you have played and enjoyed a farming simulator game in the past you will love this one and it is a must buy. If you have always been curious, this is the one to jump on. That all being said, if you haven’t enjoyed them in the past this won’t change your mind. This is however the best in the series, and it isn’t even close. The only thing holding this one back are some graphical glitches that are purely cosmetic, and I have tried my hardest to see if they would do anything to actual gameplay.
Normally I don’t give out two scores for the same game but this time I will. If you are playing on a PS4 pro like me, it’s a 7/10. The graphical issues are annoying tho not game breaking. On the PS5 and Xbox series of systems though these graphical issues don’t seem to exist and the game rightfully deserves a 9/10 for being the top of the farming simulator food chain. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Savior Gaming 