Country Tales Review (Nintendo Switch)

Review code used with many thanks to Ocean Media

Strategy Meets Western

Country Tales is a time and resource management game with a Western feel. It has 40 challenging levels that require you to put on your cowboy thinking hat and sharpen your finger tapping skills. In every level, you are responsible for building up and maintaining the homestead, as well as completing specific goals before the time runs out.

Country Tales Nintendo Switch LadiesGamers.com — You must build the sparse land up into a bustling homestead.

Saddle up and Develop Ted’s Career

In Country Tales, you follow the life of Ted, who left his life as a farmer in search of a different path. He moved to the city and gained an education but quickly grew tired of the city life. Ted leaves the city and settles into a small, quiet town called Sunset Hills as an assistant to the mayor’s office. Unluckily for him, he instantly falls for the fiancée of the mayor, Catherine, and the feeling is mutual. Ted must fight his feelings and make sure to stay on the mayor’s good side by completing his assigned tasks.

Start off Small and Hold on for a Wild Ride

There are three levels of difficulty you can choose from based on how comfortable you are with time and resource management games. You can choose “relaxed”, which has no time limits and allows you to play at your own pace. There is also a “normal” level, which is timed; you have to finish all of the tasks before time runs out or you cannot receive a medal. Finally, there is an “extreme” mode which can give you a diamond, instead of a medal, if you manage to finish it before a reduced time limit runs out. Personally, I started off playing the “normal” mode but would probably enjoy the game much more if I switched to “relaxed”.

You begin with the tutorial, where the level requirements start small and quickly grow, which allows you to get used to the gameplay before you are expected to go all in. First, you start off just building a shack and collecting taxes, then you have to build a sawmill before creating a farm to also feed your residents, and so on. Luckily, you have a pretty detailed task list informing you of what needs to be done to complete the level, including how many more of an item you still need.

Hair-Pulling Stress… I Mean… Fun

I enjoy time and resource management games, especially growing up playing the various Diner Dash games, but this game is especially stress-inducing. I could not even imagine playing Country Tales on the “extreme” difficulty level. Do not even attempt to play this game with a remote or Joy-Con because you will waste too much time. Using the touch screen is much quicker and more responsive; however, some tasks (such as any kind of building, food orders, or resource purchasing) require you to double-tap to confirm, but others (such as tax collection or food distribution) only require one tap. When you are quickly trying to complete multiple tasks, you can end up thinking that you have a food order coming or resources bought, but you did not actually do so because you did not double tap to confirm, and then you are even more behind! It can also be frustrating that you do not get to keep the money or resources that you have earned in previous levels.

If You Have Time to Kill…

Then this game is for you. It was way too easy to get fully engrossed in the game and by the time I would look up, several hours had passed. If you are a perfectionist like me, I cannot stand to have anything less than a gold medal score on a level. If I receive a silver or bronze medal, I have to repeat that level until I get that prized gold star. Don’t shy away from trying this game if you are a more casual player, though. Each level can take anywhere from a couple of minutes to a half-hour, depending on your strategy and whether you are willing to give up on a failed level or not. This makes Country Tales a great game for quickly picking up and putting back down after a level to do something else. You can also leave in the middle of a level and it will save your progress for you to pick up again later.

Final Thoughts

The story of Country Tales is definitely cute, but you are not going to play this game for the story. While it is nice that the story adds additional tasks to the levels, such as rounding up cows or getting rid of bandits, it does not really add anything to the game. Overall, it is a fun game to play if you enjoy time and resource management strategy games, but if you are just looking to try out the genre or get invested in a great story-line, it may be better to look elsewhere.

Final Verdict: I Like it.