It has a charm that just draws you into the game
New Features:
BUY LAND! A welcoming addition, own land and specialize it to be a veggie field, a farmland or a fruit orchid.
BOY/GIRL! For the first time ever on the console, the boy/girl is on the same disc! You can finally share the game with you bro/sis without the need to buy the boy/girl version for your sibling. Watch out for accidental savings though.
24 BACHELORS! Thank you! Someone finally answered my prayers! It is split between the girl and boy though, so there is actually 12 for the guy and girl to choose from.
RIVAL! You now have a rival, Jamie gender depends on what your in game character's gender. For the first couple years, he/she will be hard to beat because off the head start Jamie has with a barn, animals and fields. Giving you a great sense of purpose in the game.
BUILD THE VILLAGE! Flower Bud will only start off with the essentials, a seed shop, ranch shop, mayor's house and your house. Depending on whom you befriend or what items you ship, new buildings with new friends move in to the village. For example ship ores to bring in the blacksmith.
NEW STORY! The Harvest Goddess has been turned to stone! And you must save her by doing what you do best, living your life. Musical Notes are the only thing that can save the Harvest Goddess from her slumber, and can be acquired by befriending certain people, shipping a certain amount of items or going to festivals.
Score:
GRAPHICS! (6.5/10) Ok it might be a bit bland and cannot compare to SSBM or Resident Evil, but it gets the job done. A couple pixilated occurrences, but it should not bother true HM fans.
SOUND! (7.0/10) Think of HM64 soundtrack, one theme for each season. Would have been a good idea to put back the vinyl player to have different tracks.
GAMEPLAY! (9.0/10) I do not know how HM makes me water virtual crops everyday, and make it fun at the same time as well. Whatever you loved about HM is here plus a little more to make it an enjoyable experience.
TECHNICAL! (7.5/10) Come on MVV! I should not see slow downs in this game! The GCN should be able to handle all those animals in the pasture! Anyways, controls are quick and responsive and it works quite well.
CONCLUSION! (8.5/10) A great Harvest Moon game to add to your GCN library. It can satisfy older Harvest Moon fans and a great game to anyone who wants to be introduced into Harvest Moon. Thought it may not have the graphical or sound presentation of most current games, the gameplay is quite entertaining. This game can satisfy most GCN owners until Zelda comes out, since the GCN has no other killer app for a while.