I love the premise of the game.  The character is fed up with their mundane life and sees the chance to cultivate life on a new planet as an exciting challenge! So, they blast off on an adventure of a lifetime. I have played farming games before, but Crater Craft by 55pixels offers something a bit different.

The out of this world twist makes it interesting, it’s not like other run of the mill farming games. You encounter completely new creatures, plants and buildings. Well worth downloading as it’s free to play and very engaging. The graphics are great and I found the experience quite relaxing.  Just pottering around my crater.

Gameplay of Crater Craft is simple to get the hang of.  Notes left on your crater explain what you need to do next. The idea is to keep upgrading your crater so tourists will want to come and stay. The more visitors you can encourage the quicker your star points go up! My first guest seemed quite needy always wanting different things.  BUT I realized it was worth trading for the additional nectar he offered me.

The importance of Nectar

Nectar is very important in Crater Craft as it’s what you use to grow your crops.  It shoots out of the nectar tank onto your field.  This gives your growing band of crafters the required resources they need to build furniture for your guest houses and your own house. These aren’t your usual crops.  You have rag flower, wood flower, gloopberry bush and metal petal to name just a few.

You also use nectar to repair and upgrade buildings.

Other than trading, you can collect nectar by completing the nectar hunt.  This is good fun as you try and get as much nectar as possible by stopping the spinner at the best place.  Then you must collect the nectar watching out for the prickles. You also have a bumble hive which you can upgrade to increase the production of nectar.

Guest Houses

Before visitors will stay in your guest houses you need to add a certain number of items of furniture to satisfy their needs. I quite liked being involved in the design of the rooms, choosing how to layout the furniture.

Another highlight was rating other players’ rooms, you have three rooms to rate and the closer you get to the real rating of the room, the more crystals you are rewarded with.

You can use vouchers to customise your character, changing the clothes, adding a pair of sunglasses or a cape! I haven’t changed mine yet as I wanted to hang on to the vouchers in case I needed them for something else in the game.

As you gain more star points and go up levels you can unlock new buildings, such as a lab to make new materials or a portal to mine magma which gives you extra nectar and vouchers. There really is plenty to do in this game! Crystals and vouchers can also be purchased for real money. Yes, it’s nice to have the option if you want to progress along the game quicker, but personally I am happy enough to wait on the cooldowns and get on with something else in the game in the meantime. It’s not like there is a shortage of things to do! If I have piqued your interest do go and download the game.

I spent an enjoyable few hours getting to grips with the game and will be back on their again soon. Although once the boys find it on the iPad I doubt I will get another turn! Just be aware of how technology affects children and balance gaming with other activities.