Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life

"An excuse to fix the glitches..."

Alrighty, let's start off by saying this: The game didn't suck. Plain and simple. It just wasn't the new, refreshing game I thought it would be.

Graphics - 9/10

Wow, I absolutely love the graphics. Too bad they're nearly the exact same ones as in the last game. >_< I did notice a few changes, such as the font, but not many. Whether or not they're the same, they are absolutely gorgeous. Did you know that if you go over by the mountain, and look up at around 5am, you can actually watch the sun rise? Unlike in some other games, in which all of a sudden, in a 2 second period of time, BOOM it's daylight. I'm also a huge fan of watching the sky when its dark and rainy, or the water. It's all so beautiful. Lovely artwork Natsume, I applaud you. There are a couple of pixel errors though, such as the waterfall (Ever notice that it kind of resembles a fountain of flowing white pixels?). One more thing, though, is that everything moves quicker. No more 10 seconds of milking the cow, or waiting ages for the doors to open. It all happens a bit quicker.

Sound - 8/10

The sound is quite pretty itself, except I had to deduct points for the cow noise. C'mon people, it's a cow, not a T. rex. I was really hoping that'd be fixed. The music on the farm still has only two choices, but it does seem to be toned down from the obnoxious, loud and overpowering thing it used to be. Gladly, Gustafa still plays the same beautiful songs on his guitar, which I happen to love ^^; (Shut up, I'm not a loser). Gustafa brings me too my next thing...

Bachelors - 6/10

Yes, I did hover over that '5' key for a second before deciding it should be a 6/10. This time around we've got Gustafa, Rock, and Marlin. The choices aren't THAT bad, dare I say, but they could be much better. I was pleased in finding that Gustafa was a choice this time, because I always had a liking for him. I thought that Rock was younger, though. He's a bit obnoxious in this game (Yes, more than before) but it's sort of in a cute, quirky way. That brings us to Marlin, who's quite a piece of work. Though in his 30s, he apparently still seems to have a hard time talking to girls. He's always complaining about his health, and he's sort of got this raging, stalker-like crush on Celia (not unlike in the first game). Can we say loser? Really, though, I would still have liked more than three choices, and some new characters definitely wouldn't hurt.

Gameplay - 8/10

Dare I say, it is actually somewhat difficult getting money in this game. They fixed the Ruby Spice glitch (my personal favorite way of cash income) and the tree seed prices have gone lower. Milk sells for the same price as before, but sheep's wool has gone down ridiculously low. You no longer can sell fodder in the beginning of the came to mak a small income, because you have to fertilize the ENTIRE pasture! Not only this, but Van offers you increasingly expensive outfits that are so entirely fashionable that you absolutely must have them. In fact, that's my favorite part. You can go around town not looking like a lower class farm girl in your retro-chic apron and leather gloves. The only problem with this is that, in fact, the outfits become quite costly. THOUGH, if you're unlike me and can live with only three or four outfits, you'll do pretty okay in that area.

Replay Value - 5/10

To say it simply, the game is very, very, very repetitive. Unless you marry somebody new each time, you'll quickly get bored of the same exact thing over and over again. This is a huge downfall. Though the game itself is entertaining, playing it again is quite boring.

Your Character - 8/10

I was almost expecting a shorter, chubbier looking girl, because that's more of the game's style. Though her cheeks are rather chubby and her feet are large beyond all reason, she's alright looking. Her sense of style isn't bad either, and she's cute. Not 'pretty' really, but in reality, who really is? Being able to change the clothes was cool, but there is one thing that really annoys the heck out of me: her ponytail. First of all, it's split into two parts WAY on top of her head. And second of all, IT BOUNCES LIKE CRAZY. You'll be running around and her ponytail is just all BOINGBOINGBOINGBOING. I'm sorry, but that must be fixed.

All-around Rating - 7/10

As I said before, this game did not suck. There was a tiny letdown in having sort of the same exact game as before, except for a few glitches being fixed (The good and the bad). If you don't mind that, then buy this game. It's great and I totally dig it. The Harvest Moon Series has been a great success, and there are so many adoring fans. If you haven't bought AWL yet and you're a girl, don't. Start out with this one because It's a totally great game, and you'll have less of the repetitive feel. All around conclusion? It's pretty good.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/05/05