If you enjoyed Sword of Mana and/or any of the Harvest Moon games this game is for you. A good buy for most people.
The battle system resembles the Mana series with real time. There are a few different types of weapons but they are all pretty similar. In the game a machine summons them up and you need to destroy all the machines on every level of the cave to unlock the boss (which aren't too difficult). Each of the machines can summon monsters which will try and stop you from destroying the machine. Each creature is different from the next unlike weapons. Some cast magic, some use bows, and others just melee fight you. The fun part of having so many monsters is once you receive a certain glove and have made a monster hut you can tame them. They can fight for you, water your crops, and do other things to improve your farming.
A Harvest Moon can't be Harvest Moon with out the most important concept. Farming! From the beginning you can farm and from then on out it will most likely be the most important concept for you. Just like in any other Harvest Moon you have a hoe, axe, watering pail, and hammer. When you first start playing you may find fishing the easiest way to make money and then mining but in the end farming will end up being the most important part of your income.
The story isn't very good like in other RPG's but hey it's Harvest Moon. If you have never played a Harvest Moon one thing you should know is that the second most important part of the game is finding a wife. Now this can be easy or hard for you, you might want to keep all the good items for you to sell or you might want to give away to the girl.
Music: 6.5 (The music wasn't very engaging but it wasn't bad.)
Sound Effects: 9 (The SE's were very good. Mostly the weather though. The rain SE was probably my favorite sound in the game. They all sound so real.)
Story: 3 (A boy wakes up with amnesia in a place he has never been. How original.)
Gameplay: 7 (There was nothing new added to the farming but the battle system wasn't bad. It just wasn't too original besides the machines. But the thing is each second is a minute and if you can't run imagine how fast time will go by. It is hard to decide between farming or going exploring for the day.)
Replayability: 6.5 (You can only have one wife and soon you realize, "Wow, I wish I could see what that wife would've been like." That would encourage you to play again but it does take quite a while to get that far along.
Graphics: 6 (3D character sprites with a 2D background... NO!
Overall: 7.25 ([It wasn't available...] Entertaining but I found HMDS much better, but that is me. If you need more info on Harvest Moon DS paste [http://www.gamespot.com/ds/strategy/harvestmoonds/index.html?tag=result;img;1] with out the things on the ends.