Zynga's FarmVille 2: Country Escape Arrives on iOS, Android (2024)

Dust off your straw hats and work boots, mobile gamers. It's time to work the farm.

Zynga on Thursday launched its uber-popular Facebook hit FarmVille 2 on mobile devices. FarmVille 2: Country Escape, the latest addition to a franchise that has already reached more than 400 million players worldwide, is now available for free on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.

The game marks a major strategy shift for Zynga, which has traditionally focused on its desktop offerings, most notably Facebook. The company first launched FarmVille 2 on the Web in 2012, but the explosion in mobile games has prompted the company to rebuild the game from the ground up for mobile devices.

"We know that consumers play games differently on their phones and tablets than they do on the Web," Zynga General Manager Jamie Davies wrote in a blog post Thursday. "We've redesigned crop timers, animal interactions, touch controls and the game board to deliver a satisfying play session whether you have 2 minutes in line at the store or 30 minutes at home on the couch."

It won't be a complete departure from FarmVille 2, however. You'll find the same familiar characters, crops, and animals throughout the game. If you're already an avid FarmVille 2 player on Facebook, there's a new connected rewards system, which lets you transfer goods like water and sugar between your mobile and Web farms.

There's also a new Anonymous Mode— a first for the FarmVille franchise— which lets you play at your own pace without requiring help from friends and neighbors.

"A key piece of feedback we've heard is that you want more control over how you play with friends in the game," Davies said. "So, in FarmVille 2: Country Escape we've left it up to you to decide how and when you want to play with friends."

Those who want some more social action can connect directly from the iOS GameCenter or Google Play Games to collaborate with other farmers and trade goods. You can also now team up with other people to create Farm Co-Ops while competing for bragging rights on the global leaderboard. As you're building your farm, you can chat with friends directly in the game, and connect to Facebook to visit friends' farms and show off your own progress.

Even better— you can now play offline without an Internet connection, another FarmVille first.

The game is available in 16 languages, including English, German, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Italian, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Turkish, Japanese, Russian, and Indonesian. Zynga said it plans to bring the title to Kindle tablets "in the coming months."

For a preview of FarmVille 2: Country Escape, check out the video below.