Several years ago, Zynga made a name for itself with its amazing virtual world simulators. The first, and arguably the most popular, of which is Farmville – a farming simulator that lets you build your own farm, decorate it and earn cash from its produce.

Back then, Farmville was a smashing success amongst the users of Facebook who both had plenty of time to burn or were simply looking for a way to pass the time during lunch break at the office. Because of that, and perhaps several other reasons, Zynga decided to follow it up with a successor- Farmville 2!

Both games are, of course, discontinued by now as trends have changed. However, it’s worth a look to see how each version compares with the other. What does Farmville 2 have that its predecessor did not?

One feature of Farmville 2 that was absent from Farmville is the use of animated sprites and environments. Whereas Farmville had very static graphics – the cows don’t move, the trees just stand there like the trees that they are – its successor was more life-like.

With Farmville 2, you can now see trees swaying to a wind that somehow blows on them when you hover your mouse over the trees. Bring your mouse over to a cow and click on it – it’ll give you a reaction like what you’d expect if you stroke a real cow behind the ears when you visit a farm. Farmers even wave when you click on them.

Zynga also took on the realism to the next level but adding more depth to the entire farming process in Farmville 2. If you’ve played Farmville, you’ll recall that all you really need to do is just plant those crops, wait for them to mature and be harvested, and you earn in-game money instantly. That, of course, is unrealistic but it worked its charm back then!

With Farmville 2, you now have a deep and multi-layered farming system that lets you do more with your crops. When you harvest your crops, you can choose to sell them right away to earn in-game cash. However, you can do more than that. You can craft new products from the ingredients you collect from your farm, and these produce you can sell at an even higher price than what you’d earn from simply harvesting and selling crops.

This means that the animals (livestock) you have on your farm take on a role that surpasses decorative purposes. You can, for instance, collect milk from the cows that you can then use to produce other products that you can sell for in-game cash.

This multi-layered approach at virtual farming is what made Farmville 2 a success on its own. Players loved the idea of exploring and expanding more, as the game unlocks new features with every expansion and every level that the players achieve. Casual gamers who still look for something to look forward to with every session of playing a game will definitely love the in-depth approach that Zynga has made possible with Farmville 2.