Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life

"An addiciting game.... for the most part."

Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (An:WL) is the girl version of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (AWL). If you have played AWL, this game will be very familiar to you. This game has some new features that will keep you interested for a long time, but however it may get repetitive after awhile.

What is Harvest Moon, you ask? Harvest Moon is a farming simulation game where you get to inherit a farm from your grandpa/old man and raise animals and crops, make friends and most importantly.... get married!

Story: 6/10
The story is pretty bland.... your father wanted to start a farm with his best friend Takakura, but before he could start he died. So, now, Takakura calls you from your urban life in the city into Forget-Me-Not-Valley to take your father's place. The story is much like all the others and is a little boring, so I think it deserves a 7/10.

Graphics: 9/10
The graphics are definitely graphics you'll remember. They are probably the best in the HM series. The sky is beautiful and looks very much like in real life. The animals and crops look very life-like. All the villagers are very detailed, they don't look like little sprites running around the town.

However, the villagers move like robots or walking dolls... sometimes they will walk right through things or "bump" into people. If they get too close to another villager, they move right out of the way but don't give alot of space for other villagers. It probably would get a 10/10 if it wasn't like this. But also, it is annoying to see your character's hand sticking right through a door when you are trying to open it. But other than that, the graphics are very good.

Sound/Music: 7/10
First I'll start with sound: the sound is okay, but it could have been better. The cow moo's are a little realistic, but they sound like the cow is in great pain. Some of the villagers have a little "voice clip": (they usually say only one word like, "Yeah!" or they laugh). The sound isn't the greatest in the world, but sound doesn't usually make a game.

Next music: when you first start off, you only get two records to play on your farm. Both of them are catchy, but they get repetitive and boring after awhile. However, if you link up to Harvest Moon: More Friends Of Mineral Town, Van will start to sell more music for you! Yay! My favorite has got to be "Marine Jazz." Sometimes, the houses in the village will have music, but they aren't that good.

Gameplay: 8/10
Now, the gameplay! The gameplay is the same exact same thing as in AWL, exact for some new things like a more detailed diary, a mirror, and.....
all the chapters are only 1 year long now!!! I guess Marvelous found out one of the reasons people didn't like AWL, the chapters are too long!

You can get cows, ducks, chickens, a horse, a goat, sheep, a dog and a cat. It is mostly the same as the classics, you milk cows and talk to them, ride your horse, shear wool from sheep and much other things. However, they made the game more realistic. By that, I mean that after a year you have to get your cow pregnant if you want it to give milk. I liked using the Miracle Potion in the previous games, but this new feature isn't too bad.

You can also plant crops, but you can no longer plant more than 1 square at a time. It is more realistic than the other games, some of the crops may not grow as fast or even die before harvest time. You can sell them now, but you do not get much money for it. Caring for animals are a better way to make profit than planting crops, in my opinion.

It was your father's dream to have a family farm, so you are faced with a challenge. You must get 1 of the 3 eligible bachelors up to 4 hearts before you can propose to them with a Blue Feather. You have 3 choices, Gustafa the hippie, Marlin the anti-social agricultural expert, and Rock, the part boy. They aren't that good of choices, but once you are married, they are useless so just woo the one you like most and ignore him once you're married. You will also get a son in Chapter 2 in which you will influence him into a certain career path.

However besides all of this, you can get bored easily. It's best just to fish if you are bored, but even that can become tiring. They should have put festivals in the game.... actually, there are festivals, but do you call visiting someone's house and watch them talk to eachover a festival? I don't!

Buy Or Rent?
Your choice. HM:AnWL is very addicting at first, but after you have a million G it can get very boring and you will want to bang yourself on the head with the controller the whole day. But, this game is unique and has things things other's don't. You may want to rent this for awhile, and then maybe buy it if you are interested in it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/05