Mystery Game: March 27, 2011

It’s that time of the week again, the Mystery Game has arrived! This week’s entry focuses on everybody favorite flyin’, feathered friends, birds! Each Mystery Dart this week will run you 18 FV Cash per shot.

As you can see, this week did not go so well for us. You wouldn’t guess it by looking at the picture, but we actually started off on fire this week, going five for five with the top row of balloons. We always go top shelf to start and always recommend it, as we have good results at the top. Of course, things took a turn for the worse when we tried to obtain…

The White Barn Owl, otherwise known as our great FV Cash nemesis since we burned through so much to acquire it, is a gorgeous new Owl for the FarmVille players out there who are like us and just can’t get enough of the Owls in the game. We really love the design of the actual Owl in this one, with its white trim around the bottom of its chin and the light tan face in a heart shape. It is a really beautiful Owl, though considering it is a decorative piece instead of a collective Animal, we question every time something you get nothing in return from is in one of the Rare slots of the Mystery Game.

On the flipside of this argument is something that you not only collect Coins from, but can receive rare Mystery Eggs from when placed inside of the Chicken Coop: the Sussex Chicken, a brand new English Countryside-themed Chicken that fits the part. This guy slightly resembles your average FarmVille Chicken with a few exceptions; most notably that it has black “Rorschach test”-type print patterns in black that resembles the psychological association exam. We also love the fact that it is more of a smoked gray color than plain white. It gives away English Countryside Eggs, for those interested.

Onto the Uncommon releases in this Mystery Game, the first of which is the Tufted Duck, a new addition to the Duck Pond to make all of your visiting neighbors a little more jealous. We got to be honest, the Tufted Duck rocks, and the reason is in the eyeliner: look at those gorgeous purple rings that envelop the eyes of this new aviary buddy of ours. Otherwise, this guy is a pretty standard-looking Duck, isn’t he? Good thing for a little bit of make-up!

The second Uncommon item in this week’s Mystery Game is another decorative piece to add to your bird collection, and a worthy one at that. The Kingfisher Decoration is a pair of two Kingfisher birds perched atop a floral-adorned branch, and features the beloved “Fly!” option that all of the decorative birds have. These birds themselves are truly beautiful, albeit a little too small to see. They are a glorious shade of teal across their backs, with their stomachs exposing their true, gold colors. This is the perfect addition to the Uncommon slot.

As for the Commons, which we received a lot of, we have the Grey Heron. Truth be told, this is probably our favorite addition to the Mystery Game this week, though it is mostly a crapshoot based on preferences. We love cranes in real life, so seeing the Grey Heron, a bird which is not entirely dissimilar to the crane or stork, so accurately portrayed is a definite plus. One issue that we have with it is the fact that it is has the same animation as a common Chicken, which seems a little… off.

Lastly, wrapping up this week’s Mystery Game is the final Common selection, the English Partridge. This little fellow is the perfect Common to receive, as it can be collected from, is very small and thus easy to find a space on your farm to store duplicates, and is completely unique in its design. It has an off-gray color around its body with little specks of brown, somewhat similar to a pigeon’s gray-on-black markings. It flutters its wings softly, though the animation is minimal.

All-in-all, nothing truly blew us away in this week’s Mystery Game, but if you love birds, toss a dart or two.

Mystery Game: March 22, 2011

It’s the Mystery Game! This week’s game contains nothing but Animals, and the top two Rares for the week are worth busting out those free Mystery Darts for!

As you can see, we hit up around half of the board in search of the Rare Horse, capturing two Jersey Cows in the process. We can’t complain with our results, as they came on free Darts. We’ve been saving all of our Darts for the games that cost 20 FV Cash per Dart, such as this week.

First up is the top pick of the week, the Rare Thoroughbred Stallion. Yep, you read that right: Stallion — as in, Permanent Stallion. Plugging this fellow into your Horse Stable will allow you to produce Foals, EXP, Arborists, and Farmhands, as well as additional Coin bonuses for your neighbors to collect. Beyond that, the dude’s a stud, with an all-new original model type that sets him apart from the rest of the pack. We love the great color scheme, as the blacks/deep browns look terrific against its white hooves. This is the definition of a Rare Mystery Game item, and our favorite in months.

Likewise, the other Rare of the week is one of the best Cows we have ever seen in the FarmVille universe: the Jersey Cow. We managed to get two of these guys, and plan on putting one on each of our farms. Simply put, this one is just… cute. It has a boxed-in head shape and occasionally bobs its boxy head, chewing on something tasty. What can we say? We are suckers for cute Animals in the world of virtual farming. The color pattern is truly exceptional, to boot, making this week a big thumbs up from a design standpoint.

