Developed by Gamer Bear
Released for Xbox One (11/2017)
Also on Android/Windows Phone
Coconut Farm 3D is a maze game in the vein of the arcade classic Pac-Man. You play as one of four different animals and your objective is to eat all of the coconuts. There are of course enemies scattered about the levels that will try to impede your progress. At the main menu screen you have the option to select from a cow, rooster, cat or pig. Each plays exactly the same other than the graphical difference and the sound clip used when you eat an enemy.
The graphics look decent for what they are. As the title promises, all of the in-game graphics are rendered in 3D. They went for a cutesy look on all of the characters and does help to add a bit of flavor to the game. There's a decent variety of enemies and the game does a good job of familiarizing you with each as the game progresses. There are zombies, ghosts, werewolves, ogres and dragons. Each has a different behavior trait that will help you anticipate their movement. The dragons in particular are notable since they continuously replenish the coconuts you've been eating, so they will become quite the nuisance. In addition to the coconuts you need to gobble up to compete the level there are some power-ups scattered about. You have the purple pellet, which just like the power pellets in Pac-Man will allow you to take out your enemies for a limited time. They will respawn into the maze shortly after, but it can help clear out an area long enough for you to snag all the coconuts. There's also a freeze power-up that will stop the enemies dead in their tracks temporarily.
Coconut Farm 3D also adds a few other elements you don't see so frequently in maze games. Some levels will have arrows in place of the coconuts, and you can only collect them if you walk into them the way they're pointing. Some levels will have doors blocking access to parts of the maze, which will only open after you've collected a certain amount of coconuts. The game also features a mini-map, which is a helpful feature for spotting enemies trying to sneak up on you. The game starts off easy but around halfway through the fifth world you will see the challenge begin to ramp up considerably. The sixth world has some pretty devious mazes that will no doubt take multiple attempts to complete.
The game offers two different play modes: play and arcade. Play allows you to pickup where you left off, and contains six different worlds each featuring ten levels. You'll be granted two lives at the start of the level. When you die the game drops you right back into the maze where you met your demise and all of the coconuts you've eaten are still gone. If you lose all of your lives you have an option to continue, however you only have a handful of continues at your disposal. It would appear that the developer originally implemented a microtransaction system where you can purchase additional continues, but at the time of I played Coconut Farm 3D (January 2018) the screen to buy the continues was there but didn't function. Also on that same screen is an option to remove ads, but the game doesn't feature any ads to remove so this is likely just remnants of the mobile version of the game that the developer didn't bother to remove. The second game mode, arcade, plays the same as the regular mode however you only have two lives and once you lose them it's game over (no continues!). The other big difference in this game mode is that it keeps tabs on your score, and once you've finished the game will show your ranking on the leaderboards (which have working online functionality).
One area where Coconut Farm 3D falters is in the sound design. The game has one song that is endlessly looped from the title screen all the way to the finish. While the music isn't bad and almost reminds me a bit of Banjo Kazooie, some track variety would have really been appreciated (at least a different track for each world!). The fact that there are only a handful of sounds doesn't help either, and some of them grow to be a bit on the annoying side after a while. Every time you change direction, there's a click sound that gets irritating in a hurry. I found the game most enjoyable to play on mute while listening to music, podcast or anything besides the games sound. Another minor annoyance is the camera, which will sometimes zoom in at an angle at certain parts of the maze, and can make it difficult to see enemies creeping up around the corner (make sure to keep an eye on your mini-map!). The game will grant awards for certain milestones, but there's nowhere to view them after unlocking or see what remains to unlock. Also, the game never actually displays a proper title at the main menu or on the tile that displays in your games library which is just another thing that irks me personally. In the end I had some fun with Coconut Farm 3D despite the somewhat lazy port-job, plus with the game being so cheap it's easy to overlook some of its faults.
Final Verdict: Coconut Farm 3D is an enjoyable Pac-Man inspired maze game that has a couple interesting tweaks on the formula. If you like old-school maze games you may want to give this one a look.
Purchase Links:
Buy Coconut Farm 3D - Microsoft Store
Related Links:
Creators Program Games - Xbox Overview
Gamer Bear - Official Site
Coconut Farm 3D - Metacritic
Coconut Farm 3D - GameFAQs
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