A streamlined mobile farm sim that can take some getting used to

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Overall, I’m impressed with Farming Simulator 23’s mobile edition. There’s plenty to do across two impressively large maps, with plenty of crops, animals, and machinery to work with. While the visuals aren’t on par with the PC or console versions, they still look terrific on my Samsung S22 Ultra. I haven’t run into any performance problems, even running with all the graphics options turned all the way up.

The touchscreen controls do feel a bit clunky, however. I have a tough time keeping my left thumb in the steering zone, and there’s no indication of when the throttle is going to lock itself at full power. I think these are just quirks that I’ll get used to in time, but they’ve tripped me up a few times as I’ve tried taking cartloads of grain to the distributor or when I’ve been trying to turn around to make another plowing pass on a field.

Something that does bug me a bit more though are the microtransactions, which allow me to buy coins in order to bypass the grind of earning the money I need to purchase new equipment. It’s not presented aggressively, and none of the game content is walled off behind premium currency, but it still is a bit disappointing to see in a game priced at $8 USD.

That aside though, I’m looking forward to playing more of Farming Simulator 23, since as ever, it’s just such a meditative, relaxing experience once I get into the groove. If anything gets too fiddly, I can always hand the tasIt’s now my go-to game for zoning out during long trips or at the end of the day as I get settled in for bed.