Crop Busters

In Brief

A match three game, originally given away via Alawar games on the 2nd August 2015 where it received a positive 84% from 316 votes with 30 comments, which you can see HERE. I scored this a 7.5 out of 10 when it was first given away; taking into account Game play, graphics, audio, replayability, originality, fun factor and power ups, though game play was scored an 8 out of 10. You can see other comments about the game (scroll to the bottom of the page).

You can see several videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE

Introduction

Slip on your overalls and bring in a harvest of fun in Crop Busters, a rousing match-three adventure for the farmer in everyone! Click and drag crops to create matches, fill trucks with produce before time runs out, and fix up your farm one awesome upgrade at a time. Buy pets to help with chores, use bonuses to win, and earn trophies for amazing feats as you plow through 100 breathtaking levels. Your eyes will light up as you turn a barren scrap of dirt into the prettiest patch of soil in the heartland!

Reference accessed 2nd Aug 2015, re-posted 20th September 2020.

The Game

The Game

Crop Busters is an mix of a match 3 and farm management blended. The aim of the match 3 games is to remove all of the coloured tiles from the board, by matching 3 or more of the icons together. Once all of the tiles are cleared you finish the level.

Once you complete each level you will be awarded some money, this money is used to buy items for your farm, from a chicken coop to bakery there are many buildings, animals and other things for you to add to your farm. Every feature is fully animated, and some of the animals follow you around or do their own thing.

Some of the buildings that you buy will also provide an in game effect. They will add their own item to the game, such as the chicken coop adds eggs to the match 3 part, if you collect eggs inside of the game you unlock the chicken power, which completely removes any tile from the playing field.

There are 4 different bonuses that you can use, each opened by adding buildings to your farm. Each building will tell you what it adds to your farm or to the game, and what the special bonus does. You can also have pets on your farm.

Within the match 3 game are special items that you can drop to the bottom, they provide cash in different ways. The first is a gold bar, if you manage to get it to the bottom of the board, you will receive extra cash at the end of the level. The other is a red van. If you drop the van to the bottom it will ask you to fill it with items in the game, such as eggs, melons or milk. Once the van is full it will drive off and provide money at the end of the level.

As well as those there are also special combinations you can make with the items, if you match 4 in a line you will open a bomb, that blows up anything within a square. If you match 5 you will get a lightening bolt that will blow up the whole line. Matching the items in an L shape will give you a star that will blow both up, down left and right all at the same time.

When you first start a new game there may be a key icon in the board, this means that part of the board is hidden away. If you match 3 items next to the key, you will then open up the rest of the board. Some levels have more than 1 key, so opening these up is a good thing to do as soon as you can.

Reference accessed 2nd August 2015, originally posted by Farm Games for free. Re-posted by Whiterabbit-uk 20th September 2020.

Useful Tips

When you drop red vans off the bottom of the playing field, try to fill them with produce before the end of the level (when you've destroyed all of the crates that lay beneath the various produce). This will maximize the money made at the end of each level. If a van isn't filled by the end of the level, you will not earn the maximum amount becasue the vans do not carry over to the next level.

Gold bars can earn you a lot of money. The number of gold bars you can earn from any particular level is indicated in the bottom left hand corner of the game field.Gold bars earn you a thousand gold coins each. Very useful early in the game to buy lots of items, which then open up more produce to collect.

If you've earned a lightning bolt on a playing field with restricted area's, try and move the bolt to a more suitable position where it will do the most damage. . Depending which way the bolt lays i.e. horizontal or vertical, will indicate whether you get a horizontal or vertical line destroyed.

When a red van appears it will indicate which produce to collect. Sometimes you will be able to collect more than one produce (from level 6 onward)

You will only earn a bomb or lightning tile if you create the 4 or 5 match on the first move, not as a result of tiles being destroyed following a match.

Any bonus's you earn do not carry over to the next level so be sure to use them.

You can earn a lot more gold by replaying a level that has gold rewards. The gold you previously won will remain in your pot.

Conclusion:

Crop Busters is a reasonable Match Three game, with a fully animated farm and cute animals running around. The item match part of the game is well crafted and the animation is very good. As you improve your farm and add new items to the game they blend seamlessly into the others. The match 3 game is really responsive, and flows very nicely.
This is one of those games the whole family can enjoy. The addition of the farm building and the gold and van drops adds an extra dimension to what is an over subscribed genre. we don't see many new match threes released these days. This is one of the better ones, so grab it while you can.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway

Don't forget to check the giveaway game discussion forums HERE; especially Delenn's threads for non Steam and steam freebies. The latest Epic game freebies are Watch Dogs 2 (usual cost £49.99/$49.99/€59.99), Football Manager 2020 (usual cost £39.99/$49.99/€54.99) and Stick it to the Man (usual price £7.99); I highly recommend Watchdogs 2, though it contains mature content so isn't suitable for the kids). Next week we will be getting Roller Coaster Tycoon 3: The Complete Edition (this is an Epic Exclusive and is finally due for release on Steam next week. I see some tactics by Epic with this freebie.

There's a couple of new additions to the Indie Gala freebies called Desert Law and The Tomorrow War (a 3D space shooter with ground strafing on planets. The game reminds me of a souped-up version of the first space shooter I ever bough back in the early 90's called Epic, but with far superior graphics.

Please stay safe everyone.