Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
What makes the Harvest Moon series so addicting? Is it the cute little farm animals such as cows, sheep, and horses? Or the tedious planting and watering in order to produce cash for house upgrades and farm equipment? Maybe it’s the option of whooing a girl and raising a family? With all of the options available, it’s very hard to become bored with life on the farm.
A Wonderful Life is the newest addition to the series with many new surprises!
A few of the features:
* Over 40 character to become socially active with
* New farm animals such as ducks and a goat
* A new marriage system where you can check on the girl’s feelings in her diary
* Storyline involved in 6 chapters expanding over 30 years
* New plants and the ability to grow hybrid crops
* New way to cook and more recipes
* Realistic weather patterns ex: rain, snow, sunset
* Ability to raise a child with the option of 6 career choices for him
With so many new features, it should keep everyone from running out of things to do! Unlike the previous games, this one is more focused on building a successful life instead of saving the farm. You do this by marrying one of the three potential girls, and raising a son. Family is the key to this game. The downside is that there are only three where there was 5 girls to choose from in the past games. You have the sweet farm girl that everyone loves (Celia), the shy traveling girl (Nami), or the happy girl (Muffy) that works at the bar. The blue feather is still a must in order to propose. Failure to propose will end the game at the end of the year. So marriage isn’t really an option.
The graphics are exceptional! The best out of all the Harvest Moon series. They did away with sprites and went to polygons, full 3D. It is much more realistic. Now the characters in the game age as the chapters flow by. Your physical features change such as growing gray hair. People will pass away, and new people will move in. Much better than staying the same age forever and always looking tha same. The scenery is breathtaking. From cascading waterfalls, to the glowing sunset , everything adds a touch of sparkle to the game.
The sound is the same as in the past games: Overly repetitive. The same two songs are looped in the background, but thankfully you can stop the music from record player located in your house. The animal sounds are more realistic instead of the cute sounds they had in the 64 and Gameboy.
The gameplay can get a little repetitive after awhile. That is why it’s important to maintain activness in farming and in your social life with villiagers. The replay value is very high. It is similar to Animal Crossing: Strangely addicting.
Overall, I would give this game an 8 because it is a different style of gameplay that is great for everyone, and because it’s so darn addicting!
