"A fun Harvest Moon game, but could be better"

Harvest Moon DS is fun game and it is worth buying.

Story: 7/10

As soon as you start Harvest Moon DS, the Harvest Goddess and the Witch Princess are fighting. After a tie, the Witch Princess is alone by the Harvest Goddess Spring. She is annoyed with the Harvest Goddess because she always says "Tadaaaaaa!" when she appears. Two seconds later the Harvest Goddess appears. The Witch Princess then cast a spell on her to prevent her from saying "Tadaaaaaa!", but she makes a mistake and turns her to stone. She tries to undo it but instead she sends her to another world. To fix this she sends all 101 of the Harvest Sprites to that world to save her. When she's about to leave, she sees your character and tells you to go inside the Harvest Sprites' house. When you do two Harvest Sprites will come back. When you leave another one will come.

In this Harvest Moon game you have to work on the farm while trying to save the Harvest Goddess.

Graphics: 6/10

The graphics in this game are good, but they are the exact same as Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town/More Friends of Mineral Town for the GameBoy Advance. If the Nintendo DS can support 3D graphics, I know it can handle graphics better than this. The new graphics they added are good, but not that much is new. At least the graphics look nice. I can't give it more than a 6/10.

Music: 7/10

The music is not that good and it is very repetitive. After you progress in the game you can change the music you listen to but sadly the tracks still aren't that good.

Sound: 9/10

Unlike the music, the sound effects in this game sound good and makes you want to listen to them. They all sound good. The running of your character, your character switching items and/or tools, the rain hitting the ground, and even the characters talking to each other.

Gameplay: 8/10

This game is a fun Harvest Moon game to play. Just like every other Harvest Moon game, one second (real life time) is one minute (game time). Just like one of the other Harvest Moon games for the Nintendo GameCube, (Harvest Moon: Magical Melody) you have to build your farm from scratch. To save the Harvest Goddess and Sprites, just normally play through the and you'll save them.

Raising a farm is difficult to do. It is always helpful to raise livestock. Animal you can raise are chickens, ducks, sheep, and cows. Everyday you have to feed them. You should also clean him everyday to make your animals love you. Of course take what they have to offer and make profit. Growing crops is also a great way to make money. Just make a hole, plant your seeds, and water your plants everyday. After a while you will get fruits and vegetables and that can give you a lot of profit.

You can use all the food you made from animals and crops to cook. To cook simply buy a kitchen, utensils, and start cooking. It is pretty simple. Just pick different types of food and everyone will be happy.

With all that money you made it is time to go shopping. Since the valley you live in only has two shops, Vesta's Farm (sells crops/seeds) and Van's Shops (sells a variety of random, but useful items), you must do more of your shopping by phone. You can call the Poultry Farm (sells chickens, ducks, and bird food), the Yodel Ranch (sells sheep, cows, and food), the Supermarket (sells a variety of random, but useful items), Saibara the Blacksmith (upgrades your tools), Gotz the Woodcutter (builds buildings for your farm and extends your house). the Church (removes curses you have on items), and the TV Shopping Channel (sells a variety of random, but useful items for your house. Happy shopping :).

When you get around to it, you have to find a female to marry. The available female women in Harvest Moon: DS are Celia, Nami, Muffy, Lumina, Flora, Leia, Keria, Harvest Goddess, and Witch Princess. They all have different preferences, so try to find out what they are (or you can just be cheap and use the instruction book =P). After getting married to a lovely women of your choice, make her stay content with and you just might be a father.

After saving certain Harvest Sprites, you can go to the casino. In the casino, you can play poker, blackjack, and a matching game. When you get enough coins, you can get rare items you can't find anywhere else.

The controls in this game are easy to get use to. A is to talk to things and pick up objects, B is to run, Y is to use your tool, Start is to pause, L is to whistle and holding are while pressing other buttons switches the equipped item.

If you have Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town/More Friends of Mineral Town in the GameBoy Advance slot, the girls from Mineral Town will come to visit every Saturday. This might make some changes in somebodies daily schedule. You can even marry them if you want.

Replayability: 7/10

This game has two files, so you can play the game again without losing your first file. You might want to play the game again and marry someone else, but if your anything like me you would just rather try to improve your current farm.

Overall: 7/10

In conclusion, Harvest Moon DS is a fun game. It has a good story along with good sound effects. The music could be better and the graphics could have been improved. The game play is excellent and the controls are just great. This is one of the best Harvest Moon games ever!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/06/08, Updated 10/29/08

Game Release: Harvest Moon DS (US, 09/12/06)