Harvest Moon GB (Color Version) Game by Natsume Reviewed by Iwan Lamble iwan@lamble.demon.co.uk Size: 8 megabits Save: Battery save - 1 slot only Released: 1999 (Europe) Works with: All Gameboys ************************************************************************ Opening Snide Remarks: A colour game that's not a platformer or a retro game update? I didn't think that was possible! ************************************************************************ Gameplay Description: One day, you're contacted by the ghost of a man who wants you to take over his farm now that he's dead. You plant and harvest crops, rear cows and chickens, deal with disasters (such as earthquakes and ill cows), explore the mysterious caverns under your farm and interact with the local villagers. Harvest Moon plays like a cross between Zelda and Theme Park or Sim City on the PC. The RPG parts are kept to a minimum, but, unlike Sim City you actually control a character (male or female) and perform all the tasks (sowing, watering, harvesting, shopping, feeding animals...) yourself. The attention to detail in the game is shocking. You can do virtually anything you can imagine that you would do on a farm. You can even rearrange the fences, whistle for your pet (choice of dog or cat) or watch a weather report on the television. This detail continues into the graphics (more on that later) and makes what sounds like a dull and repetitive game really good fun. The first half hour with the game, as you discover more and more of its depths can't help but bring a smile to your face. The game has a major flaw, though: its too easy. Even if you're the most lazy and incompetent farmer - planting crops in the wrong place and not bothering to water them or harvest them much - you'll still be able to see most of what the game has to offer. Actually try to make a good farm and you'll find yourself reaching the maximum amount of money worryingly quickly. In fact, there's even an option to let the game play itself for you while it's turned off (I can't really see that feature catching on). There's still loads to see and enjoy - a good twenty hours of quality play and then perhaps another ten to milk everything out of it - but some more challenge (and the threat of losing) would have been nice. Also of note is that you are a prisoner on your farm - you can't explore anywhere outside of it except the village which you don't even get to walk around (you select which shop you want to go to and end up there). The caves under your farm amount to four rooms as far as I can see. Considering the level of detail in the game, expecting any more locations is a bit much, but you do feel a bit trapped at times. There's also a link up option but, really, who wants to trade chickens with their friends? Since there's no other section to put it in, I'll comment on the translation here: It's the pits. Most of the time it doesn't make much sense or is poorly worded. Also, there seems to have been an attempt to make the game suitable for a younger Western audience - what is clearly a pub (it only opens in the nights) is called a 'Juice Bar' and sells such products as Green Tea. Another location is called a Church but its clear that everyone in the village believes in a Celtic-like Harvest Goddess (you even get to see her) and the 'Church' only tells you your fortune (there's a cross drawn in in the background, but it seems to me to have been added later because it sort of messes up the background and isn't consistent with the other backgrounds, which fade to white around characters). Liked: Amazing attention to detail, lots to see and do, great fun. Hated: Few locations, too easy, lame translation. ************************************************************************ Graphics Description: The graphics, like the rest of the game, are full of detail. For instance, the cows have at least five facial expressions. The main characters are well animated, with plenty of actions (the running animation is the only really bad one and, ironically, the one you'll probably see most often). There's lots of movement and things to see (although the number of humans around is pretty low). The little touches really make the game - your character, in particular must have at least 20 animations that are completely unnecessary but make the game look nice. The choice of colors is good. Unlike the gaudy colour schemes of Zelda DX and Warioland 2, once you've played the game in colour you won't want to go play it in black and white again. Color actually adds to the gameplay: you can tell easier when its time to harvest your crops or which crops have been watered and you can tell the bags of seeds in your shed apart. And, anyway, its much nicer to see fields of red tomatoes, yellow corn and purple eggplants than lots of grey, isn't it. (and, by the way, can anybody tell me what an eggplant is exactly?) Liked: Loads of animations, lots of detail, very good use of color Hated: Um... sometimes its hard to see where stuff you throw will land, but that's about it. ************************************************************************ Sound/Music Description: Sound effects wise, Harvest Moon is pretty good. There's plenty of them and they all sound pretty good. The milking the cow sound is particularly nice - how on earth did they get that out of the Gameboy's speakers? :-) The music, however, will make you want to turn the volume down (there's no option just to have effects). The tunes themselves aren't that bad but there's only seven of them in the game - one for each season, one for the town, one for underground and one for the menus (I may have missed one here, but those are the major ones). The one's you'll hear most are the season tunes. Doesn't sound too bad yet? Well, each of these tunes lasts 30 seconds maximum - they get repetitive very very quickly. To make matters worse the music restarts every time you enter or exit a building - something that happens a lot. It gave me a headache after about quarter of an hour of playing. Liked: Nice effects, sometimes it rains and there's no music (bliss!) Hated: Very very very very very very repetitive tunes to drive you insane. ************************************************************************ Play Control/Game Design: The control is responsive and easy to understand. The badly translated menus will confuse you the first time ('Timer' puts on the 'play the game for me' option, 'Memo' makes a huge bar with a clock take up the bottom of your screen...). Your character can only carry two objects at a time, which means frequent trips back to the tool shed if you don't plan ahead. A particularly nice feature is that you never have to remember to save - Harvest Moon does this automatically so you can turn the game off at any point and when you turn back on, although you always start in your house, everything will be exactly as you left it, unless, of course, you told the game to play itself for you. There's only one save slot, though. Overall, though, it's well designed and plays smoothly. Liked: Responsive, well thought out control, automatic saving Hated: Bad translation leading to confusing menus, only one save slot ************************************************************************ Improve: 1. Get a better translator. 2. Get a better musician. 3. Make the game a bit harder. 4. It would have been nice to walk about the town. RIYL: Zelda, at a push, but there's really nothing else like it on the Gameboy. ************************************************************************ Final Words: Harvest Moon is very enjoyable and a breath of fresh air compared to most Gameboy Color releases. The difficulty level is a bit low, but there's plenty to see and you'll have to play for months to find everything. Worth a purchase if you're looking for something different, but don't buy it for a long car journey - its good in short bursts but it will get repetitive if you play it for hours in a row [and, at certain points in the game, you have to let it play itself (while turned off) for an hour or so which could be a problem on a long journey]. Harvest Moon GB, however, is the type of inventive 2D game that you bought your Gameboy for and you won't be disappointed if you buy it. ************************************************************************ Score Gameplay: **** Graphics: ***** Sound/Music: ** Play Control/Game Design: ***** Personal Opinion: **** Total: 20 out of 25 Final Score: 80% ************************************************************************ Currently Known Codes: Get a head start (like you need it): Chose a girl and enter the first letter of your name as a heart and the first letter of your pet's name as a heart. You will start with seeds, a watering can and lots of money. Different vegetables: If the first letter of your character's name is in upper case you'll get one selection of seeds available at the shop and if it's in lower case you'll get another. Enter a symbol as the first letter to get both. Golden chicken: Randomly appears while trading chickens via between Gameboys