"More of the same?"

As you can imagine from the title of this game, it is slightly like a sequel to the first "Friends of Mineral Town" game. However, I am not a fan of the series, and I found this game to be slightly hard to play for someone who isn't already in touch with the series.

For those among you who, like me, aren't fully aware of what you have to do in this game, you basically have to take care of a farm. You have to plan everything for the crops, get cattle and then take care of them, well... almost everything you have to do in a real farm. However, the game is not only that. Like a dating simulation (a type of game quite unpopular outside Japan), you not only have to find someone for you to date and eventually marry (in this game you will be playing as a girl, and no, you CAN'T play as a guy) but you also have to manage your current money and what you want to do across the entire day, in order not spend any time doing something that won't be good for your farm.

Concerning the graphics, they are good but they weren't very improved since the first "Friends of Mineral Town" game. They are really beautiful, and you won't even spot a minuscule pixel out of its place. A huge gift for the player's eyes, I must say.

About the sound, it fully fits the environment but personally I think it would sound better in a rpg game, not in a farming one.

Returning to the gameplay, this may seem like an easy type of game to master, but it isn't. Sometimes you are given the opportunity to watch some tutorials that will explain you how to perform some tasks, but they don't give you everything. For example, you need to feed a certain animal, and you are taught how to do it, but... you aren't explained where to find its food or where to acquire such animals.

Also, you will need to improve the tools you initially have, and it will be hard for you to find out how to do such task. Plus, changing tools is hard, as you will frequently need to access the menu, while in other games such task can be easily done by pressing only 2 buttons.

There are also some minor glitches in the game, for example, sometimes you can't buy things or acquire items/animals, even if the person you should contact is right next to you. Also, there are also times in which you will be stuck in a certain area and you will have no way to exit...

I don't think the game has a huge replay value, but it will surely take the player a long time to finish. However, there is something you must think about this game... it is VERY addictive, and once you start playing it, you won't be able to stop.

Therefore, I think this is a game that everyone will enjoy. However, the lack of instant targets will perhaps keep most players away from it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/01/05