Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town Game by Natsume Developed by Natsume Reviewed by Foxlord Foxlord@aol.com Size: I dunno. Save: Battery back-up, 2 save slots Released: 2004 Works with: Gameboy Advance **************************************************************************** Opening Snide Remarks: It's been a good while since Harvest Moon 3 on Gameboy Color, and this, the 4th Harvest Moon game in the series, is a good one! It adds even more depth then the previous 3 games combined and still makes for some good bestiality jokes! Let my review of life, love, farming and animal husbandry commence! **************************************************************************** Gameplay Descripion: As a small child you accidentally get lost while on vacation with your family, you stuble upon a farm where a kindly farmer reunites you with your Parents. He then invites you all to stay on his farm as guests to experience farm life. Well, years have past and you have grown up.....on the mean streets of LA! You recieve a letter in the mail saying that the old kindly farmer passed away and you inherited his farm! So now you get to experience all t3h bling the farming life has to offer, you work it on the farm to get your phat crib, make lots of milk, find and hook-up with a hot bia-tch, and work your hoe all over the field; till yer livin large! Then you'll be the #1 farmer in the hood, G! Liked: Yay! another Harvest Moon game! More crops to raise, animals to feed and to breed with! Hated: The Plot of Harvest Moon never really changes. *and no, you don't play as a homie-g from the hood* **************************************************************************** Graphics Description: Graphics are a mixed bag here, Let me start by saying they are a significant improvement over the previous games in the series, but still very simplistic, and a better more detailed job could have been done.. the game also suffers from "Circle of the Moon" syndrome, meaning if you don't have a Gameboy Advance SP or a decent light source, it's gonna be pretty tough to see. Liked: Significant improvement over previous versions Hated: System is capable of much more, Circle of the Moon Syndrome. **************************************************************************** Sound/Music Description: Music is pretty decent, it changes through out the seasons but isn't really catchy. sound effects are alright, but there aren't many different ones besides the noises the animals make which is realistic. Liked: Realistic animal noises Hated: Not really catchy, kind of sounds like it would put you to sleep. **************************************************************************** Play Control/Game Design: Ok, here is where the game does get a little confusing, the same sufferent from really quirky commands and controls. for example, A is to pick up stuff, B is to use stuff, B is also used to put stuff away when you pick it up, though getting what you picked up out of your knapsack requires you to press start to get into the menu and manually move it into your hands, top R button is run, top L button is to whistle for animals, Top L button and A is also to eat..and...GAH!! I *KNOW* that could have all been simplified. Sorry if that sounded confusing, just typing it out confused me. but yeah, the controls really do take some getting used to and several usages of your instruction manual. The overall design of the game is great, you have access to a large town, your farm, a beach, a forest, a lake and caves to go mining. and lots to do. it's almost impossible to run out of stuff to do in the game so it's lasting appeal is very high. Liked: Great town and map design, good variety of things to do Hated: The "too annoying for their own good" character commands and controls.. **************************************************************************** Improve: Better Music, never hurts to add more mini games. RIYL: Any of the previous three Harvest Moon game. **************************************************************************** Final Words: Wouldn't these be fun Harvest Moon games?.... Harvest Moon: Streets of LA, Grand Theft Auto: Harvest Moon. Not really, no, but heck if that was their titles, maybe they'd sell more copies, after all. Great games like this barely sell at all. To quote something I read in a magazine a while ago... "We told you how great Prince of Persia: Sands of time was...yet you all went out and bought True crime: Streets of LA.......WHY?" **************************************************************************** Score Gameplay: **** Graphics: ***** Sound/Music: 1 to 5 stars **** Play Control/Game Design: **** Personal Opinion: ***** Total: 22/25 Final Score: 88% **************************************************************************** Currently Known Codes: Not really.