Game Boy Advance

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town is a game of life with a plethora of opportunities and avenues to explore and exploit, all in one tiny cartridge. It’s one of those rare moments in videogames whereby you’re not forced to do anything, but instead feel compelled to contribute and join in. Life in the town doesn’t become a daily grind as each season brings with it various festivals and carnivals to spice things up and offering vast amounts of money and items to win. Mineral Town is, in my opinion, the absolute pinnacle of the Harvest Moon series and is so accessible with being on a handheld system. Its sheer charm and character have won over millions and, in keeping with the game’s character, is time well spent.

Mas apesar desse detalhe o game lembra muito "Animal Crossing", já que é possível colocar o seu estilo e jogar de infinitas maneiras diferentes. É possível viver fazendo apenas aquilo que você mais gosta. Se a falta de elementos de ação mais complexos não for um problema para o jogador, "Harvest Moon" pode ser um dos mais divertidos e cheio de surpresas títulos disponíveis para a plataforma - e serve de tira-gosto para a versão do Cube, com o qual ele se comunica.

I have been a huge fan of the Harvest Moon series ever since I played the SNES version. When I found out the folks over at Natsume were making a Harvest Moon game for the GBA that would have the ability to link to the upcoming Harvest Moon game for GameCube, I was psyched. The release was delayed several times, but I was finally able to spend my Thanksgiving break playing Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town.

Während ich das Spiel testen durfte, huschte mir in regelmäßigen Abständen ein Lächeln übers Gesicht. Harvest Moon ist so unglaublich knuddelig und ideenreich, dass man es kaum glauben mag. Allerdings sollte man für dieses Spiel sehr viel Zeit mitbringen. Wer nämlich wirklich gar nichts auslassen möchte, wird wahrscheinlich monate lang damit beschäftigt sein. Trotz extrem hohem Knuddelfaktor wird das Spiel zudem nicht nur junge Spieler begeistern, sondern sicher auch etliche ältere Semester an den Handheld fesseln. Eins kann ich euch jedenfalls versprechen: Immer wenn ihr das Spiel gezockt habt, sieht die Welt danach ganz anders aus!

With the dozens of games releasing within the months of November and December, it would have to take a very special game to draw my attention away for an entire weekend of non-stop gaming. Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town is that game. The game made a decent splash on the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, but no handheld version is as deep as what Natsume has put into the Game Boy Advance version...so much that it will absolutely suck every precious spare minute of your life if you're not careful. And that is exactly the game's intention: to give you a life away from your life. It's more a game of economics with a farm as a setting, but it's completely engrossing and tough to put down...especially when you start uncovering all the nuances to the gameplay.

Who knew farming could be so much fun? Natsume has once again taken a job, that while rewarding, is also a difficult and often boring chore, and turned it into an engrossing game on the GameBoy Advance.

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town packages farming, fishing, cooking, and dating together into a single satisfying game. To say that Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town is unlike any other RPG or simulation game currently available on the Game Boy Advance would be an understatement. After you pop in the cartridge, a brief cinematic explains that an old man has died and willed you his farm. Your goal for the rest of the game is to sow fields, grow crops, and raise livestock. Along the way, you'll interact with townspeople, buy goods from local merchants, participate in community gatherings, and develop friendships with the daughters of the local citizenry--to the point that you can even ask one of them for her hand in marriage.

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town är det i särklass bästa spelet i serien. Natsume har med denna upplaga lagt till en rad element som inte kommer att göra vare sig veteraner eller nyfrälsta besvikna. Det är en stor färgglad värld som osar charm och välvilja. Om livet på landet vore så här skulle jag flytta ut direkt.

There isn’t enough room to list the far-reaching improvements that this game features from its predecessors. Suffice it to say that, where the previous games felt like work, A Wonderful Life feels curiously satisfying. Earlier entries made many players want to explore wider areas, talk to different people, have other tasks to complete, raise new animals, and maybe even woo a lady friend. Each of these wants is now offered, but that’s not to say that A Wonderful Life is the end-all of RPG/simulation titles. It’s just that this entry will reach out to more players, who in turn, will find themselves comfortably at home.

Upgrade your hoe. Plant cash crops. Impregnate sheep. No, it?s not some bizarre permutation of Grand Theft Auto. Behold the charming innocence of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, whose lineage lies closer to Animal Crossing than GTA. As the heir to a ragged patch of farmland in Mineral Town, it?s up to you to work hard and bring prosperity back to the ranch you loved as a child.

Since this game allows you to play it pretty much any way you want to, and since there are several different wives you could have, the replay value for this game is pumped up like John Cena's shoes. This game is not just for wannabe farmers, and it's a good break from the traditional monster destroying RPGs, so you might as well check it out.

Despite being over seven years old, the Harvest Moon franchise still occupies a unique niche in gaming. There are no monsters to slay, no terrorists to fight, no jet fighters to fly, and no dungeons to crawl; in Harvest Moon your job is simply to run a family farm. Planting crops, milking cows, and feeding the chickens are actually part of gameplay. So is getting along with the townspeople and even marrying a local girl and having children. It's what we like to call a "nesting" game.