Despite the “3″ in the name, Farm Frenzy 3 is the fourth game in the Farm Frenzy series. Farm Frenzy Pizza Party wasn’t worthy of a number despite its success. Anyhoo, Farm Frenzy 3 brings more of the same while adding international locations and heavy-duty graphics that slow down the game’s performance.

In the latest incarnation, you take care of animals, store the goods, produce other goods and sell them. Cows, chickens and ostriches make it back in this one as do the bears and dogs. This one adds llamas, yaks, penguins and walruses. The international part comes in when Scarlett travels to Africa and other faraway locations to help with the farms as a step toward her goal of becoming president of the farmers union.

Scarlett has different goals to meet for every level. The goal could be earning a set amount of cash, collecting X amount of products or making X amount of products. Sometimes you have one goal and sometimes four. Anything goes.

She also has to buy and upgrade equipment for managing her farm including transportation, product making machines and defenses like cages to trap the bears. Many of the levels require you have certain upgrades before you can play them, so you’ll have to play other levels or replay them until you collect enough cash to upgrade.

The strategy and planning aspect of Farm Frenzy 3 remains one of its strengths. You can’t always play the next level and you’ll have to experiment with different strategies to earn the gold or silver star. This approach prevents boredom and predictability while boosting replayability.

One of the flaws in the game is the graphics. Oh, they’re gorgeous, but too much for the game’s performance. When clicking bears to cage them, the game jerks and the graphics flake. This happens too often. I’ll take performance over graphics every time.

Farm Frenzy 3 has a couple of strange features. For one, the dogs that keep the bears away from the animals now roll off the screen with the bears. I like that the bear gets out of my way instead of just stands there while the dog barks. But the way the dog rolls off freaks you out. The other problem is the African farmer who looks like an inappropriate stereotype. I appreciate the developers try to reflect the African culture — but it’s not the best representation of Africans.

Despite the performance issues, Farm Frenzy 3 keeps you hopping and never bores. The game comes with 95 levels, 30 animals of which 5 are the enemies, and 33 products to produce. Because of its diversity in game play, animals and scenes, you’re more willing to try reaching for the gold though it means replaying levels many times.

Download and try the game.

Playing Youda Marina during Memorial Day weekend (a time when many go to the lake) has me yearning to jump in the car to drive to the nearest lake to rent a motorboat and go water skiing. That yearning didn’t last long as a glance at the window pulled me to reality as the skies are gray. Youda Marina does a better job than Mother Nature in giving me the feeling it’s a sunny day. Before I knew it, several hours flew while playing the time management and strategy game that takes place (where else?) on a marina.

You manage and run a marina complete with building docks, entertainment facilities, emergency services, lighthouses and the radio station. As you work in growing the marina, you need to do what you can to attract visitors and entertain them during their stay. The game reminds me of Build-a-Lot because it involves building structures, changing rates, deciding where to place things, earning enough money to build more structures and meeting goals. They both have similar graphics style.

The game takes time to learn. Its well-done tutorial guides you through the first round and only nudges you when you need to know something new. You need to build various-sized docks to accompany the different boat types and sizes. You can also control how much to charge for the empty docks.

Between managing boat requests to dock, facility updates (repairs, payment and emergencies), the game pace turns frenzied in campaign mode. You have to click on every boat to dock it, every event to kick it off and every emergency to send out emergency services personnel. It grows tiresome to keep clicking these things. However, clicking the boats has merit due to the several docking options available and the chances of boat’s captains accepting the offer vary. Maybe it would ease the pain of frequent clicking by offering “automated” tools as an upgrade.

Sometimes the game doesn’t recognize clicks or won’t put down a building or dock even though the area turns green (to indicate it can go where you have it spotted). When it’s time to renew an event, the game doesn’t always recognize the clicks.

The goal of the game is to complete the tasks, much like in Build-a-Lot. Tasks ask you to add a specific structure, earn X amount of money or have X visitors to the marina.

