Slime Rancher

While farm games are a dime a dozen, Slime Rancher offers a fun twist on farming games and is suitable for all ages.

Farmville became one of the most popular online farming games and then one of the most popular online games of all time. It and some of its imitators featured several methods of play. You spent coins that you earned in the game to buy plots of land and then crops that you grew on your land. As you gained more experience, you sold those crops to buy more expensive crops and gained access to new vehicles and buildings. While Slime Rancher has elements of farming, it takes place in space.

The game puts you in the shoes of Beatrix and sends you to your new home. You'll quickly find that there are slime bugs living all around your new ranch. With the space gun you get in the opening moments, you can grab those slugs and pull them into your bag. You must then feed each bug the right type and amount of food to make them produce waste, which you sell to earn money in the game. While it might sound disgusting, this is actually a fun little game.

As a sandbox game, Slime Rancher comes with more than just the small ranch that you own in space. You can also explore the hills and mountains near your ranch and other parts of the map. The more you explore, the more you'll come across new creatures that you can capture and add to your stable. If you grab something you didn't want, you can use your space gun to send those items hurtling through space. The game also lets you hurl objects to fight back against the slime bugs that attack you.

Slime Ranchers is in its early access stage, which means that it lacks some of the features that might come later. During early access, you may encounter some problems with aiming your gun and glitches that keep you from moving the way you want. Though it does come loaded with adorable creatures that all have their own abilities and skills, you may find that capturing those bugs feels too repetitive. Slime Ranches offers hours of fun for most players, but those who prefer fighting or battle games may find it a little too boring.

Pros:

• Offers exciting action scenes that are suitable for all ages
• Features adorable characters throughout the world
• Includes your own ranch and a large world to explore
• Requires different movements and steps to capture different slime bugs
• Has a large sandbox world surrounding your ranch that you can explore

Cons:

• Still in early access stage
• Some players have issues aiming and firing their guns
• Capturing many creatures requires the same movements
• Can feel too repetitive
• More features may become available in the future