"A must buy for sure!"

Story: 8/10

One of my favorite stories in the HM series. What I like about it is that it is different from the same old "you visited this old man's/ grandpa's farm when you were young and then 10 years later he dies and you get to keep the farm" thing. The story is like this: You start out as a young adult (probably around 20 years old) working the ever-so-boring go to work, get home, eat, go to bed, go to work again system. So one day when you are looking in the newspaper, you find an ad about a farm! A way out of your boredom! So, you sell your appartment and go to Mineral Town to start on your farm.

As you get to the farm, the mayor of Mineral Town comes and asks you if you are the owner of the farm. As you nod your head, he says that you were tricked into buying the farm. It is actually a run-down, deserted farm! While he laughs his head off at you, you decide to get back at him and start hitting him with your hammer (:P). After you stop hitting him, he apologizes and asks you if you still want to work on the farm. If you agree, you get the farm!

Although it isn't really different compared to the "classic" story, it still is a pretty nice story. 8/10 for the story.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics give you and old feel of FOMT. Although the graphics aren't perfect, it has pretty good graphics for a Gameboy game. They could add a little more to it, but it doesn't look like a 2-year-old colored the game at all. A good game doesn't necessarily need good graphics to make it good, it is the gameplay itself. Same goes with this game. I think the graphics deserve a 7/10.

Sound/ Music: 8/10

First I'll start with the music: the music is pretty good considering the "farm-like" feel to it. Even though the music isn't something deserving an award, it sounds nice. They didn't really change the FOMT music, so they didn't really add any new songs to it. The music can sometimes get a little repetitive at times, but you will sometimes feel like humming along to the music.

The sound, on the other hand, is a little different of a story. Some of the sounds are really cute, but some of them (especially the dog and chick sounds!) can get annoying easily. If it weren't for the sounds, I would of given the score a 9/10. The sounds aren't that bad, but it can get annoying after awhile.

Gameplay: 10/10!

I can't really find anything bad about the gameplay. There are a ton of things to do, whether it be mining, taking care of animals, planting crops, fishing, finding herbs to sell, making friends, or even get married! However, these are just a few of the things you can do. You will hardly ever get bored with the game. If you have a low attention span, you may feel urged to cheat. Alot of people feel it too, but my advice is to not cheat! It really sucks all the fun out of the game. They added a few new features that might help you more (like making money), so it will be a little more easy to get rich quick. But other than that, there aren't really any more new things they added. One of the reasons it deserves a 10/10 is that the game is very unique! There aren't a lot of games that you can get married in! Yeah sure, just play The Sims, but marriage in that game isn't as special as marriage in HM.

Also if you are bored, there are at least 4 festivals per season to add more enjoyment to your game. Some are just for fun, but others can affect your animals! It is always fun to go to a festival after a hard day of farm chores.

Replay Value: 6/10

One of my reasons for a lower score is that when you start a new game, there aren't alot of differences from the first time you played except for the fact that you can marry someone else. If you start a new file, there won't be "new rivals" or anything else different.

Another one of my reasons is that stores or people won't sell anything or talk different from the first file. It would be cool if they actually did something different! This is why I only have one "main file", and then let my brother or sister have the other one. But, you could start a second one as a "test file" if you are planning to do something special or you could use it as a "back-up file" in case the other one gets deleted. Although there are many different things you could have for a second file, the replay value isn't that great.

Overall Score: 9/10

If you are wondering, rent or buy, this game is a sure buy! If you are familiar with the other HM games, this one will be a great addition to your collection. It also would make a great first HM game! A great GB game for sure!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/05