Monday, July 2, 2007

Harvest Moon DS - Natsume - Nintendo DS
Ah, the farming sim that everyone loves. What would we do without it, huh?

HMDS for me was highly anticipated, and although it added some new things, most of it is more of the same. I mean, come on, how much can you really do with a game in which your main goal is to farm, and build a family? You all know the story by now: Somehow, Jack (the main character) is left a farm by his dad, granddad, whatever, and he's given command to bring it back to the way it was. The only catch to this one, is now, the Harvest Goddess, along with 101 of her little harvest sprite people, were sent to another dimention, thanks to the lovely Witch Princess.

Most of the basics are all there. The farm map is set up very similar to the A Wonderful Life map. The only difference is that it's 2D. A lot of the crops are the same, with one new addition to each season. Also, they let you grow a few different types of trees, which is a definite plus. There is TONS of places to farm, with there being a plot of land in almost every acre you come across.

Marriage is a tough one. It seems like no one in this game wants to give you affection at all. Lol. Trying to build up a girls heart rating is the most difficult task thus far in the HM series. The brides you can choose from are quite varied though. You've got the four AWLSP brides, but you can also marry the Cave Girl (Her name slipped my mind), the mermaid girl, Lettuce, The Witch Princess, or the Harvest Goddess if you save her. Not only that, if you plug in your FoMT game pack on the bottom, you'll also have access to those five potential brides as well. 14 girls is a lot of choices, so no one can complain.

The art in HMDS was something that caught my eye. I was a little disappointed when I saw that they used the same sprites from FoMT. After seeing Animal Crossing on the DS, its easy to see they could have made the graphics similar to Magical Melody, or something. Hell if they wanted they could have just used cel shading like they did in Save The Homeland. But alas, they were lazy, and they didn't have to make as many sprites this way. The graphics that they show when you talk to the people are absolutely awesome though. They got rid of Karen's highlights (were they always gone?) and they made Nami look terribly similar to a male, but other than that, the women are beautiful. Their facial expressions are flawless, and they are all very adorable. I have no complaints in that department.

What really tore this game down for me is the lack of touch screen controls. I mean, they have them, but they feel sloppy, and tacked on. You use the touch screen for most of your menu navigation, which makes moving around it faster, but also means you need to be in a building, or the time will continue to advance while you're trying to find something in your rucksack, or whatever. You also use it when you get the touch glove, which allows you to pet, brush, milk or sheer your animals. They also give you a score, which determines the affection rating you get out of the task, and gives you bragging rights amongst your friends. As nifty as it is, its very tedious after the second or third time, and after awhile, you don't even bother to put the glove on. It was just disappointing.

Some of the pluses though were the plethora of items there are in this game. Lots of nifty little perks you can find. Oh yeah, and did I mention that your inventory in your rucksack is amazing. Not only can you have 52 spaces, but each space can stack up to 99 of a certain item. <3 I love you for that one, Natsume.

I'd recommend this game to either someone who hasn't played the series heavily (maybe bought one or two of the console games), or is a hardcore devoted player, but if you're new to the series, or only heard about HM from other sites, please save yourself the trouble and buy a different one. There have been better.

Rating:
7.0 / 10
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