Relaxed mode is available as a calmer alternative to campaign mode. Both modes come with four types of environments: shore, bay, island and lagoon. Each requires a different strategy to succeed. Instead of handing out tasks, relaxed mode lets you do as you will with the money you have on hand. It helps to play campaign mode first to get an idea of what it takes to run a successful marina. Though the pace turns harried, campaign mode feels more purposeful and enjoyable than relaxed mode.

After completing all the tasks and earning every promotion, you’ll want to play again because the tasks aren’t identical in every game and you still need to see if you can conquer a different layout. Youda Marina has excellent replayability value. Next time you’re in a sailing mood, it’s much cheaper to play Youda Marina than to drive out to the lake and rent a boat.

Download and try the game.

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Sun. May 24th: 44% off on Bumps

Mon. May 25th: 50% off on Eternal Eden

Tue. May 26th: 50% off on DROD RPG: Tendry’s Tale

Wed. May 27th: 50% off on DROD: The City Beneath

Thu. May 28th: 50% off on DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold

Fri. May 29th: 50% off on DROD: King Dugan’s Dungeon

Sat. May 30th: 50% off on Be a King

Big Fish Games has Megaplex Madness: Now Playing for 99 cents good through May 31, 2009. Use the following coupon code: MEGA99.

About Megaplex Madness: Now Playing:

Restore the historic Bowmont Theater as the first act of your mad dash to bring cinematic excitement back to Movieville! Purchase ailing theaters all over town and return them to their former glory. Keep customers happy with quick service and delicious concessions! Become a Megaplex Expert to gain access to fun arcade mini-games, and master levels to unlock theater repairs and upgrades. Get caught up in the Megaplex Madness today!

Virtual Villagers have captured the hearts of many players as each one takes on a personality of his or her own. Players also venture around the village to learn new skills and make discoveries. No wonder many have high expectations for Virtual Families thinking it’d be a home-based version of virtual villagers. For the most part, it is, but not quite as addicting as the island counterparts.

The game opens with adopting a new family member. Though you can choose which person to adopt, you can only view one possibility at a time. Either reject or adopt. There’s no going back. This limiting feature could use improvement by allowing players to flip through a few people before deciding.

After adopting, the person checks out his new home. You can have several games going at once, but the home is the same in every single one. The land never changes in Virtual Villagers, but the space is much smaller in Virtual Families. It doesn’t take long to feel like you’ve seen it all.

Ding ding. You’ve got mail. Be ready to see a potential mate through a computer dating service. Either reject or marry the person. The more often you reject a mate, the longer it will take before another one comes through. It pressures the player to pick a mate either on the first or second try or else the little person will become lonely and depressed. Email comes in from time to time. Sometimes it’s spam, a note from the people to you, a letter from a relative or good news such as extra cash. The email notes could be better — they’re cheesy.

The heads of household have careers ranging from domain buyers (nice name for domain squatter) and writers to vitamin maker and fashion designer. They begin at level one in their careers. The more they work, the higher their position and earnings potential. Jobs provide the bulk of the cash used to buy groceries, add ons, clothing, accessories, repair kits and room makeovers.

The families can also earn money by auctioning off collectibles found in their yard — a clever way to incorporate collections. Virtual Villager fans know too well how hard it is to complete collections. The collection part (coins, nuts and twigs, bugs and picture) works better in Virtual Families because it doesn’t take as long, but it’s not a blow off either.

The game works in real time like Virtual Villagers and again it means playing the game in spurts. Virtual Families doesn’t require as much maintenance as Virtual Villagers. In fact, all you need is five or ten minutes once or twice a day. This helps those who have busy schedules with no time to play games. At first, it’s hard because you want to know what can happen. With fewer places to discover and puzzles to solve, it gets easier.