Now we are dipping into the Uncommons, where things go from terrific to less so. It’s not so much that the first Uncommon, the Red Fox Kit – not to be confused with the comedian Red Foxx – is a fine Animal, but it is, after all, just a repaint of the Arctic Fox. It is, at least, an improvement over the original design, as it looks a little more natural than its snow-bred brethren. All-in-all, this is our least favorite of this week’s Mystery Game.

And then things get a little ugly, but in a good way, as the other Uncommon in this week’s Mystery Game is a pretty heinous-looking Mole. Not to be confused, of course, with the Storage Cellar Mole that could be obtained after trading in so many Shovels. This one is a flat, fully-visible entry into the sneaky Mole lineage in FarmVille. It features a scrunched-up face that is pretty indistinguishable when it comes to rodents, so they certainly nailed the actual design itself down quite well.

In a land of repaints, we never mind seeing new Cats hit FarmVille, regardless of how shameless their paint jobs are. This is the Short Haired Cat, an entirely gray-haired feline with a frisky tail that sways to and fro freely. We noticed that its head, as with most cats, is super huge. Man, do we love cats. This is a must-have for FarmVille players who own gray cats with big noggins, just as we ourselves collect black cats with big noggins. Let us know if you’re a cat owner, we’d love to hear stories about your cats!

Lastly, the final Common item in the Mystery Game this week is the Hedgehog. This is a returning item to the Mystery Game, so you can find our previous review by clicking here.

Our verdict: if you love Cows and Horses, you pretty much have to play this week. If you are not into them, skip it, as it is a rather expensive Mystery Game.

News: Double Mastery Until March 20, 2011

It seems we have been showered lately with Double Mastery! Hey, not that we’re complaining.

That’s right gang, it seems there is yet another Double Mastery event underway in FarmVille to, seemingly, give you that last big bump in completing certain tricky Masteries, such as the Greenhouse Crops, before the seeming launch of the English Countryside, given all of the new Crops that are popping up in-game, as we previously reported.

This Double Mastery event will last until March 20th at 9:00 PM PDT, so be sure to get your Crops Mastered and do your math properly. Remember to use Bushels to receive a Triple Mastery effect, which will surely help us out as we attempt to slay Long Onions and Whiskey Peat over the weekend – our last two remaining Crop Masteries that we need to fill out.

Let us know which Crops you will attempt to Master during this Double Mastery event!

Mystery Game: March 13, 2011

It’s time to wrap up this week’s update with a look at a brand new Mystery Game.

An Irish theme invades the Mystery Game! As you can see by the look of our board, we did about average, with an Uncommon item being the last we received. We even popped the Unicorn on our first dart, and got two of the other rare! This week’s Mystery Game costs only 16 FV Cash, so if you are going to play, you may want to save your free darts that you may have for one of the 20 FV Cash weeks.

The obvious winner of the Mystery Game for many is the Shamrock Unicorn, the top Rare prize of the week and another addition to the ever-growing collection of Unicorns in FarmVille. We are keeping our fingers crossed that a feature will be implemented soon that will allow the Unicorns to be placed within the Horse Stable to produce little Unicorn Foals. This one reminds us of a My Little Pony almost, what with the shamrocks adorning above its hind legs and all. It’s a decent edition to the Unicorns, but we’re tired of seeing these things in the Mystery Game, to be frank. We do love the color of this one, though, as we’re big fans of sea green.

The other top Rare prize of the week is a Building, something we have not seen in quite some time and for a good reason: Buildings are definitely not for everybody who plays FarmVille, as some feel as if they take up entirely too much space without function, so seeing one hogging up a Rare slot in the game feels a little cheap to us. The worst part about it is the fact that this Building is about as plain as they come, mixing some ugly colors together to make what can only be described as an Atari 2600 color scheme. The house features a cool deck, at least, but it would have fared much better as a 12-14 FV Cash item on the Market instead.

Here is an item that has returned from a past Mystery Game, the Green Parrots. Call us cynical, as we’ve done nothing but complain up to this point and feel a little jaded in doing so, but we’ve always disliked this Decoration because of how cramped the birds look. Something has always rubbed us wrong about it, and it’s because the many other birds in FarmVille are perched on branches, allowed to fly, and always feel happy to be around your farm, as opposed to these caged parrots who look too afraid to move. Why so glum, Polly?

The second Uncommon item in this week’s Mystery Game is finally a nice one that is worth the 16 FV Cash you will put into it, as the Irish Elk has arrived in FarmVille. This guy is pretty cool, featuring gigantic horns and occasionally twisting his head to the side, which looks totally goofy in a great way due to the expression on his face. Who doesn’t love a big Animal with a dopey grin on its face, when all is said and done? This one got us smiling, so we give it a big thumbs up.

