Video game allows everyone to be a farmer

Farmers who miss being out on the land during winter now have a relief valve.

Farming Simulator 15, from Giants Software, provides a chance to go farming without leaving the couch.

Users can take tutorials to learn the basic keys and then learn to plow, harvest or make bales.

Players who are already avid gamers can go straight to career or multiplayer mode.

In career mode, they can choose to go to Bjornholm or Westbridge Hills.

In Bjornholm, users can choose their level of difficulty. In multiplayer mode, they can join a game or create their own and invite up to 15 people to join.

In this mode, players can help and communicate with other players.

Users start with the basics — tractors, a combine, grain cart, cultivator, seeder and plows — as well as one field that is ready to be harvested.

Players can harvest the field and sell the grain to make quick money.

Then they can cultivate the field and seed it with canola, wheat, corn or barley.

It’s up to the players to decide if they want to buy more equipment or animals right away, but these items come with maintenance costs.

The game manual suggests starting with chickens and beehives because they provide good income with little maintenance. Players can also borrow money from the bank.

Players decide whether to buy more fields, seed crops or buy animals.

They can also carry out missions to make money, but they must have the right equipment.

Steering the equipment takes a while to get used to, but it gets easier with practice.

Figuring out the map also takes time. Symbols are available to show where things are, but players will have to look them up in the manual.

Farming a field manually takes a lot of time. Hiring a worker to cultivate or seed is easier but costs money.

There are also glitches, such as the tractors not moving when pressing the forward key and the hired workers missing crop when combining.

The system requires an operation system of Windows Vista or later for the PC version.