Good old classic Natsume fun!  Back in the day with Harvest Moon on SNES!  Have you ever played a game that actually requires you to WORK?  I know, it’s crazy, and only a dozen or so game makers have ever tried it.  This game is all about being a hill billy and managing a FARM! But what is it about video games involving work that make them appealing to some?  I think I have a good theory on it, I’ll get into that later.

This game’s purpose is all about progress.  You are to ‘take care’ of a farm, as the citizen politely instructs, but what he really means is “fix that f**cker!” Although your goal is to build this incredible 1-man operation of a farm, you don’t have to perfect everything in this game.  In fact, you cannot die, continue, or start over, and there is no way to not make it to the end.  It’s pretty much endurance: you have to play through the entire game which is measured by in-game days that pass by.  You have until the third year to build your dream from the ground up. Okay, you have a little help and a head start: A 1 room house, a barn, a kennel, chicken coop, tool shed, fencing, some tools, feed silo…but there’s much improvement to be made!

Okay, so your starting farm is a POS.  And you need to not really fix it up, but expand it which of course requires some dough.  So you do all the slave work by taking tedious care of your crops for money, buy and care for your needy animals like your horse, chickens, and cows.  For some reason, your dog and horse do not need any care at all…they must feed off of grubs and termites or something.  Once you get that far, where you have animals that is, you can reap the rewards from them by stealing their chicken eggs or literally milking the gold out of your cows.  All good fun in a day’s work.

 

Since this is pretty basic daily stuff, there was some fun added into the game such as the town you live in holding events, small drama stories in which you can enlist your aid to your whiny neighbors, finding or questing for some better items, and even cutting your own wood so you can expand your house and barn.  You also have what little value there is for RPG dialogue.  Your character can run around this one-town city and talk to the same old faces, get to know them, give them gifts, receive gifts, take quests they give you, flirt with the local cats, etc.

Speaking of which, besides your improving this farm you get, you also aren’t forgetting to help yourself and get your life together as well.  This means finding a soul mate and seducing her with your dirty lifestyle (or the huge cash you make from it).  Expand your house for two, woo a girl of your choosing (only a handful in the village your age), take her hand in holy matrimony, and get the baby factory going.  That’s right, you can have kids!

 

So anyway, this game isn’t very complicated although you may want to look up information on how to get the best out of the game like the best endings.  But still, why play a game that revolves around a silly farm?  Well, as an ex girlfriend of mine asked once, “why the **** would I play a game that involves work?”, the reason is simple: rewards.  Funny thing about her is, she viewed this game as work, but spent hours leveling up her characters in Final Fantasy 6.  Why? Same reason, rewards from progress.  And I think that’s why this game appeals to me, and maybe some of you out there.  Who doesn’t like the feeling of starting from jack crap, and working your way up to progress yourself?  Be it your Character’s Level, or his money, their brute strength, their collection…why not a farm too?

 

Graphics: 7/10

SNESy graphics…cutesy.  Not a whole lot to wow you, just the different weather seasons.

 

Sound: 7/10

Fitting, and all that, nothing annoying.  But dang, only different music for the seasons while you work out in your field digging up dirt.

 

Gameplay: 8/10

This game can get addicting, even with the repetitiveness.  Controls and concepts are simple to understand so that any average Joe can become a Joe Dirt…haha that was lame.

 

Overall: 7/10

Again, depends on if this game appeals to you, and if you have time.  I, myself found it enjoyable enough to try and play through it.  Don’t see the point in quitting once you start, but be warned that once you have all the animals and crops you can handle, you will have nothing to look forward to gaining until you endure to the end of the game.

-Meth