The game has various areas (like the stable, or the house), and in each one there are several activities to perform.

To keep track of all our accomplishments we can access the Big Farm Book, always an orange TAB key away.

The book shows for every area the activities that were already done (represented with a color picture), and the ones still to do (with a black and white picture).

Some activities come in three difficulty levels, and that is also represented in the book.

It also provides a way to get anywhere without actually walking (or rather running - he walks too slowly) there. However, since moving around the playmobil® world is definitely part of the fun, it's a little used feature.

The game has some interesting details, like Alex's dad whistling Old MacDonald had a farm, and the way we can see Alex breathe when he is still.

During the game, Alex meets both his parents, his grandparents and his sister Sara.

It is great to see the little guys in action, and actually be a part of it.

We even get to drive the tractor (which by the way beeps when in reverse), though dad is holding on at our side... Pity we can't leave the vegetable garden with it...

Another cool part is riding a pony, racing the dog, Oscar... Unfortunately (like with the tractor) we cannot ride out of the designated area, but it's still fun.

We can also get lost in a maze, scaring the crows away (well, at least those of us with a poor sense of direction), chase and catch the chicken, go for a swim in the pond helping the duckies (with the our trusted duck headed floater), milk a cow and throw a ball for Oscar.

Most of the accessories and buildings around are known, which makes it all the more appealing, though the game left me wanting a henhouse like that one.

A big surprise is waiting in the house... If we use the hairbrush, we get to see Alex with several kinds of hair - since there are only two types of hair for playmobil® kids, I'll just say that after that it gets... interesting. Not to mention hilarious!

Now I will get into the parts of the game that aren't so good, or that I just didn't like. Again, keep in mind this game is supposed to be for kids between 4 and 8, according to the box...

The one real no-no I found in the game was fishing. It is NOT fun. I mean, we actually FEED the mice there are in the barn (which is fine with me) - we get them cheese, so that they stop eating our cereals, and then we go kill fishies? There's something very wrong with that picture.

Then there's the SuperGranny idea - we can leave everything everywhere, because our super grandmother will pick everything up later, and turn it into a delicious meal.

The way to get the apples is strange... first we stare them down, and then, as they fall off the tree, we throw or kick them into a bucket. Odd.

Also, the way they went about growing the vegetables is at least weird: after planting them (using the tractor!) it just starts pouring (and thundering - nice effect), since the vegetables need water. During this time Alex and dad just stand by the tractor, getting all drenched. Then the plants just grow. Maybe it would be nice to explain somehow that it takes time - we can't go plant the carrots to feed the horses that same afternoon...

Finally, another weak point in the game is the building. We get to build the barn, the stable and the henhouse. I thought it would be great (it was the first activity I chose to do, in my case the barn), and I was expecting to be able to mess around with it, that we'd be allowed to build our own... But no. We just go around a greyed house and building parts scattered all over the ground and select them, matching them with the highlighted sections of the house. Very disappointing, and not that much fun.

Queen Tahra, December 2001

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