Harvest Moon

The Good

• Gameplay is totally nonlinear. Your objective is to 'succeed', whatever that means to you. It can mean riches, two kids, a farm totally covered in grass or crops, whatever. Any of the above can be recognised in the ending sequence, where your achievements grant individual scenes.
• The controls are good. The walking vs running toggle is quite helpful, and the ability to automatically move sideways when you clip a wall is indispensable.
• It's fun! Admittedly it suits me personally, and may not suit everyone, but apparently there are plenty of others whom it does suit.
• It's non-violent. About the worst thing that can happen is that your cows wince when struck with tools. Even when your chickens get eaten by wild dogs you don't see any violence.

The Bad
Things get a bit too easy after a while. I mean, when you have 100000 gold pieces in the bank, all the animals you can fit in your barn, wife & two kids, and your farm is totally covered in grass, the days can get pretty similar to each other. Prosperity makes several game elements, such as collecting from the mountain, diminish, and once you're married (which you can do in the first Spring if you're fast), a big part of the game is mostly gone. Fortunately there are festivals in most seasons, which break up the monotony enough to retain sanity.

Those who actually listen to the music for any length of time will probably find it annoying. I personally tend to tune it out fairly quickly, so it doesn't bother me.

The Bottom Line
Yes, it's a game about farming. It's good, too. The first time you play through, you will be hooked. If you're a patient kind of person, you'll play through again to find the things you missed, and court a different girl.

The Good
So you felt like you've blasted enough demons to kingdom come and pulled off more hurricane kicks than you'd like to? Well, if you want a major change, you've come to the right place, my friend.

Although the idea of raising a farm never seems so enthralling, great gameplay and the non-linear storyline will pull you into the world of Harvest Moon. After you enter your name, you'll never know how your life will change next! What a game!

Now, now, although I'm a tad late, I'm gonna write this from the view of this being the only HM game out.

From a graphical standpoint, they are very clear, and a good pallet of colors was worked with to prevent any eye strain. There's some great detail, especially with buildings and textures. And of course, you can discern every ounce of drunkeness in the town drunk's face! Pretty impressive for the SNES.

The music is really fitting, although some tracks are a little short and get monotonous after eight hours of farming or so. The winter music is nice and depressing, while the summer music is rather upligting and relaxing. Sounds are pretty good too, especially the cowbell and other similar sounds.

Gameplay is really tight, with a low learning curve. It's almost becomes instinct after playing the whole day (trust me, you will). Easy access to tools, and the gameplay becomes easier with the upgraded tools.

Now, onto the best part, the traditional Harvest Moon non-linear storyline. 5 girls to marry, or perhaps you'd prefer being the reclusive anti-social farmer (then pick up HM GBC) . Either way, you'll have a whole lotta fun customizing the farm, being naughty or nice, monogynous or an all-out playboy. Beat the game... and then start again! Replay value up the wazoo!

The Bad
I know it can't be helped by the initial programmers, but the English translation was rushed and sloppy. Just what the heck is "Confirm the origin of fire. Everything is alright!"

On a tangent, after you get married, your wife becomes bland, generic, thinking her place is the kitchen, and it gets a little nerve-racking considering the Cult of Domesticity has been put to waste a looooong time ago. But then again, that's a HUGE tangent. I guess that goes under character development or whatnot.

Sometimes, gameplay doesn't go so smoothly when cows block your way (you can be trapped for ten minutes, and it gets annoying!)

The Bottom Line
HM might a cult fave, but if you can get your hands on this rare treasure, go for it, and confirm the origin of fire!

The Good
The gameplay, the graphics, the wierd characters. Yes, it's a farming simulation, but it's a wicked farming simulation.

The Bad
It gets a little repetitive, but that's about it.

The Bottom Line
You play Jack, a young man who is given a farm that is ina state of disrepair by his parents. His job? In two years time, make that damn farm profitable, get the girl ( I always go for Maria) and have a bunch of fun in the process. It's not as polished as the (many) sequels, but this is a good beginning to a great series.

The Good
The graphics are pretty good, and that sexy bargirl Eve. That's all.

The Bad
The annoying music! It's that old annoying farmer music, the town music is stupid, every piece of music in this game sucked. That's not all. Those repetitive farming chores, planting and harvesting vegetables, raising cows and chickens, it's not fun. Dating with girls in this SNES game, they say the same darn thing, you just give 'em gifts of food, and flowers. They seem all tired all the time, unless events happen to town, like that stupid egg hunting game where the livestock dealer always wins. Those stupid dance festivals. All of it is just so lame, even doing something for the girls has a lame objective. "She ran away from home. Find where she's hiding.", "Lure Eve's stupid granpa back to her."... Duh!

The graphics can be good, but after games like Super Mario RPG, Donkey Kong Country 3, and Yoshi's Island, the graphics are WAY outdated! Oh everybody's a midget (It was that way in RPG's on the NES.), why couldn't they be as tall as the Chrono Trigger heroes (Crono, Marle.). This game has a concept, but it's not a good one. All you do with your dog is just lug him around, ho-hum! This game is just so-so.

The Bottom Line
This game was fun for me, but it got to the point where it's lame. If you want great graphics, fun, and all that do, get Super Mario RPG. Harvest Moon didn't make the cut, so stick with Square, and Nintendo. You'll find games a lot more fun from them.