The first Common item of the week is, in our personal opinion, the winner of the whole Mystery Game this week: the Green-Winged Teal. The Green-Winged Teal is a brand new Duck that can be plopped into your Duck Pond, providing a new look and finally a new rare Duck to show off to your friends – and who doesn’t like showcasing what you have that others do not? This one is Common, so it’s easy enough to receive. We love the colors on this one, as the teal clashes hard in a magnificent way against the various browns and grays across the Duck’s body.

Finally, the last Common this week is a defining entry into the Common Mystery Game items, as it is not necessarily noteworthy, but it’s nothing you would get angry about receiving: the Green Gazebo. You see, it is a fine addition to the game and very beautiful, especially for gazebo lovers. It is a simple Decoration and small, but all-in-all it is just a tweaked model of the gazebo we saw last month for Valentine’s Day. Still, being that it is decked out in Clover, it’s definitely not too shabby.

We say skip this week’s Mystery Game, as there are too many items that you won’t feel torn up about not having in your collection in contrast to the ones that you will clamor for.

Mystery Game: March 6, 2011

The Mystery Game has been restocked, which is a weekly occurrence these days due to the overwhelmingly cool items that we see continually in each week’s game. This week’s game will cost you 16 FV Cash per Mystery Dart, and contains a Spring theme.

The top prize in this week’s game is the Yellow Unicorn, a Spring-ish looking beast that Zynga stated three months ago we would see Foals for. Naturally, we’re wondering exactly where those Foals are for the Unicorns, as we’ve been eagerly and patiently awaiting their arrival. Nevertheless, this is your simple paint job on the Unicorns, though we frankly like it much more than the Winter Holiday and Valentine’s Day editions of the Unicorns. It still does not top the original, but it’s a pretty cool design for what it is. It might be worth taking a crack at it for 16 FV Cash, if you do not previously have a Unicorn.

Hey, look at that: some adorable, brand new Animal models! The Zynga team busted their butts and definitely created a winner with this new type of Animal, the Deer Fawn. This one is, in our opinion, the winner of the Mystery Game this week, as it features a slender model that is original and the definition of cute. As you can see from the picture above, the Deer Fawn occasionally bends its neck down and shakes its head back and forth. It’s an absolute winner as the top Uncommon of the week.

The other Uncommon of the week is the other decorative Animal haven, the Butterfly Fountain. Do not let the fact that this one cannot be collected from fool you, it is also an absolute winner in every sense of the word. If you love fancy fountains that catch the eye of your friends and neighbors, prepare to fall in love with this one, which features a couple of gorgeous blue butterflies fluttering around the flowing water. The most impressive part of its design is the rainbow of colors that grace its base. This is a definitive keeper.

Get ready to say “Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!” as loud as possible, as the brand new White Kitten has arrived in FarmVille as a Common Animal in this week’s Mystery Game.  We were hoping for a separate feature on Kittens, sort of like how the Ducklings and Piglets became a small factor in the game, but we suppose this will make do. The White Kitten is fairly cute is an unorthodox way, as it closely resembles a big cat’s kittens compared to a domesticated cat’s babies. Either way, it’s cute enough to warrant a thumbs up from us as a Common entry into the Mystery Game.

This one is incredibly similar to the Deer Fawn from earlier, which is a big plus. This is the other Common Animal in this week’s Spring-themed Mystery Game, and features the same exact slender design that the Deer Fawn is now famously known in our hearts for. We love this one’s bushy eyebrows, as the slim, long legs of the creature hold it in place – and boy, is it still – while it moves its jaw up and down as if it is chewing. We really love these new designs for baby Animals and hope to see some more in the future.

Unfortunately, we could not receive the second Rare item in this week’s Mystery Game, which is a Decoration called Hummingbirds; it contains a big flowery bush where several hummingbirds are fluttering around.

Are you going to play the Mystery Game this week? Let us know what you get, if so!

News: Double Mastery for March 2, 2011

Look what has returned to FarmVille!

That’s right, it’s time for a little short breath of Double Mastery on FarmVille. Over the next two days, you will receive twice the Mastery points for everything that you harvest, be it Crops or Trees.  This will give those of us who are aiming to achieve the Green Roses Mastery Sign an extra step in getting to that specific Mastery in a jiffy. It will also save us a few days on all of those Limited Edition Trees in our Orchards, to boot. We recommend using a Bushel of whichever Crop you are harvesting, which will give you Triple Mastery!

Are you happy to see Double Mastery return? We sure are.