Agricola is an application created by Playdek, Inc. It costs $6.99 and is available on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
Objective:
Agricola was originally a board game but has now been brought to iOS. In this game you’re in charge of yourself (a farmer) and your spouse. Your ultimate goal is to become more productive and to expand your 2-room hut. In Agricola you can raise animals, grow your family and do just about everything a farmer had to do in the 17th century.
Although the developers of this app like to advertise it as being “easy to play,” Agricola is not for the faint of heart. I’ve played strategic games like Age of Empires and Runescape since I was a child, and I can assure anyone out there that Agricola is neither easy to play nor simple.
This doesn’t mean that the gameplay itself isn’t valuable or fun. It just means that you should be prepared to go through a handful of tutorials a couple of times before fully understanding all the aspects of the game. Agricola isn’t like Angry Birds where you can just pick it up and play. Similarly, this game isn’t a good gift for younger children.
Agricola is a round based strategic board game. After your farming family has chosen what it wants to do for a round, the other families get their pick as well. Agricola comes with four games modes including: Family Game, Basic Game, Solo Play, and Solo Series. You can also play with 2-5 local players by passing and playing. Agricola even has an online mode where you can be matched against random people.
The Good:
This game has really great sound effects, music, game mechanics, tutorials and graphics. It’s been thought out before designed and it really shows. It even allows for multiple player profiles per device so that families can all manage their own game saves.
The Bad:
Agricola has a high learning curve. If you’ve played complex board games before then maybe it will be easy to get into this game. The tutorials are well developed but it still feels like Playtek, Inc. could have done more to teach new players how to play.
Conclusion:
If you’ve played the original Agricola board game or are a board game nut, then Agricola is definitely a great choice. However if you’re not that interested in board games then you should probably pass on this $6.99 game. There are plenty of free or inexpensive board games that you can start out with first, before moving to a higher-end game like Agricola.