Harvest Moon: Magical Melody

"Kill the Harvest Moon series, Natsume"

Natsume made a good try to bring this series back . But they failed .

The story is you get notes from doing random tasks to save the Harvest Goddess. As if we care about the Harvest Goddess. These tasks include ship an item, faint, buy from the bar, save the game, and 96 more. I have no idea why we get rewarded for fainting. This and many others were dumb reasons for a reward by Natsume.

This game starts out very fun . You have a rival and it says who made more money (G) that day. It is very fun to try to beat her or him. He / She will be the opposite gender as you. She is a possible spouse. It is fun to try to get a girl or boy to marry you. Natsume took out the rivals, so it is easier and more fun to find a true love . The spouses vary from a a person working on a farm to a person working in a bar. You have a choice to forage, use animals and crops, or fish. Foraging is just picking up the plants on the ground. Animals and crops are the point of the game. Fishing is catching fish. But the bad part about the animals, you have to buy the barn or coop. Sounds not to bad right? Wrong, you must buy more land to fit the coop or barn. Which means spending lots of money before you even pay for the animals.

The controls are pretty simple. If you can't remember, just look at the screen. The control diagram is optional, but there is no reason to turn it down. The music is great, and makes the game play feel better.

There is another part to this game : mining. This can be fun and annoying. You can find junk ores (useless), copper ores (useful), silver ores (very useful), gold ores (ultra useful), and many more. Some of the items are good for the ladies if you are a boy. There is a flaw: it takes up a lot of energy. You often faint sooner than you think.

Stones aren't the only thing in the mine. There are some food items to help you go farther. Beat of all, there is cash!

This game includes love. This is used for who you want to marry and for others. You can befriend all boys, all girls, an animals.

There are various animals you find going around. Good things happen when you befriend them.

There are various festivals. Some useless and some cool.

Don't worry the bar is kid friendly, there are no real alcohol names in there. Also, this game has no reference to tobacco or drugs.

Outside the main game, there are mini-games. Some are unlocked from playing in the main game. These are kinda dumb, but can be fun.

Time for the big question, buy, rent, or leave alone. I say rent, if you like it, buy (obviously). If you want Harvest Moon, get Friends of Mineral Town for the GBA.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/09/06, Updated 06/23/08

Game Release: Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (US, 03/28/06)