Harvest Moon GB

"Not as good as the SNES version, but still shines."

Harvest Moon is one of the few farming games ever. Where else can you take your cows out to pasture while talking to your fellow townmates? However, in this installment in the Harvest Moon series, you can not take your cows outside (unless you count a small scene where you can't control anything'' and you can not talk to anyone in the town. In fact, there is now town. You can not move anywhere in it, just to go in shops. With all these things going into the game, it still shines as a new and fresh genre of farming.

Graphics: 9
Sprites look good. I just don't think polygons have gotten the friendly looking of a 2-D sprite that is kinda cartoonish. Sometimes you can not tell if a potato is a turnip, but it doesn't matter. All of the animals and you have little animations when you leave them alone, like the farmer doing exercises, or the dog sitting up or down.

Gameplay: 7
You have taken over your grandfather's run down farm, and must make it all nice and pretty again. By doing this, you can grow grass, feed elves, and grow veggies to feed people far away.
But, why, Natsume, did you get rid of most of the parts that make Harvest Moon Harvest Moon? You can not get married, the town is completely gone, taken by six shops that you can't move around in,, and there are only a few festivals! The more important parts of the game is still there, like getting a horse, upgrading your house, talking care of animals, etc. When you walk into a room, though, time always stops, which makes it possible to do all the important stuff to get you some moneys.

Sound and Audio- 8
When I play with sound, I think it is pretty good. Most of the time I don't play with sound though, so it doesn't really matter to me, anyway. Beeps and Bloops and a quite little tune, that's all most Gameboy game music is anyway. It's nothing you have never heard before.

Fun Factor- 10
This is where the game shines. What could be more fun than hitting an elf with a sickle and hearing him say ''Ow? Why did you do that?'' And then, sucking nutritious life fluid from a mammal and selling it to the general public? Or how about getting a cow skin riding bag and put it on your horse, and driving him around like a drunk on parade? I tell you why it's so fun, because you are a farmer, and nothing can be better than that!

Buy or Rent?
I say borrow from your friend for a week, and then you can get all the exciting goodness of Harvest Moon without spending a penny! (unless you have a cheap friend...)

Graphics-9
Gameplay-7
Sound and Audio-8
Fun Factor-10

Final Score- 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/02, Updated 03/30/02