Canadians get to have all the fun: ForestVille testing way up north

Maybe it's consolation for being cold all the time? (Can you tell this writer has never been to Canada?) Inside Mobile Apps reports that Zynga is currently testing the recently-leaked ForestVille iPhone game on Canadian audiences. In fact, you can download the game on the Canadian iTunes App Store right now for absolutely nothing, but only if you have access (i.e. are actually Canadian).

The Facebook page has since been pulled, but we had enough time to catch a glimpse of the game's early promotional artwork. Now, we have a brief idea of what the game will look like, based on a few screen shots. The game looks decidedly more macro than previous 'Ville games on mobile phones, namely CityVille Hometown and Holidaytown. However, players can connect their ForestVille game to the two CityVille games and check pending messages from both while playing this new game.
ForestVille map
The play hooks seem to be all the same: Help a fledgling community (in this case, woodland creatures) build a thriving city, decorate said city, make money from said city, continue growing city, repeat. The visuals in ForestVille look less detailed than their CityVille counterparts, but that might be because the game view is more zoomed out than previous versions.

ForestVille will work on all iOS devices dating back to the iPhone 3GS, and it will feature Facebook Connect, according to the Canadian app page. However, keep in mind that this game is testing, which means it may not even make it elsewhere. (You know, like Kingdoms & Castles?)
ForestVille balloon
[Image Credit: Zynga]

Are you excited about this new 'Ville game? Based on these early images, what do you think of the game's graphics? Play mechanics?

If Zynga's next big 'Ville is 'ForestVille', how will it be any different?

Don't CastleVille and FrontierVille--sorry, Pioneer Trail--already take place in forests? That's about the only question we have, as Fusible discovered recently that Zynga has registered numerous domain names for "ForestVille". The social games giant has registered everything from "Forestville.com" onwards (the real deal belongs to a school district), to "Forestvillegame.com".

According to Fusbile, all of the domain names were registered through Internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, which Zynga regularly uses to acquire domain names. And Fusible points out that Zynga's own "Zynga.com" along with hundreds of other domains representing the company's properties are registered with MarkMonitor. So yeah, this is definitely Zynga.

Zynga has yet to make any announcement regarding such a game, so the company could purely be covering its bases in preparation for a game that doesn't even make it to Facebook. (Ahem, Kingdoms & Quests.) But again, two of Zynga's 'Ville games already revolve around creating communities in the woods, at least indirectly. We can't wait to see how the developer pushes a game centered around just that.