To be honest, when I saw this "Happy Farm Love Match", my first reaction was to be stunned. It's not because the graphics are amazing or the gameplay is so innovative, but it reminds me of the era about ten years ago when everyone was stealing food. At that time, I was still on the Symbian machine, using the keyboard to press the arrow keys, watching the maturity time of my friend's vegetable garden, setting the alarm clock and getting up in the middle of the night to collect the vegetables. Now that I think about it, it feels so silly and nostalgic.
Back to the game itself. No need to brag, as a match-3 product, it does everything it needs to do. The graphics are in a sweet cartoon farm style, the little animals are round and cute, and the sound effects are brisk, so you won't feel noisy after playing a game. It's obvious that the level design has been carefully designed. The difficulty curve is very gentle in the early stage, giving novices enough time to get familiar with it, and then the intensity gradually increases, which is challenging but will not make people drop their phones. The prop system is also relatively friendly. Each of the five props has its own purpose, so you won't get stuck in the level and want to uninstall it at critical moments.
But what really makes me want to write something is actually the mobile game trend reflected behind it. In the past few years, everyone has always said that the mobile game market has reached the end of its involution. With open worlds, 2D, and SLG, everyone wants to fill their mobile phone screens with light pollution effects. But looking back, simple and pure casual elimination games like "Happy Farm Love Match" have always firmly occupied a place. On the subway, during lunch break, or ten minutes before going to bed, too many people just want to play a few games easily, and do not want to invest a lot of time and energy in studying team formation, farming resources, and doing daily life.
I think this kind of lightweight casual game that returns to its essence may be the most stable track in the future mobile game market. You see, more and more major games are beginning to include idle, load-reducing, and five-minute-a-day settings. This shows that manufacturers have also realized that players have been burdened with heavy content for too long, and instead need a little brainless happiness. The farm theme is a classic among classics. Farming, raising chickens and picking fruits naturally brings a sense of healing and nostalgia, which unexpectedly fits well with the elimination gameplay.
Of course, the game is not without its flaws. For example, there are still a lot of ads. Although the free game is understandable, frequent pop-ups still interrupt the rhythm. In addition, the social function is relatively weak, and you can only compete for scores. If you can increase the interaction with friends like Happy Farm did back then, maybe the stickiness will be higher. But having said that, a free match-3 game that can achieve this level of completion is already considered a good thing.
Finally, I say with emotion, more than ten years have passed from the pixel farm in the Saipan era to today's high-definition elimination screen, and we old players are still playing the game of planting and harvesting vegetables. Maybe what we like is never the fancy system, but the relaxed and happy mood. If you are tired of playing those boring and expensive masterpieces, you might as well download and try it, sit on the sofa, hold your phone, listen to the crisp cancellation sound effects, and let time slow down a little. 🍀