Not a lot is new—but the Harvest Moon series hasn't lost its charm.

• submitted by Puffles
• posted October 31, 2006
• 1 of 1 recommend this review

Personally, I know a lot of people who are big Harvest Moon fans, and were looking forward to this DS version ever since they found out it was under development. But after they finally bought it, all I’d hear from them was complaints; they all said that everything was too much like the GBA games. I had played Friends of Mineral Town myself, and enjoyed it thoroughly, and so I decided to pick up a copy of Harvest Moon DS so I could judge it for myself.

Straight from the intro, you can see that the graphics are last gen, and when you start farming, you realize that everything is all too familiar; you’re not tilling fields and sprinkling water with your stylus, you’re just using the standard A button, and pulling out your stylus every now and then to switch between tools. But while most people who bought the game were complaining about this, I really didn’t see why they were. Sure, the DS has the capability for better graphics, and using your stylus to chop lumber and slice down dead crops definitely has potential to be fun, but Harvest Moon DS simply takes a tried and true formula and moves it to a different system, providing the player with all the charming and addictive entertainment they really expect from a Harvest Moon game. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

That having been said, Harvest Moon DS is still quite far from a direct GBA port. The touch screen interface for switching between tools and pulling out items from your rucksack may seem a tad counterintuitive at first, but once you figure out how to use it, it’s a hell of a lot easier than the GBA menus. And it’s always there when you need it. There’s no more having to open menus to switch tools; now it’s just a simple tap and drag motion, and then it’s straight back to the D-pad and A button. Plus, they’ve added features like a casino and brand-new events to give even the most experienced Harvest Moon veterans something new to try.

Granted, there’s a ton to do in this game that you’ve already done before if you’ve played through any of the previous Harvest Moon games, which is why I didn't give this game a perfect 5 star rating. But before you complain about that, remember that the Harvest Moon games make up one of the few series that almost never loses any replay value whatsoever. What’s wrong with starting a new farm from scratch in a brand-new location? Nothing. Toss in an improved interface and a couple of new features here and there, and you’ve got yourself a pretty damn good game. And if you’re one of the few gamers out there who’s never played Harvest Moon before, Harvest Moon DS is a truly fantastic place to start.