Going back to some of the old ways Harvest Moon is one of the best in the Series.
One of the best things in this game is the players options. Insted of having your house on one land always in the same place there is variation. At the start you enter the town to start up a farm. The mayor will ask you 3 locations you want to pick each having their own pros and cons. But this is not a huge pick because you eventually will buy all 3. Then you also get to choose where everything goes. Do you want your windmil by the crops or by the animals? It's all up to you.
Now one of the downfalls to this game is the sound. Even though the music is catchy and will keep you singin, the sound effects are terrible. The music ends up stopping at 6 PM which is a little early. Once that time is hit all you hear is the running and some insects chirping or owls hooting. When you talk to somebody they will say a short phrase like, "Yo!" or even a moan sometimes. You dont really get to hear the people much.
For some People the graphics are a big bother. The creators went for more of a animal crossing type look. They even took the animation talking from AC too. If they are happy little green lines appear above heads and loving is when hearts goes above the head. There is no rotating camera like in AWL because the camera is fine as it is. If you go behind a tree or a building the object will become transparent. The worst thing i feel is that the people structure along with the animals are to werid. The Cow is huge in the barn. It's a little to big. For some strange reason they went for the main character to have a big butt as a male which is annoying. Overall it looks babyish.
What do you do to beat this game? In Harvest Moon MM they tried to have a story line which isnt all that great. The Harvest God has turned to stone and you have to bring her back to life by collecting musical notes. There are 100 overall but most of them are accomplished by doing daily chores, so you wont have to go out of your way to get many.
There is plenty to do in Harvest moon and the game will keep you addicted. If your looking for a game that will keep you intresting for a month or so buy Harvest Moon Magical Melodies. It is well worth your money if you can deal with the sound and graphics. I will highly recomend this for people who love animal crossing because it is very much like it.