The game, however, turns frustrating when you have to spend the five minutes waiting for the people to throw away trash, pick up a weed or dump loose socks into the laundry room. If you try picking them up to speed the pace, they’ll drop whatever they’re carrying. If one says he’s about to send an email to the player, forget picking him up and dropping him in front of the computer.

The limiting number of puzzles to solve is disappointing. For example, there’s a locked shed. You’ll have to figure out how to unlock it and what to do with the stuff inside. It doesn’t take much time or days to complete the majority of the tasks or puzzles.

Humor abounds in Virtual Families. Maybe not quite as much as Virtual Villagers. The baby making ritual accompanied with kissing will make you smile every time. The people’s illogical movements may annoy, but they’re also funny. For example, you put a person in the bedroom near the door. She’ll walk toward the bed and turn around to exit the room to do something else. Why doesn’t she just walk straight out the door instead of deeper into the bedroom? When you catch a kid digging a hole, check out the caption.

At first, it’s upsetting that people don’t live pass 60 to 65 (C’mon! That’s young!), it actually helps. By that age, the kids are gone and they’re moving so slow. So have them pick up a weed and then take a break while they do it. If you exit the game and come back in, the weed remains. After they die, you can adopt one of their children to take over. If they don’t have kids, you’re out of luck.

Plenty, maybe too many, trophies are available for the earning. The list is so long that it gets old to keep checking it. The game should post the completed items at the end of the list so players can quickly see what they have yet to earn.

Virtual Families offers a decent experience that won’t take up much of your time. But it won’t live up to the expectations of those who have played Virtual Villagers. The game rates about an average — not the best, but not the worst. The free one-hour trial gives you enough time to decide if it’s yay or nay.

Download the game from your favorite site

• Big Fish Games
• Reflexive’s Gamecenter Solution

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Sun. May 17th: 50% off on Universal Boxing Manager

Mon. May 18th: 50% off on The Goalkeeper

Tue. May 19th: 50% off on TV Station Manager

Wed. May 20th: 50% off on President Forever 2008 + Primaries

Thu. May 21st: 50% off on Prime Minister Forever – Canada 2008

Fri. May 22nd: 50% off on ArkanDROID

Sat. May 23rd: 100% off on Adron

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Sun. May 10th: 50% off on Fishdom

Mon. May 11th: 50% off on New Star Soccer 4

Tue. May 12th: 50% off on New Star GP

Wed. May 13th: 60% off on Bloom

Thu. May 14th: 50% off on The Book of Wanderer – The Story of Dragons

Fri. May 15th: 50% off on Heileen

Sat. May 16th: 50% off on Supernova 2

The following games will be discounted next week on href="http://www.gamedujour.com">Game du Jour, the
‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Sun. May 3rd: 60% off on 3D Pirate Barrels

Mon. May 4th: 65% off on Mini Shogi

Tue. May 5th: 10% off on Major League Baseball 2K9

Wed. May 6th: 10% off on Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X

Thu. May 7th: 50% off on Around the World in 80 Days

Fri. May 8th: 50% off on Call of Atlantis

Sat. May 9th: 50% off on 4 Elements (awesome game)

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Sun. April 26th: 40% off on Smugglers 3

Mon. April 27th: 40% off on Smugglers 4

Tue. April 28th: 50% off on Governor of Poker

Wed. April 29th: 50% off on Youda Farmer

Thu. April 30th: 50% off on Merry Motors 2: Megapolis

Fri. May 1st: 50% off on Merry Motors

Sat. May 2nd: 50% off on Space War Commander

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Sun. April 19th: 45% off on Erudit

Mon. April 20th: 45% off on Monopoly Galactic Imperia

Tue. April 21st: 45% off on Fishing Simulator for Relax

Wed. April 22nd: 45% off on Master Bill

Thu. April 23rd: 45% off on Fishing Simulator 2 – Sea Dream

Fri. April 24th: 45% off on Puzzles 3 in 1

Sat. April 25th: 40% off on Empires & Dungeons